The Engines of the Garstang and Knot End Railway
by N Thompson and M A Cook
3. The 'Farmer's Friend' 1875-1900
The 'Hope' 1883-1897
In 1875 The Garstang Engine Company, a limited liability company, was formed by several shareholders of the Garstang and Knot End Railway and other local residents for the sole purpose of purchasing an engine to be leased to the Garstang and Knot End Railway Company. On 2 September 1875 the Engine Company placed an order with Hudswell, Clark and Rodgers, Railway Foundry in Leeds for a standard ex-works engine No 173. This was a six-coupled saddle tank having the following dimensions: wheels 3 ft diameter, outside cylinders 11" x 16", tank capacity of 500 gallons and a total empty weight of 17 tons. The total cost was to be £1,200. On 11 December 1875 a lease was agreed by the Garstang and Knot End Railway Company and the Garstang Engine Company. This lease was to run for fourteen years at 10% on the cost price. However, before the lease expired, the Railway Company purchased the engine outright.
The first trial run of the new engine was made between Garstang and Pilling on 9 December 1875. The Railway Company invited the Locomotive Superintendents of the London and North Western and the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railways to the event.
The Preston Chronicle reported the event and the fact that the new engine was to be named the 'Farmer's Friend'. The engine soon assumed the nickname of the 'Pilling Pig', the story being told that a resident of Pilling, on hearing the whistle of the 'Farmer's Friend', likened it to the awesome noise emitted by a pig as it met its death at the hands of the local butcher. True story or not, it meant that until the closure of the line all the engines were called the 'Pilling Pig' by the locals. Others said that it had been called the 'Farmer's Friend' not for its fiery moods but for its chronic slowness!
With the putting into service of the new engine the Company's other engine, the 'Union', was relegated to the role of spare engine. The 'Farmer's Friend' operated the Company's services without a break until 1881 when it was returned to the makers for major repairs. A replacement engine was hired from Hudswell Clark for two weeks at a cost of £6 per week. This arrangement having been made due to the fact that on 13 June 1881 the owners of the 'Union', the Garstang Engine Company, sold that engine to Hudswell Clark for the sum of £180.
The last mention of the 'Union' in the Company Minute Book is on 9 February 1882 when, at a meeting of the Directors of the Company, it was resolved:
"That inasmuch as the loco 'Union' has been sold by the owners, the Secretary do not enter the sum of £78 amount of 26 weeks' charge for its hire and purchase, in the accounts of the Company".
On 12 July 1883, the Directors of the Garstang and Knot End Railway gave permission to the Garstang Engine Company for the purchase of a further engine for lease to the Railway Company. Once again the order went to Hudswell, Clark and Rodgers and was for an engine of similar, though slightly larger, design to that of the 'Farmer's Friend'. Dimensions for the new standard ex-works six-coupled saddle tank No 263 were as follows: wheels 3' 6-1/2" diameter, outside cylinders 13" x 20", tank capacity 600 gallons, weight empty 19 tons 10 cwts. Total cost was to be £1,260. The only other difference between the two locos was that the older engine had an open-sided cab whilst the new one had an enclosed cab which offered greater protection from the elements for the crew.
The new engine, named 'Hope' was delivered ex-works to the Garstang Engine Company on 11 November 1883 although the lease for the hiring of the engine by the Railway Company was not signed until 20 March 1884. Unlike the 'Farmer's Friend' the new engine was never purchased outright by the Railway Company but remained the property of the Engine Company until she was sold in 1897. There is no apparent reason for naming the engine 'Hope' although the fact that the finances and management of the Railway Company were now on a more sound footing than they had been for several years may have prompted the Directors to believe that this move might help the Company to further success!
In December 1886 the 'Farmer's Friend' again required major repairs including a new firebox, evidence yet again of poor maintenance. The Engine Company called a meeting with the Railway Company on 9 December 1886 to discuss ways of raising the cash to pay for the repairs as the money had to be found by the owners of the engine and not the hirers. It appears that an offer was made by the Railway Company to purchase the engine for a very low price and then also pay for the repairs. This was accepted by the Engine Company and the engine was returned to Hudswell Clark for repair early in 1887.
Everything then appears to have run fairly smoothly for several years until May 1895 when the Fleetwood Express reported:
"Knot End, a train on fire --On Wednesday afternoon a fire was discovered on a train on the Garstang and Knot End Railway as the train drew into Winmarleigh (Nateby) station. Two wagons of peat moss litter had caught fire and the wagons were obliged to be left. A wire has since been placed on the Locomotive's Funnel".
The engine involved in the incident was probably 'Hope' as a spark arrester was fitted to the funnel at some stage. (This is shown on the photograph of 'Hope' that accompanies this article.) Another fire may have occurred on the line in 1894 when a train including some unsheeted wagons loaded with hay caught fire near Pilling resulting in the destruction of several wagons. The only evidence for this event is a Company memo of 1894 instructing that all hay wagons must in future be sheeted and staggered, following the recent accident.
On 28 August 1895 the Fleetwood Express reported:
"Serious Accident -- A rather serious accident happened to John Billington of Wood's Farm, Pilling, on Wednesday afternoon. He was seated in a trap in a field close to the railway when a train startled the horse, which commenced to jump, and Billington was thrown to the ground, falling on his head. He was conveyed to Lancaster Infirmary and afterwards home on Thursday morning having greatly improved".
The question as to which engine caused the accident we shall probably never discover!
In 1896 the 'Hope' was sold by the Engine Company when the Railway Company's lease on the engine expired. The Railway Company had paid a rental of £58 every six months and the final payment under the terms of the lease had been made in April 1895. The Railway Company was now in quite a good financial position and could afford to purchase new engines itself. So the Engine Company that had been originally formed in order to buy locos for lease to the Railway Company, at a time when it was not in a position to do so itself, was now officially wound up.
In the early part of 1897 the Railway Company replaced 'Hope' with a new engine, the 'Jubilee Queen'. The 'Farmer's Friend' was sold in part exchange in November 1899, being replaced by the 'New Century' which was delivered in 1900. After being overhauled by Hudswell Clark, the 'Farmer's Friend' was resold by them to Howards of Bedford where it was used in their 'Britannia' Works as a shunting engine.
Material for this article has been taken from the following sources:
The Minute Books of the Garstang and Knot End Railway Company, 1868-1900. (Now in the possession of British Rail.)
News items from, The Preston Chronicle & The Fleetwood Express, 1875-1895.put (Deposited at the Lancashire County Record Office.)
The authors wish to thank the bodies named above for allowing access to these sources.
Further details regarding the earlier engines of the Garstang and Knot End Railway may be found in Volumes III & IV of the Over-Wyre Historical Journal.