George Forrester and Company
| General partnership | |
| Industry |
Engineering Heavy industry |
| Fate | Liquidation |
| Founded | 1827 |
| Founder | George Forrester |
| Defunct | 1890 |
| Headquarters | Vauxhall Foundry, 40 Vauxhall Road, Liverpool, United Kingdom |
|
Key people
|
Alexander Allan Charles Hodgson Horsfall Walter Fergus MacGregor Benjamin Hick Jr. Anthony Bower Andrew Wylie John McFarlane Gray |
George Forrester and Company was a British marine engine and locomotive manufacturer at Vauxhall Foundry in Liverpool, established by Scottish engineer George Forrester (b. 1780/81). The company opened in 1827 as iron founders and commenced building steam locomotives in 1834.
Under Alexander Allan's attendance the first produced were 2-2-0 types, one early in 1834 for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway called Swiftsure and three later that year, Kingstown, Dublin and Vauxhall for the Dublin and Kingstown Railway. In 1835 the Dublin and Kingstown Railway ordered two tank locomotives, Victoria and Comet, being the first tank locomotives to be used in public service. Two others of the same type produced for the London and Greenwich Railway between 1836 and 1837 were the first in England.
They were groundbreaking in that for the first time horizontal cylinders were mounted at the front of the locomotive outside the frame. Also Forrester used four fixed eccentrics, rather than two loose ones, to operate the valve gear. A single linkage operated the whole arrangement at once, rather than having four for the driver to operate, and the handles no longer rocked to and fro while the locomotive was in motion.
Forrester's engines were extremely successful for their time, but the outside cylinders and cranks caused the locomotives to sway so much that they were referred to as "Boxers." From 1834 an extra trailing axle was added for some for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.
Three 2-4-0 locomotives were supplied to the London & Brighton Railway between October 1842 and March 1843.
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Wikipedia