British Mannesman Tube Company 0-4-0 Locomotives in Great_Britain

Class unknown (Locobase 12392)

See "The Brotan Boiler and Firebox," The Railway Times, Volume 93, No 5 (1 February 1908), p. 105. See also Locobase 1580 for a detailed description of the Brotan boiler and reference to other contemporary descriptions.

In this entry, it suffices to say that the firebox was a combustion chamber formed out of water tubes that were gathered together in a steam drum overhead. The tubes also extended underneath to form the foundation ring. A narrow cylinder mounted along the centerline over the firebox joined with a larger-diameter cylinder over the boiler section. The upper boiler was supported on the lower boiler by three large pipes that allowed steam to circulate in both sections. The upper half collected the steam chamber and had the steam and sand domes riding on it.

The tank engine produced for the Mannesman works had long side tanks that partially obscured the double boiler. Another unusual feature was the relatively long wheelbase for a fout-coupled tank locomotive.

Richard Mannesmann's seamless tube process was licensed by a British company in 1885 for production at a plant in Landore in South Wales. Although the original company went into receivership in 1899, its successor, British Mannesmann, proved quite successful and remained in business under German and, for 12 years after its seizure in World War I, British management until it was bought out by Stewarts & Lloyd in 1938.

Locobase notes especially Beyer, Peacock's adventuresome spirit, which was further expressed in the same period by the firm's adoption (and very successful exploitation) of Herbert Garratt's articulated tank locomotive design.