Timothy Hackworth (1786-1850)
Timothy Hackworth had a central role in the development and success of the S&DR. He had been appointed as the Superintendent of Permanent and Locomotive Engines in May 1825. At the opening of the railway, he was both master of ceremonies and guard for the momentous journey of 27th September 1825.
Timothy was born in Wylam in 1786, five years after his fellow railway pioneer George Stephenson had been born in the same village. Their paths through life diverged but they were brought together by early experience in the coalfields of the NE England, work on the Stockton & Darlington Railway, a mutual respect for each other and a shared genius in engineering.
At fourteen he left school to take an apprenticeship before following his father (who died in 1804) as foreman of the smiths at the colliery in 1810. Whilst at Wylam, he worked with Thomas Waters and Jonathan Forster on the design and construction of a number of steam locomotives and was responsible for all maintenance and improvement work.
In 1815 he left Wylam, having refused to work on the Sabbath, and in 1816, became foreman of Walbottle Colliery. Eight years later, in 1824, George Stephenson invited Hackworth to join the newly built locomotive works, Robert Stephenson & Co at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where locomotive and stationary steam engines were in the process of construction for the S&DR. The position Hackworth agreed, was a temporary one to fill the skills gaps left by George Stephenson working elsewhere, and his son Robert, having left to work in South America.
Hackworth then looked to create his own company, but at George Stephenson’s behest, the S&DR appointed Hackworth as their resident mechanical engineer in May 1825 with a salary of £150 a year, the S&DR company to provide a house for him and cover the costs of its rent and fuel.
Hackworth was instrumental in making the locomotive powered railway a success. Early locomotives were unreliable and confidence in the locomotive was undermined by their poor performance. Hackworth not only kept them running through repairs and improvements, but he also designed the first locomotive to withstand the rigours of everyday commercial use. The Royal George (1827) was a far superior machine, powerful and reliable enough to serve on a permanent long distance railway. It was fitted with Hackworth’s invention – the bast pipe – it’s use was to increase the evaporative power of the locomotive, generating a sufficiency of steam without which earlier locomotives struggled. It became a fundamental part of the steam locomotive, and was fitted on most later locomotives (but not always correctly!).
Other improvements used by Hackworth included the characteristic plug wheel and the prototype 0-6-0 mineral engine which was to became the standard wheel arrangement for goods and mixed traffic engines.
All of these pioneering design features for the locomotive were used right up until the last days of the steam locomotive in the late 1960s. It is difficult to over-estimate the extent to which Hackworth influenced the design of the locomotive and the success of the railway.
In 1829, another of Hackworth’s engines, the Sans Pareil competed against the Rocket in the Liverpool to Manchester Rainhill Railway Trials. This was a six-day period during which individual trials of various engines took place over a length of track at Rainhill. These trials were to assess whether the engines were fast and reliable enough to regularly make the return journey between Liverpool and Manchester. Five engines competed for the £500 prize; however, the Sans Pareil burst a cylinder and lost out to Stephenson’s Rocket. Local feeling has it that the cracked cylinder, which was cast and bored at Stephenson’s works, had been deliberately sabotaged by the rival company and that there was a distinct lack of fair play at the trails. However, Sans Pareil was subsequently purchased and ran on the Bolton and Leigh Railway hauling freight, goods and passengers until 1844, when it was made into a stationary engine for a colliery near Chorley. It continued to perform until the coal in the pit was exhausted in 1863. It now resides at Locomotion in Shildon.
Much has been written about Hackworth’s engineering skills, but here is a little about the man himself:
Hackworth was over 6ft tall, with a muscular physique acquired while training as an apprentice blacksmith. His features were described at the time as rather those of a poet saint than those of a practical engineer! One of the old engine drivers said “He was a fine, tall, majestic man, a real gentleman, who never let a wrong word pass his lips. His appearance was such that I think no man ever passed him without a respectable salute.” Another described him as a “frank, straightforward man”.
Public life held no attraction for him (which is why he is less well-known than George and Robert Stephenson), but instead he valued his work, his family, his employees, his religion (born CoE but changed to Wesleyan Methodism) and a strong belief that education was important in life. His home and family were his centre and everything else revolved around them. He was a keen gardener, and made a study of horticulture, but his chief interests were in the direction of mechanics, and he built many steam engines for grinding malt and similar objects, manufactured safety lamps as well as improving locomotives. He wasn’t a tough businessman, rarely patented his ideas and always shared his findings. This resulted in others sometimes being credited with his achievements.
He was never wealthy, nor ambitious and what capital he had was invested in his business, charity or the education of his children. He was generous to those poorer than himself, founded educational and religious institutions, and was a strong Royalist putting his children into mourning when William IV died (which they thought was great fun). He was interested in politics, but never addressed political meetings, although there was a complaint once that he had brought politics into the pulpit (he was a lay preacher). Although abstinence was popular, he refused to allow any of his children to take the pledge.
Hackworth died on the 7th July 1850 from typhus aged 64, leaving behind his wife Jane (who died two years later). Thus passed away a loving, kindly, gentle man, sincerely mourned by all who knew him, who had lived an upright, unselfish life, “as honest a man, as ever walked, a shining example to others, a benefactor of mankind, who earned the love of the poor, who did his duty and whose end was peace.”
Thoughtful, educated, measured, religious, modest.
Source: Timothy Hackworth and the Locomotive by Robert Young. First published 1923, republished 1975.