Manning Wardle

Manning Wardle was a steam locomotive manufacturer based in Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.

The pivotal Manning Wardle inside-cylinder design was an 0-4-0ST with 9-by-14-inch (230 by 360 mm) cylinders, one of which might have been owned by David Joy (it is described as being for sale in Leeds in 1856 in Vol.

Two of these, named Alliance and Victory were used in the Crimea; a contemporary descriptions of them in the Leeds press clearly show that the 'Railway Foundry 14-inch (360 mm) 0-6-0ST was the direct forerunner of the Manning Wardle 'Old Class I'.

The Chronicles of Boulton's Siding mentions a Railway Foundry 11-inch (280 mm) outside cylinder 0-4-0ST, but this work is notoriously unreliable.

After neighbours Hunslet Engine Co. had pioneered the 'Leeds Mainstream' pattern of narrow-gauge steam locomotive (full length outside mainframes; outside cylinders; proper locomotive-pattern boiler; direct drive to coupled wheels; foundation ring below top of frame level, and firebox width not constrained by wheelset 'back-to-back' dimension) with its Dinorwic in 1870, in 1871 Manning Wardle made series production of the type a serious proposition commencing with 18 in (457 mm) gauge 0-4-0ST Lord Raglan (No.

After the appearance of Hunslet's 0-6-4ST Beddgelert in 1877, the 'Leeds Mainstream' specification had truly come of age and the Boyne Engine Works went on to produce its own more sophisticated designs in the same vein, including the well-known 2-6-2T's for the Lynton & Barnstaple, 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) gauge 0-6-2's for India, and a pair of 2-6-4T's for South Africa.

[5] The company employed traditional construction throughout its existence and failed to take advantage of the more efficient mass production techniques becoming available.

The loss of Russian orders following the 1917 October Revolution and the imposition of a punitive Excess Profits Tax in 1921 played their part in bringing about the company's eventual demise, as did expenditure on a new Boiler Shop in 1924 in an attempt to modernise production methods.

After some years on static display at Kidderminster Railway Museum, restoration began in 2010 and as of 2021[update] is in progress at Bewdley.

Kitson & Co. made twenty-three locos of Manning Wardle design until the firm's withdrawal from locomotive manufacture and Robert Stephenson & Hawthorn produced a further five in 1940-1, all T class 0-6-0ST's for Stewarts & Lloyds.