science

Lyon, Hetton colliery railway

Lyon, Hetton colliery railway is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Lyon, Hetton colliery railway rather than just read about it. In short: The Hetton Colliery Lyon is an early British steam locomotive that still survives in preservation. It is remarkable for having continued working into the early 20th century.

Key takeaways

Lyon, Hetton colliery railway belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Lyon, Hetton colliery railway to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Lyon, Hetton colliery railway from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Hetton Colliery Lyon is an early British steam locomotive that still survives in preservation. It is remarkable for having continued working into the early 20th century.

Hetton Colliery

The Hetton colliery railway opened in 1822 with steam traction. Although once thought to date from this time, Lyon is now thought to have been built by the colliery in 1851-52. Its designer is thought to be an engineer named Young. A descendant, David Young, now works on the restoration of steam engines at Beamish. Lyon would have been of archaic design by 1852. The view has been put forward that it was one of a pair of replicas built by Sir Lindsay Wood (1834–1920) from interest in his father Nicholas Wood's earlier designs. The other example was destroyed by a boiler explosion in 1858/1859.

1882 rebuilding It was extensively rebuilt in 1882. This included modern features, such as paired Salter spring balance safety valves.

Late service

The locomotive continued in service at Hetton colliery until either 1908 or 1912. This was already remarkable at the time and a photograph of it was published in The Railway Magazine in 1905. It worked out its last days at the colliery driving machinery in the pit sawmill.

Preservation In 1925, the Stockton and Darlington Railway celebrated its centenary. The LNER organised a cavalcade of locomotives to commemorate this. Locomotion No. 1 was propelled by a dummy petrol engine in its tender, but Lyon was steamed and ran under its own power, leading the cavalcade of fifty three locomotives. The locomotive became part of the initial collection of the National Railway Museum at York. In 1974 was loaned to the new Beamish Museum where it was initially displayed in the Colliery and latterly at the Waggonway, together with working replicas of contemporary locomotives. In 2006 it was moved to the Locomotion museum at Shildon, but returned to Beamish in May 2011.

Dating There is some debate over the locomotive's original construction date, and even its name. Lowe (1975) gives the name as Lyons, but most current sources favour Lyon. Both are probably derived from the name of Hetton Lyons Colliery, which closed in 1960 and is now the site of an industrial estate and a country park. The Hetton colliery railway used steam locomotives from the outset; four built in 1820 and one in 1822. They were developments of George Stephenson's earlier Killingworth design. These were of 0-4-0 arrangement with two vertical cylinders, one above each axle, and the wheels coupled by drive chains. They used steam springs for suspension, there not yet being a way of forging an adequate steel spring to carry the weight of a locomotive. For many years, before and during preservation, it was thought that Lyon was one of this original group of locomotives, built in 1822. Lowe describes four named 1820 locomotives and an unnamed 1822 locomotive, which he identifies as this one, the only one to be preserved. Its designers were held to be George Stephenson and Nicholas Wood. It is now thought to have first been constructed in 1852, some years after Stephenson's death. The design is little changed from Stephenson locomotives of the 1820s (i.e. before Rocket) and this confused early researchers. The use of either the single flued boiler or the vertical cylinders were obsolete by Rocket. One distinctive difference from these locomotives was the enlarged smokebox with an easily opened door, providing more space for and easier cleaning of ashes.

Vertical-boilered Lyons

Two quite separate locomotives, Lyons and Eppleton, were built at the colliery much later on, similar to those also built locally by Head Wrightson. These were small vertical-boilered well tank, with chain drive from a small vertical engine. Lyons locomotive was described in The Locomotive Magazine in 1901. Lowe's view is that Lyon dates from 1822 and the Lyons he describes is this later locomotive with a vertical boiler and chain drive,.

Notes

References

External links

Beamish photostream @ Flickr

https://www.flickr.com/photos/janner2011/14810664347 https://www.flickr.com/photos/emdjt42/13910446739 https://www.flickr.com/photos/exfordy/6010012144 https://www.flickr.com/photos/nigelmenzies/13903006071

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Lyon, Hetton colliery railway

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Lyon, Hetton colliery railway claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Lyon, Hetton colliery railway before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Lyon, Hetton colliery railway ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Lyon, Hetton colliery railway

In research: Lyon, Hetton colliery railway appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Lyon, Hetton colliery railway in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Lyon, Hetton colliery railway is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 0-4-0 locomotives, Early steam locomotives, Individual locomotives of Great Britain, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Lyon, Hetton colliery railway outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Lyon, Hetton colliery railway in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Lyon, Hetton colliery railway means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
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Frequently asked questions

What is Lyon, Hetton colliery railway in simple terms?

The Hetton Colliery Lyon is an early British steam locomotive that still survives in preservation. It is remarkable for having continued working into the early 20th century.

Why does Lyon, Hetton colliery railway matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Lyon, Hetton colliery railway?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Lyon, Hetton colliery railway.