#0002
Salamanca
🇬🇧 United Kingdom ·built by Fenton, Murray and Jackson· from 1812· Early British steam locomotive (built 1812)
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1 photo from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. Blenkinsop's rack locomotive, 1812 (British Railway Locomotives 1803-1853): 1829 author unknown· Public domain
what is it?
Salamanca was the first commercially successful steam locomotive, built in 1812 by Matthew Murray of Holbeck, for the edge-railed Middleton Railway between Middleton and Leeds, England and it predated Stephenson's Rocket by 17 years. It was the first to have two cylinders. It was named after the Duke of Wellington's victory at the Battle of Salamanca which was fought that same year.
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 214 years ago, in 1812.
steam locomotive: Burns coal, wood or oil to boil water; the steam drives pistons that turn the wheels.
spec sheet
- built
- 1812
- in service from
- 1812
- number built
- 4
- kind
- Steam
- traction
- steam
- origin
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- builders
- Fenton, Murray and Jackson, Fenton, Murray and Wood
- operators
- Middleton Railway
- top speed
- 16 km/h
- power
- —
- gauge
- 1,245 mm narrow gauge
- wheel arrangement
- Four unpowered wheels
- weight
- 5 t
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q3032225, Wikipedia: Salamanca (locomotive) (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.