Puffing Billy, 1862 (photo mounted on card)

View of 0-4-0 tender steam locomotive `Puffing Billy' with driver and fireman. `Re-constructed at Wylam Colliery by Mr. Jonathon Forster. Colliery Engineer. 1813 The engine had a cast iron boiler, one cylinder and a fly wheel, but owing to the boiler exploding, the engine was re-constructed.' Wylam is situated close to the north bank of the Tyne, in the parish of Ovingham, and about 9 miles west-by-north from Newcastle. John Blackett (1712-1779) established coal mining and Wylam Colliery in the township in the mid-18th century The Blackett family were keenly involved in the development of steam power for the improvement of coal transportation;the waggonway connecting the colliery to the River Tyne at Lemington was built in 1748 and the colliery continued to flourish until about 1870. Puffing Billy was built 1813 and remained in service at the colliery until 1862, when it was lent to the Patent Office Museum in South Kensington, which became the Science Museum. It is the oldest surviving locomotive in the world.