Beyer, Peacock and Company

Beyer, Peacock and Company was an English railway Locomotive manufacturer with a factory in Gorton, Manchester. Founded by Charles Beyer, Richard Peacock and Henry Robertson, it traded from 1854 until 1966. It received limited liability in 1902, becoming Beyer, Peacock and Company Limited.

In 1854, the German born Charles Beyer resigned as head engineer at Atlas works (Sharp Roberts and Co). It was Beyer that was responsible for success of locomotive production at Atlas. He had trained under the guidance of the prolific inventor of cotton mill machinery, Richard Roberts.

Richard Peacock resigned from his position as chief engineer of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway's locomotive works in Gorton in 1854. Confident in his ability to secure orders to build locomotives, Beyer’s resignation presented Peacock with a partnership opportunity. However, this was not a limited company and all partners were liable for debts should the business fail; in a mid-Victorian economic climate of boom and bust, it was a risky venture. Beyer could raise £9,524 (nearly £900,000 in 2015) and Peacock £5,500 but still required a loan from Charles Geach (founder of the Midland Bank, and first treasurer to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers). Beyer and Peacock were founder members of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Unfortunately, Geach died, the loan was recalled and the whole project nearly died. To the rescue came Thomas Brassey who persuaded Henry Robertson to provide a £4,000 loan in return for being the third (sleeping) partner.^[1]

Beyer appointed and worked closely with Hermann Ludwig Lange (1837–92), in 1861. A native of his home town, Plauen, Saxony (now Germany), Langer trained as an engineer in Germany, became chief draughtsman in 1865, and chief engineer after Beyer`s death. Langer was heavily involved in the development of the world's first successful condensing locomotives for the Metropolitan Railway, This 4-4-0 tank engine can, therefore be considered as the pioneer motive power on London's Underground London's first underground railway^[8]. These locomotives proved to be extremely successful and 148 were built between 1864 and 1886 for various railways including the District Railway, London, in 1871, most still running until electrification in 1905.

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