Surprise (locomotive)

It became notorious after its boiler exploded and killed several crew members during unsuccessful trials in the early days of the Lickey Incline.

William Church, the Surprise's inventor, is mainly remembered for his typesetting machine, but also experimented with locomotives.

[1] His 0-2-2 well tank locomotive, exemplified by the Surprise, featured horizontal outside cylinders at the rear.

[3] On 10 November 1840, when the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway was looking for engines to work the Lickey Incline, the locomotive, now called Surprise, was brought in, and its boiler exploded at Bromsgrove Station.

Both crewmen, Thomas Scaife and John Rutherford, were killed and several people were injured.