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Description
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Wylam Colliery Engine (Locomotive no 3).
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This was Richard Trevithick's third locomotive and the first to have flanged wheels. Christopher Blackett, owner of the Wylam Colliery near Newcastle requested a design. It was built during 1805 at Whinfields foundry in Gateshead owned by Trevithick's North East agent John Whinfield. John Steele who had worked on Trevithick's second locomotive at Pen-y-darren supervised construction. The cylinder was 7 inches in diameter with a 36 inch stroke and was lighter than the 5 ton Pen-y-darren locomotive. Blackett still used wooden rails for his tramway but this engine was far too heavy. It ended as a stationary blowing engine in the foundry.

The Cornish mining engineer Richard Trevithick 1771-1833, was a hugely important contributor to the Industrial Revolution in terms of high pressure steam but did not get the recognition he deserved during his lifetime. He was years ahead of his time but failed to secure financial backing for his locomotive projects, faced financial ruin on more than one occasion, and suffered strong rivalry from many mining and steam engineers of the day. When he returned to Britain in 1827 after a decade working in silver mines in South America his rivals had established what he had invented almost thirty years earlier. He fell out of the public eye and died six years later penniless in Dartford.

A plaque at St. Edmunds Burial Ground, East Hill, Dartford reads: "Richard Trevithick. Approximately 25ft
from this wall lie the remains of Richard Trevithick. The great engineer and pioneer of high pressure steam.
He died at the Bull Inn, Dartford and was carried here by fellow workers of Halls Engineering Works to a
paupers grave. Born Illogan, Cornwall April 13th 1771. Died Dartford, Kent April 22nd 1833".

Description
----------------------------------------------------
Wylam Colliery Engine (Locomotive no 3).
----------------------------------------------------
This was Richard Trevithick's third locomotive and the first to have flanged wheels. Christopher Blackett, owner of the Wylam Colliery near Newcastle requested a design. It was built during 1805 at Whinfields foundry in Gateshead owned by Trevithick's North East agent John Whinfield. John Steele who had worked on Trevithick's second locomotive at Pen-y-darren supervised construction. The cylinder was 7 inches in diameter with a 36 inch stroke and was lighter than the 5 ton Pen-y-darren locomotive. Blackett still used wooden rails for his tramway but this engine was far too heavy. It ended as a stationary blowing engine in the foundry.

The Cornish mining engineer Richard Trevithick 1771-1833, was a hugely important contributor to the Industrial Revolution in terms of high pressure steam but did not get the recognition he deserved during his lifetime. He was years ahead of his time but failed to secure financial backing for his locomotive projects, faced financial ruin on more than one occasion, and suffered strong rivalry from many mining and steam engineers of the day. When he returned to Britain in 1827 after a decade working in silver mines in South America his rivals had established what he had invented almost thirty years earlier. He fell out of the public eye and died six years later penniless in Dartford.

A plaque at St. Edmunds Burial Ground, East Hill, Dartford reads: "Richard Trevithick. Approximately 25ft
from this wall lie the remains of Richard Trevithick. The great engineer and pioneer of high pressure steam.
He died at the Bull Inn, Dartford and was carried here by fellow workers of Halls Engineering Works to a
paupers grave. Born Illogan, Cornwall April 13th 1771. Died Dartford, Kent April 22nd 1833".