View source for Fletcher, Jennings & Co.

{{Short description|Engineering company in England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2015}}
[[File:Talyllyn1904.jpg|thumb|right|''Talyllyn'' at the [[Talyllyn Railway]] in 1904]]

'''Fletcher, Jennings & Co.'''  was an engineering company at [[Lowca]] near [[Whitehaven]], [[Cumberland]], England.

==Overview==

[[File:Baxter at Sheffield Park 2011.jpg|thumb|left|Fletcher Jennings locomotive ''Captain Baxter'' at Sheffield Park Station on the Bluebell Railway]]Fletcher and Jennings took over the business of [[Tulk and Ley]] in 1857. From then, until 1884, the company concentrated on four and six-coupled industrial [[tank locomotives]], although other goods such as bridge girders, and blast-furnace shells for the burgeoning local iron industry, were also produced. By then nearly two hundred locomotives had been built and the company acquired limited liability as '''Lowca Engineering Company Ltd.'''

In 1905, the name changed again to the '''New Lowca Engineering Company Ltd.''', but the company was receiving fewer orders. After a disastrous fire in 1912, all production ceased and the company being finally wound up in 1927.

{{Clear}}

==Surviving locomotives==
Preserved locomotives manufactured by the company include:

{|class="wikitable"
!Name
!Gauge
!Type
!Build date
!Withdrawn
!Works number
!Notes
|-
|''[[Talyllyn (locomotive)|Talyllyn]]''
|rowspan="2"|{{RailGauge|2ft3in}}
|{{whyte|0-4-2|ST}}
|1864
|
|42
| rowspan="2" |Preserved on the [[Talyllyn Railway]] in mid Wales
|-
|''[[Dolgoch (locomotive)|Dolgoch]]''
|{{whyte|0-4-0|WT}}
|1866
| -
|63
|-
|''Sten Sture''
|{{RailGauge|2ft9in}}
|{{whyte|0-6-0|ST}}
|1873
| -
|119
|Rebuilt to Side Tank form.  Located in Sweden.
|-
|''Captain Baxter''
|{{RailGauge|ussg}}
|{{whyte|0-4-0|T}}
|1877
| -
|158
|Preserved on the [[Bluebell Railway]] in [[Sussex]]
|-
|''[[Townsend Hook (locomotive)|Townsend Hook]]''
|rowspan="2"|{{RailGauge|3ft2.25in}}
|{{whyte|0-4-0|T}}
|1880
|1952
|172L
|Preserved at [[Amberley Museum & Heritage Centre]] in Sussex.
|-
|''William Finlay''
|{{whyte|0-4-0|T}}
|1880
| -
|173L
|Bought by the [[Narrow Gauge Railway Museum]] in [[Tywyn]], [[Gwynedd]] in 2016 for display.
|-
|''Hariette''
|rowspan="3"|{{RailGauge|3ft}}
|{{whyte|0-4-2|T}}
|1883
| -
|190
| rowspan="3" |Located in Mauritius
|-
|''Regina''
|{{whyte|0-4-2|T}}
|1889
| -
|204
|-
|<nowiki>-</nowiki>
|{{whyte|0-4-2|T}}
|1890
| -
|207
|}

==Other locomotives==

Other locomotives manufactured by the company include:

*Brigham Hall/Rothersyke of the [[Cleator & Workington junction railway]]

==In fiction==
The fictional locomotives [[Skarloey]] and [[Rheneas]] from ''[[The Railway Series]]'' and ''[[Thomas and Friends]]'', were built by Fletcher, Jennings & Co. (being the twins of Talyllyn and Dolgoch, respectively) Captain Baxter also made an appearance in Railway Series book 18 ''Stepney the "Bluebell" Engine''.

Captain Baxter appeared in the movie ''[[Muppets Most Wanted]]'', modified to look like an old American locomotive and renamed to "Randy Stevenot No.3".

==Sources==

* Kyle, Ian "Steam from Lowca" (1974)
* Wear, Russell "Some further notes on the Lowca Works", ''Cumbrian Railways'', Feb 2002
* {{cite book |last=Coulls |first=Anthony |author-link=Anthony Coulls |date=July 2016 |title=The Lowca Legacy |publisher=Holne Publishing}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fletcher, Jennings and Co.}}
[[Category:Locomotive manufacturers of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Companies based in Cumbria]]
[[Category:Fletcher, Jennings locomotives]]


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