Furness Railway No.3 "Old Coppernob"
No. 3 Old Coppernob, Furness Railway (1846–1899)
Type and origin Power type Steam Builder Edward Bury Build date 1846
Specifications Configuration: ​  • Whyte 0-4-0  • UIC B Gauge 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge Driver dia. 4 ft 9 in (1.448 m) Total weight 19 long tons 10 cwt (43,700 lb or 19.8 t) (175,600 lb or 79,700 kg) Boiler pressure 110 psi (0.76 MPa) Cylinders Two, inside Cylinder size 14 in × 24 in (356 mm × 610 mm)
Performance figures Tractive effort 7,718 lbf (34.3 kN)
Career Operators Furness Railway Locale Great Britain First run February 1846 Withdrawn 1900 Disposition Housed as a static exhibit at Barrow 1900-1940s, now preserved.[1]

The Furness Railway No.3, nicknamed "Old Coppernob", is a preserved English steam locomotive. It acquired its nickname because of the copper cladding to its dome-shaped "haystack" firebox.^[2][3][4]

History

It was built in 1846 by Bury, Curtis, and Kennedy of Liverpool,^[5] a company with which the Furness Railway's first locomotive superintendent, James Ramsden, had been an apprentice. It is a four-coupled version of Edward Bury's popular bar-frame design of the period, with iron bar frames and inside cylinders, and is historically significant as the only survivor in the United Kingdom of this type. It is also one of the few items of rolling stock surviving from the Furness Railway whose Indian red livery it carries.

Withdrawal

It shared with three other similar engines all traffic on the Furness Railway for around six years. Latterly it was used for shunting around the docks at Barrow-in-Furness and on local duties, being withdrawn in 1900, completing nearly 55 years of service.^[6][7]

Preservation

It is now housed in the National Railway Museum, York. It has shrapnel wounds from German bombs, acquired during World War II when it was displayed in a glass pavilion at Barrow-in-Furness station.

In February 2007, No. 3 had one of its shedplates stolen at York. In 2014, it was placed on loan to the Dresden Transport Museum in Germany to take part in an exhibition celebrating the 175th anniversary of the Leipzig–Dresden railway due to its similarities to early locomotives built for the line.^[8]