15 Facts About Timothy Hackworth

1.

Timothy Hackworth was an English steam locomotive engineer who lived in Shildon, County Durham, England and was the first locomotive superintendent of the Stockton and Darlington Railway.

2.

Timothy Hackworth was born in Wylam in 1786, five years after his fellow railway pioneer George Stephenson had been born in the same village.

3.

Hackworth was the eldest son of John Hackworth who occupied the position of foreman blacksmith at Wylam Colliery until his death in 1804; the father had already acquired a considerable reputation as a mechanical worker and boiler maker.

4.

Furthermore, it subsequently fell to Timothy Hackworth to maintain the locomotives in running order and improve performance.

5.

Timothy Hackworth was not long in finding other employment at Walbottle Colliery where he took up the same position of foreman blacksmith.

6.

In 1824, Timothy Hackworth occupied a temporary position as a "borrowed man" or relief manager at the Forth Street factory of Robert Stephenson and Company, whilst Robert was away in South America and George was occupied with the surveying of new railways, notably the Liverpool and Manchester.

7.

Timothy Hackworth only stayed until the end of that year, following which, he returned to Walbottle occupying his time with contract work until, upon the recommendation of George Stephenson, he was appointed on 13 May 1825 to the position of locomotive superintendent of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, a post he was to occupy until May 1840.

8.

Timothy Hackworth is believed to have been influential in the development of the first Stephenson locomotive intended for the Stockton and Darlington Railway during his time at the Forth Street factory.

9.

Timothy Hackworth is usually acknowledged as the inventor of this concept.

10.

Whatever the case, Timothy Hackworth was probably the first engineer in history to fully take into account the role of the blast in automatically realising the "perfect equilibrium between steam production and usage" in a locomotive when fitted with a firetube boiler, and to consider the blastpipe as a distinct device, paying close attention to its proportions, nozzle size, positioning and precise alignment.

11.

George Stephenson, the line's civil engineer, was unsurprisingly firmly in favour of steam traction and asked for a report from Timothy Hackworth, who confirmed that he was having difficulties but was optimistic about overcoming them.

12.

Timothy Hackworth stayed on after the event, repairing the Sans Pareil and was able to show that it more than met requirements.

13.

The last new locomotive design with which Timothy Hackworth was involved was the Sans Pareil II, a "demonstrator" of 1849.

14.

Timothy Hackworth's home was turned into a museum, which has since been renovated and an annexe of the National Railway Museum has been built nearby.

15.

Hackworth Park in Shildon was named in his honour as was Timothy Hackworth Drive in Darlington.