- Haigh Foundry
The Haigh Foundry was formed in 1835 by E.Evans and T.C.Ryley in
Wigan . It had initially been opened in 1810 for manufacturing winding engines and pumping equipment for the mining industry. Evans and Ryley took it on a twenty-one year lease with the intention of adding the production of railway locomotives.At first it built
0-4-0 and2-2-0 types, many subcontracted fromEdward Bury . In 1837, "Ajax" was supplied to theLeicester and Swannington Railway , followed by "Hector", an0-6-0 so powerful that orders were received from a number of other railways.They also built two broad gauge locos in 1838 for the
Great Western Railway with upward gearing. This was not a success and was soon removed. They were rebuilt around 1840 and continued successfully. Four more were built to a design byDaniel Gooch ,saddle tank s for the South Devon Railway.The works continued to build locos on their own account, and under sub-contract. Among these were long boiler types for
Jones and Potts and three for T.R.Crampton.In 1855 two
0-8-0 were built for use in theCrimean War for hauling guns up inclines as steep as 1 in 10.Over a hundred locomotives were built until, in 1856, the lease expired and, orders being short, the works ended production.
References
* Lowe, J.W., (1989) "British Steam Locomotive Builders," Guild Publishing
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