A Brief History of Beyer Peacock

Richard Peacock served his apprenticeship at Fenton Murray and Jackson in Leeds prior to becoming the locomotive superintendent at the Leeds and Selby railway. In 1854 he joined with the German Charles F Beyer to form Beyer Peacock & Co at Gorton.

See our who's who page of people.

Below is an excellent video giving a brief history of the company.


Beyer Peacock along with Herbert Garratt had an agreement to build locomotives to the Beyer Garratt articulated system. Below is a photo of one of the last to be built for South African Railways an NGG16, however this was built by Hunslet Engine (Andrew M Johnson). See our brief page about different articulated locomotive designs.
NGG16 built by Hunslet Engine for South African Railways

Early in the 1960's the company tried to change the works into diesel hydraulic locomotive production however insufficient orders arrived as British Railways was buying diesel electric locos.

For more information see:-
Title Author ISBN
The British Steam Railway Locomotive 1825-1925 E.L. Ahrons 9781851701032
British Steam Locomotive Builders James W Lowe 9781473822894
Garratt Locomotives of the World A E Durrant 1851701419

Acknowledgements

This article was produced by Andrew Johnson