Fowler's Ghost

The broad gauge locomotive used exhaust recondensing techniques and a large quantity of fire bricks to retain heat and prevent the emission of smoke and steam in tunnels.

At a railway select committee in 1855, Fowler had stated his intention "to start with our boiler filled with steam and water to such capacity and of such pressure that it will take its journey from end-to-end."

To avoid problems with smoke and steam overwhelming staff and passengers on the covered sections, Fowler proposed a unique fireless locomotive.

The locomotive was intended to operate conventionally in the open, but in tunnels dampers would be closed and steam would be generated using the stored heat from the fire bricks.

However, the conversion was left incomplete when Boulton's locomotive-hire business ceased trading in 1894; the locomotive was eventually scrapped by Beyer, Peacock and Company in 1895.