- Shepherd and Todd
Shepherd and Todd was a railway engineering works at the Railway Foundry, off Pearson Street, in
Hunslet ,Leeds ,West Yorkshire ,England Charles Todd had been a partner in
Todd, Kitson & Laird but left to set up his own business in1838 , setting up the Railway Foundry with a Mr. Shepherd (financier?) to build locomotives and rolling stock.The first order came in
1839 and in the following two years, built a number of locomotives for theNorth Midland Railway , theManchester and Leeds Railway and for one inFrance . These were either small four-coupled or2-2-2 locos. However in1840 they built two six foot singles for theHull and Selby Railway . These latter had Gray's patent dog-legvalve gear and were, apart from another built experimentally by theHaigh Foundry , probably the first to use expansive working. Further engines were made for the Hull and Selby, two0-6-0 s and two singles for theYork and North Midland Railway .However Todd left the partnership in
1844 to be replaced by E.B.Wilson. He in turn left after a year and the company was taken over in1846 by James Fenton, to become Fenton, Craven and Company.The company continued building mostly Stephenson long boiler locomotives, some
2-2-2 followed by outside cylindered2-4-0 with the firebox behind the wheels. They were extremely unstable due the long overhang at each end. The six-coupled engines for goods work were more successful since speed was not a requirement.At the end of
1846 the partnership collapsed, Fenton staying with the company with E.B.Wilson, who returned to form a new companyE. B. Wilson and Company References
* Lowe, J.W., (1989) "British Steam Locomotive Builders," Guild Publishing
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