German Crampton locomotive "Badenia"

A Crampton locomotive is a type of steam locomotive designed by Thomas Russell Crampton and built by various firms from 1846. The main British builders were Tulk and Ley and Robert Stephenson and Company.

Notable features were a low boiler and large driving wheels. The crux of the Crampton patent was that the single driving axle was placed behind the firebox, so that the driving wheels could be very large. This helped to give this design a low centre of gravity, so that it did not require a very broad-gauge track to travel safely at high speeds. Its wheel arrangement was usually 4-2-0 or 6-2-0.

Design variations [link]

Because the single driving axle was behind the firebox, Crampton locomotives usually had outside cylinders. However, some inside cylinder versions were built using indirect drive, then known as a jackshaft. The inside cylinders drove a crankshaft located in front of the firebox and the crankshaft was connected to the driving wheels by outside rods. Some long-wheelbase 0-4-0 tank locomotives were also built using this crankshaft system. The boiler feed-pump was often driven from the crankshaft as well because many Cramptons were built before the injector was invented.

Another peculiarity on some Crampton locomotives was the use of a boiler of oval cross-section, to lower the centre of gravity. It would nowadays be regarded as bad engineering practice because the internal pressure would tend to push the boiler into a circular cross-section and increase the risk of metal fatigue.

Usage [link]

Preserved French Crampton locomotive

Crampton locomotives were used by some British railways and speeds of up to 120km/h (75mph) were achieved on the LNWR. They were more popular in France, southern Germany and the US. In France the expression "prendre la Crampton" meant to catch an express. One of the French examples has been preserved in the Cité du Train (the French Railway Museum) at Mulhouse and is still in working order. This is number 80 of the Chemin de Fer de l'Est, the Paris-Strasbourg line, which is named "Le Continent".

Locomotive list [link]

Approximate numbers of Crampton-type locomotives built in Europe were:

• Great Britain 51
• France 127
• Germany 135

Below is a list of British-built Crampton locomotives:

Built by: Tulk and Ley, all of 4-2-0 wheel arrangement:

Notes

1. Namur was tested over 2,300 miles (3,700 km) on the Grand Junction Railway and ultimately purchased by SER,^[1] speeds up to 62 miles per hour (100 km/h) were recorded. Delivery of Liege to Belgium was delayed, and her ultimate fate is uncertain.
2. The LNWR obtained two other Crampton-type locomotives: Courier, 4-2-0, built at Crewe Works in 1847 and Liverpool, 6-2-0, built by Bury, Curtis, and Kennedy.
3. LNWR No.200 London, larger boiler and cylinders than Namur. Later rebuilt as an 0-4-2.^[1]
4. Dundee and Perth and Aberdeen Junction Railway, absorbed by the Scottish Central Railway in 1863

Built by: Robert Stephenson and Company
Robert Stephenson and Company built a number of Crampton type locomotives for the South Eastern Railway and the London, Chatham and Dover Railway. These were all of 4-2-0 wheel arrangement with inside cylinders and indirect drive. The inside cylinders drove a crankshaft located in front of the firebox and the crankshaft was coupled to the driving wheels by outside rods.

Notes:

1. The name should have read Folkestone but was mis-spelled on the plate. This locomotive was displayed at The Great Exhibition of 1851. [1] Bogie wheels 3 feet 6 inches (1.07 m) diameter, driving wheels 6 feet (1.83 m) diameter. Cylinders 15"x 22" (380mmx560mm). Weight 26¼ Tons.^[3]
2. LCDR Echo class; rebuilt as conventional 4-4-0s in 1865–1866^[4]. They were not given numbers until 1874.

Built by: Bury, Curtis, and Kennedy, all 4-2-0 except Liverpool which was 6-2-0.

1. Liverpool, 6-2-0, built by Bury, Curtis, and Kennedy works number 355/1848. Driving wheels 8 feet (2.44 m) diameter, grate area 21.5 square feet (2.00 m²), heating arear 2,290 square feet (213 m²), boiler pressure 120 lb/in², cylinders 18"x24" (460mm x 610mm). The locomotive was awarded a Gold Medal at the Great Exhibition of 1851.^[1][5]

Built by: E. B. Wilson and Company

1. Hauled the Royal Train in 1850, withdrawn from service in 1907.^[2]

Built by: R and W Hawthorn 4-4-0ST

1. Rebuilt as Kirtley F class 2-4-0T 1865^[6]

Built by: various builders

Notes:

1. Originally built as a 2-2-2, rebuilt as a Crampton 2+2-2-0 December 1848.^[7]
2. 0-4-0 locomotives, 4 ft  (1,219 mm) gauge, Fire Queen preserved at Penrhyn Castle Railway Museum. Jenny Lind named after the opera singer, a friend of Crampton's wife Louisa.
3. Sources differ on how many Crampton locomotives Longridge built for the Great Northern Railway. Number 200 was later converted from a 4-2-0 to a conventional 2-2-2. There were nine similar 2-2-2 locomotives numbered 91-99 and it is uncertain whether these were built as 2-2-2 or whether they were converted from 4-2-0 like number 200.
4. 40 locomotives built for the PLM between 1855 and 1864.^[8]
5. A 6-2-0 locomotive, converted to the Petiet system in the 1860s, withdrawn and scrapped in 1873.^[9]
6. In service until 1903, length 12.90 metres (42 ft 4 in), top speed 120 kilometres per hour (75 mph), weight 28½ tonnes. Preserved in the Deutsches Bundesbahn Museum, Nuremberg.^[10]

See also [link]

• Long Boiler locomotive
• 6-2-0 for Crampton locomotives in the USA

References [link]

Sources [link]

• Bradley, D. L. (1960). The Locomotives of the London, Chatham and Dover Railway. Railway Correspondence and Travel Society. 
• Sharman, M. (1983). The Crampton Locomotive. Oakwood Press. ISBN 0-9509067-0-0. 

External links [link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Crampton locomotives

• The Cité du Train museum
• Photo of Crampton locomotive at The Great Exhibition of 1851