John Blenkinsop

[1] He was born in Felling, County Durham, the son of a stonemason and was apprenticed to his cousin, Thomas Barnes, a Northumberland coal viewer.

Not all the land traversed by the wagonway belonged to Brandling, and it was the first railway to be authorised by Act of Parliament, since this would give him power to obtain wayleave.

Richard Trevithick had experimented with various models of steam locomotive, and in 1805 his work had culminated in an engine for the Wylam Colliery.

The cast-iron plated wood rails were unable to take the engine's heavy weight, however, and the initial attempt to convert to steam locomotion at Wylam was abandoned.

A shortage of horses and fodder brought about by the Napoleonic Wars had made steam traction a more attractive proposition and encouraged further development.

John Blenkinsop,upwards of twenty three yearsSteward to the Middleton Estatewho departed this life, January22nd 1831,[note 1] aged 47 years.Sincerely regretted by all who knew him.

The centenary observed - 25th Jan. 1931.John Blenkinsop invented the rack railway in 1811and on a line he built between Leeds and Middleton,4 Matthew Murray locomotives ran from 1812 to 1835.His system was adopted at Newcastle-on-Tyne in 1813and Wigan in 1814.