Furness Railway No. 1 to 4 “Old Coppernob”

The first four locomotives of the Furness Railway were four 0-4-0, of which No. 3 “Old Coppernob” is the most well-known and the only one that survived to this day. Today it is also one of only three surviving locomotives with a Bury bar frame. Numbers 1 and 2 were delivered by Bury, Curtis and Kennedy in 1844 and had a boiler with a pressure of 80 psi and cylinders with a diameter of 13 inches. Numbers 3 and 4 followed in 1846 and had not only a pressure of 110 psi, but also a cylinder diameter of 14 inches. With a heating area of 940 square feet, the boiler was larger than that of most contemporary standard gauge locomotives.

In 1870, they were replaced by new passenger locomotives. Numbers 1 and 2 were withdrawn only a short time later. 3 and 4 continued to be used as shunters at the Barrow docks and were only withdrawn in 1898. Since No. 3 was the locomotive that hauled the first passenger train of the Furness Railway, it was preserved. It has been operational for the last time in the nineties and still carries its original Indian Red livery and copper-covered firebox. Due to its appearance, it is world-famous under the name “Old Coppernob”. Today, it can be found in the National Railway Museum at York.