Isaac Dodds and Son facts for kids

Isaac Dodds and Son was a company that built locomotives (train engines). It was located in Rotherham, a town in South Yorkshire, England. Isaac Dodds took over part of a factory that used to belong to Samuel Walker and Company. He probably used it to fix or even build new engines for the Sheffield and Rotherham Railway, where he was a manager.

History of Isaac Dodds

Isaac Dodds was born on July 9, 1801, in a place called Felling Hall in County Durham. When he was four, his father, who managed a coal mine, passed away. A local clerk named Willie Woolhave helped Isaac with his schooling. Isaac was very good at math and drawing.

Around 1813, when Isaac was about 12 years old, he started training as a mining engineer. He worked for his uncle, Ralph Dodds, at the Killingworth Colliery (a coal mine). When George Stephenson, a famous engineer, joined Killingworth around 1815, he and Ralph Dodds worked together on a new steam engine. Young Isaac built a model of this engine. He used coupling rods instead of gears in his model, and this idea was then used by Ralph and George for their real engine!

In 1832, Isaac Dodds started working for the Horsley Iron Company. He designed a winning locomotive called Star, which was built in 1833. He left the Ironworks in 1836 after an accident caused him to lose his right eye.

Later, Isaac Dodds started his own company, the Holmes Engine and Railway Works. He bought a factory that used to make candles and soap.

Building Locomotives

The first known locomotive built by Isaac Dodds's company was an 0-4-2 type engine named Fitzwilliam. It was made in 1849 for the South Yorkshire Railway. Overall, the company built about seventy locomotives.

One of their engines, a 2-4-0 type named Ysabel, was tested on a very steep railway line called the Lickey Incline in 1853. It worked quite well, but no more engines like it were ordered.

The biggest order the company received was for twelve 2-4-0 locomotives. These were for the Isabel II Railway in Spain in 1856. However, for some reason, the company was never paid for these engines. This was very bad for the company's money situation.

Company Closing Down

In 1866, Isaac Dodds and Son received an order for two locomotives from the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway. The railway wanted them delivered in just three months. The company could not meet this deadline. By 1867, the company had to close down. Even though the order was canceled, work had already started on the engines. An official manager finished building them, and they finally started running in 1871.

Cool Inventions

Isaac Dodds was known for his special inventions. He had a patent for something called "wedge valve gear", which was an important part of how steam engines worked. In 1839, Isaac Dodds was also the first to attach the boiler of a locomotive only at the front end. This allowed the boiler to expand and contract safely when it got hot and cold.

Images for kids

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  Advertisement for Isaac Dodd's Engine Works at Holmes from Drake's Road Book of the Sheffield and Rotherham Railway, 1840.