E.B.Wilson and Company was a locomotive manufacturing company at the Railway Foundry in
Hunslet,
Leeds,
West Yorkshire,
England.
Origins
When Todd left
Todd, Kitson & Laird in
1838, he joined Shepherd in setting up the Railway Foundry as
Shepherd and Todd. It was bought by James Fenton, formerly a partner in
Fenton, Murray and Jackson in
1846 and, for a while, was
Fenton Craven and Company. The partnership with Craven ended and E.B.Wilson took over as
E.B.Wilson and Company, retaining Fenton as Works Manager. Many of the maker's plates, however, retained the name "The Railway Foundry, Leeds."
Expansion
The works was expanded with the intention of producing up to fifty engines a year. Fenton's boiler designs were particularly successful, and the company's products acquired a reputation for workmanship and reliability.
David Joy
Originally an apprentice at Fenton, Murray and Jackson and later at Shepherd and Todd,
David Joy was their Chief Draughtsman and was tasked with designing a new engine for the
London and Brighton Railway. Dissatisfied by the engines then current in
Yorkshire and having spent three weeks studying John Gray's at
Brighton, he produced a similar design. The first of these, in
1847, was named
Jenny Lind and was an immediate success. There is some controversy whether Fenton, Joy or even Wilson was responsible. Joy would appear to have produced the drawings, but Fenton would have had toapprove them, and the success of the engine...
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