Killingworth Billy now even older?

Just found this this morning on the BBC Tyne and Wear page.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-44482970

A steam locomotive has been declared one of the oldest in the world after researchers discovered it was built 10 years earlier than originally thought.

The George Stephenson-built Killingworth Billy was believed to have been constructed in 1826.

However, a new investigation of the engine, on show at North Shields Stephenson Railway Museum, suggests it was constructed in 1816.

That would make it the third-oldest surviving locomotive in the world.

 

Well, Mr Gibson's a Brave 'un!

I dunno about others but I was taught it was the developments the Rocket at the Rainhill Trials brought with it were what made it so important to development as it marked a step-change in speed and power compared to contemporary Newcomen locomotives like Sans Peril.

 

well I suppose the test would be if it could be shown that the loco had innovations that led to the Rocket.

I always thought the multi tubular boiler was the sea-change

 

That and the humble blast pipe. (That was Rocket, wasn't it?)

 

They'll find 'Catch Me Who Can' right on public view in the Science Museum next

 

Looks as if there's going to be a proper presentation of the findings in July. Hopefully after that the report will be made public. The press release really doesn't say much.

https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/what...t-surviving-steam-locomotive/2018-07-21/11:30

 

Or perhaps Killingworth Billy is now a little younger than the 'possibly' 1814 date conjectured in this forum a few years ago.
https://www.national-preservation.com/threads/historic-locos.301374/#post-882349

This was based on previous research by Michael Bailey, outlined in his 2014 book Loco Motion and elsewhere. Some sources had previously dated it as about 1830. Billy's wheels, frame and boiler are not original since it had several rebuilds over its working life but the 6ft 4in wheelbase, together with other significant dimensions & arrangements, is the same as contemporary evidence of the earliest Killingworth locomotives - the first of which was built in 1814. So it sounds like Mr. Bailey's recent survey of the loco has confirmed this and pinned the date down to 1816. Looking forward to hearing more.

 

Alas, no. Richard Trevithick used a blastpipe in rudimentary form in the 1804 Pen-y-Daren loco, and by Rocket's time, it had been used by just about everyone, including G & R Stephenson and, particularly, Timothy Hackworth.

 

Rocket’s significance was in combining a number of existing technical innovations in a way which worked well and set the pattern for all that followed. And the best name for a locomotive. Ever.

Until recently it had been thought Billy was a rather less exciting example of Robt. Stephenson & Co. late 1820s production.

Billy’s significance now is:
The oldest SG locomotive in existence.
The oldest surviving George Stephenson locomotive, and although not the very first one a unique example of his first locomotive type for his first client.
The third oldest surviving locomotive.

 

A lecture by Michael Bailey and Peter Davidson, to the Newcomen Society, about their archeological study of the Killingworth Billy is now on YouTube:

 

I find it amazing that Billy remained in service until 1879... It would be absolutely archaic by that time... It's difficult to picture it alongside such new-fangled machinery as Bellerophon and believe it was from the same age.

So, when will it be restored to steam?!

Richard.

 

Per RSH " All our records show is that this firm built two engines for Killingworth colliery in 1825, the Ravensworth and the Killingworth, and another in 1830 named Billy".