Heddon-on-the-Wall Local History Society

Puffing Billy Festival 2013

2013 is the 200th anniversary of the steam locomotive, Puffing Billy.

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The summer of 2013 marks the 200th anniversary of the use of the first commercial adhesion steam engine Puffing Billy, employed to haul chaldron wagons on metal rails from the coal mine at Wylam to Lemington staiths on the River Tyne. It was built by local men, engineer William Hedley, engine-wright Johnathon Forster, and blacksmith Timothy Hackworth, for Christopher Blackett, the owner of Wylam Colliery.

Over the summer of 2013 communities and schools from Wylam, Heddon, Newburn and Lemington will be celebrating this momentous anniversary. It is impossible to overstate the importance in this development and we are going to celebrate its engineering and historical legacy.

Celebrations will include visits to and from Beamish Museum involving their Puffing Billy replica, community events, games, model railways, steam engines and competitions.
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Download more information here:

puffing_billy_events_programme.pdf
File Size: 881 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Contacts:

Email enquiries to puffingbilly@beamish.org.uk

Geraldine Straker
Community Engagement Co-ordinator
Beamish Museum

Tom Martin
Wylam Parish Council
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Puffing Billy Festival

  • Local Schools Puffing Billy Celebration: 2-4 July 2013
Beamish Puffing Billy replica to be in Wylam on Tuesday and in Walbottle on Wednesday & Thursday.
  • Open evening event at Wylam: Tuesday 2nd July 3:30 to 5:30pm.
  • Community Puffing Billy Celebration: 21-22 September 2013

Beamish Puffing Billy replica to be in Wylam on Saturday and Newburn on Sunday.

George Stephenson's Birthplace and tearooms open 11am to 4pm both days.

Wylam: Sat 21 September, 11am to 4pm, Countryside Car Park & The Falcon Centre
    Competitions (see below), sports and fun events
    Live music, drama, dance, stalls
    Scoutrail Model Railway Exhibition, Wylam Institute 10am to 4pm (Sat & Sun) 

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wylam_events_programme.pdf
File Size: 1198 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

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Don't miss the new, 1/12 scale, moving models of Puffing Billy & Wylam Dilly by John Hazle, just installed in Wylam's Falcon Centre Railway Museum.






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Scoutrail model railway exhibition in Wylam Institute.
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Photo from The Wylam Globe, Autumn 2013.




Also featuring the World Premiere of Wylam Amateur Dramatics Society's silent film, 'Just in Time'.







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Newburn: Sun 22 September, 11am to 4pm, Visitor Centre, Tyne Riverside Country Park
    Competitions (see below)
    Dance, stalls & family activities

Scoutrail - Model Railway Exhibition (10 different layouts) in Wylam Institute 21-22 September

Heddon Local History Society
are planning short Heddon Railway Heritage Walks from the village on both these days to link up with the Community Festival events in Wylam and Newburn.
These are part of the Hadrian's Wall Trust Walking Festival.

Saturday 21 September   Heddon to Wylam (3.0 miles)
Leave Heddon Memorial Park (opposite The Three Tuns) at 9am
We aim to arrive in Wylam for the start of the Puffing Billy Festival at 11am

Sunday 22 September    Heddon to Newburn (2.5 miles)
Leave Heddon Memorial Park (opposite The Three Tuns) at 9am
We aim to arrive in Newburn for the start of the Puffing Billy Festival at 11am


Download the walks leaflet below:
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puffing_billy_festival_2013_heddon_walks.pdf
File Size: 1680 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Minibus transport back to Heddon (limited):
Saturday from Wylam Institute dep. 3:30pm, 4:30pm (earlier for Heddon Brownies & Guides).
Sunday from Keelman Pub, Newburn dep. 2pm & 3pm.

  • A series of talks on early railway history
                Wed 4th September 2013 - Newburn Leisure Centre - 7pm
                Railways before George Stephenson by Les Turnbull

                Wed 11th September 2013 - Lemington Centre - 7pm
                The Northumberland Railway: Brunel in Stephenson's Backyard by J Michael Taylor

                Wed 18th September 2013 - Wylam Institute - 7pm
                The Wylam Locomotives: Their History, Preservation & Interpretation by John Liffen
The talk is preceded by a visit to Wylam Railway Museum, Falcon Centre open from 5.30pm.

                Wed 25th September 2013 - Walbottle Campus - 7pm
                Hedley, Chapman & Issac Jackson: Who Did What? by Jim Rees

                Wed 9th October 2013 - Heddon on the Wall, Women's Institute - 7pm
                Stephenson's Triumph - Liverpool 1830: Who was there and what they did next by Bob Gwynne

There will be a collection of donations at meetings to help meet expenses.
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Click image to expand
puffing_billy_festival_talks.pdf
File Size: 530 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

  • Beamish Puffing Billy Celebration: 26 October to 3 November 2013



See Puffing Billy on the Pockerley Waggonway at Beamish Museum.
Admission charges apply.
Beamish Museum is open between 10.00-17.00 each day.
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Pockerley Waggonway, Beamish Museum.
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  • Competitions - now open to all with extended closing date
    • Photography: 'Going on the rails'
    • Poetry: 'Inspired by Billy'

    Categories:  5  to  8,  9  to  12,  13  to  16  years,  adults.
    Closing date: was Saturday August 31st 2013 (now extended)

    Entries before Saturday 14th September to Wylam Institute as below, or on day of Wylam Puffing Billy Event, Saturday 21st September before 2pm, for judging at 3pm and prize giving at 4pm.

    Entries  should  be  a  maximum  of  12 x 8”  (photo) or on A4 paper (poetry) and  posted  or  delivered  to
    Wylam  Parish  Council  Office,  Wylam  Institute,  Church  Road,  Wylam.
    Provide your  name,  category,  address  and  telephone  number.

    Winners  will be announced  on  Saturday  21st  September at 4pm.

    It  would  be  great  if  you  could  also  e-mail  entries  to  wylampc@btinternet.com
    We  hope  to  use  some  entries  in  later  Wylam Parish  Council  publications,  if  you  do  not  want  this  to  happen,  please  say  on  your  entry.
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puffing_billy_festival_photograph_competition.pdf
File Size: 607 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

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puffing_billy_festival_poetry_competition.pdf
File Size: 246 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

  • Puffing Billy 200 Challenge Sports Events (Heddon v Wylam)
                Football - Sunday 28 July 2013
                        Selman Field, Heddon on the Wall at 11am

                Cricket - date to be announced
                        Jubilee Field, Wylam at 2pm
Other local events

  • Tyne Riverside Country Park Spring Event: Newburn Visitor Centre: Sunday 26th May 2013 11am-5pm
  • 175th Anniversary of Newcastle to Carlisle Railway: Tuesday 18th June 2013
  • Heddon on the Wall St Andrew's Church Summer Fair: Saturday 22 June 2013,
    Knott Hall 1:30pm
  • Wylam Summer Fair: Saturday 22 June 2013
  • Lemington Summer Fair: Saturday 13th July 2013

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Replica of Puffing Billy, Beamish. Photo by Pauline Eccles (2011).
This is a replica of the world's oldest surviving steam locomotive. It was the first commercial adhesion steam locomotive, employed to haul coal chaldron wagons from the mine at Wylam to the docks at Lemington-on-Tyne in Northumberland. It is being prepared for its first morning run along the Pockerley Waggonway at Beamish Open Air Museum.
      © Copyright Pauline Eccles and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

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Road sign for Wylam village. Photo by A Curtis (2009).
© Copyright Andrew Curtis and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence
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Puffing Billy Brown Ale, Wylam Brewery.
Wylam Brewery's new Puffing Billy created in May 2013 is a smoked black bitter (5.5% abv) with a mellow blend of roast, cara and black malts..

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Puffing Billy. Picture published in 1876. From Grace's Guide.
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Puffing Billy. Picture published in 1894. From Grace's Guide.
Puffing Billy incorporated a number of novel features, patented by Hedley, which were to prove important to the development of locomotives. Piston rods extended upwards to pivoting beams, connected in turn by rods to a crankshaft beneath the frames, from which gears drove and also coupled the wheels allowing better traction. This was the first time that coupling had been employed on a locomotive.

The engine had a number of serious technical limitations. Relying on smooth wheels running on a smooth track, its eight-ton weight was too heavy for the rails and crushed them. This problem was alleviated by redesigning the engine with eight wheels so that the weight was spread more evenly. The engine was eventually rebuilt as a four-wheeler when improved track was introduced around 1830. It was not particularly fast, being capable of no more than 3 to 5 mph (5 to 8 km/h).

Puffing Billy was an important influence on George Stephenson, who lived locally, and its success was a key factor in promoting the use of steam locomotives by other collieries in north-eastern England. It also entered the language as a metaphor for an energetic traveller, so that phrases like "puffing like Billy-o" and "running like Billy-o" became common.
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The Test Carriage used at Wylam to establish the parameters allowing adhesion of iron wheels on iron rails. From Grace's Guide.

Text and pictures from Grace's Guide where there is more information and links.

The result of Mr Hedley's experiments with the underground carriages strengthened and confirmed in him the belief that if the wheels of an engine carriage were connected, it would by the friction of the wheels upon the rails, induced by its gravity alone, be enabled to overcome the resistance presented by an attached chain of carriages.

.... he resolved to test the experiment on a larger scale, one that should not by indecisive results leave anything to be determined.

Accordingly, in October 1812, a carriage was constructed and placed upon the railway. It had four wheels and was made of sufficient strength to allow of an engine to be placed upon it, if the experiment proved satisfactory. To prevent independent action of the fore and hind wheels of the carriage, they were connected by five teeth wheels......

Various parcels of iron, of ascertained weight, were placed upon it. The progressive motion of the carriage was effected by the application of men at the four handles, of which there were two at each side of the carriage .......

Messrs Blackett and Hedley congratulated each other on the certainty that the coals would now be conveyed by 'iron horses'.
From: Who Invented the Locomotive Engine? by Oswald Dodd Hedley (1858), describing events with the experimental carriage in Wylam in 1812 that proved the principal of adhesion.
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Blogs (on this site)

Puffing Billy & the Heddon Balloon
Tale of the Model Steam Locomotive at Close House
Memories of Wooden Waggonways & Wylam Dilly
The Waggoner, traditional Tyneside song
Excavation of waggonway in Newcastle
Wylam Waggonway
Lemington Staiths & Lemington Gut

Links - Press coverage

The Telegraph - 18 October 2009 - The Inventor of the Steam Locomotive  (letter)

Hexham Courant - 26 December 2012 - The village that turned pitmen into pioneers

BBC News - 11th February 2013 - Puffing Billy's 200th anniversary to be celebrated

Chronicle Live - 11 March 2013 - Puffing Billy steam locomotive celebrations planned in Wylam

Hexham Courant - 19 June 2013 - Tynedale was Cradle of Railway Age

ITV Tyne Tees - 2nd July 2013 - Celebrations as Puffing Billy returns home.

The Journal - 3 July 2013 - Wylam youngsters get hands-on with Puffing Billy train

Hexham Courant - 24 September 2013 - Wylam Puffing Billy Festival

Links - Other

YouTube: Puffing Billy Replica on Beamish Pockerley Waggonway

Beamish - Living Museum of the North

Cotton Times (Understanding the Industrial revolution) - William Hedley

Waverley Primary School - Puffing Billy Week

Northumberland Railway Walks - Puffing Billy 200

Robert Stephenson Trust - Puffing Billy

Locos in Profile - Pre-1825 Locomotives

Wylam Dilly - National Museums Scotland

Making the Modern World - Puffing Billy (animation of how the steam locomotive worked)

Photos of Puffing Billy at the Science Museum (2013)

Puffing Billy replica - Deutsches Museum (Munich)
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Puffing Billy 1813. US History Images, Published 1918.

Send a Puffing Billy eCard from the Look & Learn Picture Library to tell friends about the Puffing Billy Festival.

Bethany Bluebell Illustration
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