Lion

Built by Sharpe Roberts Lion was arguably the best of the early engines, with the exception of the Star Class.   Lion ran 97,018 miles. before being  retired after and accident in 1847.   According to 1849 returns the next nearest engine in mileage was Bacchus with 34,357 miles. Most of the early engines went 25,000 miles or less, one only 7800 miles. An early accident report noted Lion  running with a piece of a tyre missing..  In those difficult days in 1838-39 when both drivers and fitters went to sleep standing, from overwork,  Lion seems to have always been able to make one more trip. Field expedient repair was the order of the day.  Engines carried a toolbox on the tender and the enginemen cleaned, greased, oiled and changed packing  at every turn.   Only heavy repairs were done by the fitters. While this seemed to keep Lion going better than most, ultimately it was Lion's downfall.  In 1847 both the driver and his fireman were prying, with a long poker, in an attempt to straighten a bent rod when the poker slipped and put a hole in the portion of the boiler surrounding the firebox.  Lion was repaired and made into a stationary engine "capable of being returned to service," but in fact it never was.

* Sister engines Atlas and Eagle were rebuilt as tank engines in 1860 and survived until the early 1870s                     

**   Based on a modern extrapolation using published data from Iron Duke, Great Western and Ixon