
Edward Bury

Edward Bury (22 October 1794 – 25 November 1858) was an English locomotive manufacturer. Born in Salford, Lancashire, he was the son of a timber merchant and was educated at Chester.
Career.
By 1823 he was a partner in Gregson and Bury's steam sawmill at Toxteth Park, Liverpool, but in 1826 he set himself up as an iron-founder and engineer. His original premises were in Tabley Street near the Liverpool and Manchester Railway's workshops. He hoped to supply locomotives to that line, but opposition from the L&M Engineer, George Stephenson, thwarted this.
Clarence Foundry & Steam Engine Works.
He moved his works to new premises in Love Lane, Liverpool, on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal and near the Clarence Dock, hence the name 'Clarence Foundry and Steam Engine Works'. Around this time he recruited as his manager James Kennedy, who had gained locomotive building experience working for George Stephenson and Mather, Dixon and Company. The first locomotive built by Edward Bury and Company, "Dreadnought", was intended to compete in the Rainhill Trials, but could not be finished in time. It was a 0-6-0 and did some ballasting work on the L&MR but is said to have been objected to because it was on six wheels. It was sold to the Bolton and Leigh Railway in 1831. 
Bury's second locomotive "Liverpool" was on four wheels, and was tried on the Liverpool & Manchester but the objection this time was to the size of the wheels, 6 feet in diameter, described as "dangerous" by George Stephenson. The wheels were reduced to 4 feet 6 inches, but this engine also went to the Bolton & Leigh. Thereafter, Bury only succeeded in selling one engine, "Liver", to the Liverpool & Manchester Railway.
"Liverpool" combined near-horizontal inside cylinders with a multitubular boiler and a round, dome-topped firebox, mounted on a simple wrought-iron bar-frame inside the wheels, rather than wooden outside frames and inside iron sub-frames. This was a well thought-out and advanced design, which lasted. Most subsequent Bury locomotives followed this same basic design, which was copied by other firms, in Europe and the U.S.A.
London & Birmingham Railway.
In 1836 Bury became the Contractor for Locomotive Power on the new London & Birmingham Railway; the railway company would provide locomotives to Bury's specification, while he would maintain them in good repair and convey each passenger at a farthing per mile, and each ton of goods at one halfpenny per mile; the passenger trains to be limited to 12 carriages and the speed not to exceed 22.5 mph. This system never worked in practice and in July 1839 the contract was annulled, and Bury became the Manager of the Locomotive Department, paid in the normal way, with a profit-linked bonus. At first he adopted a firm policy of using only 4-wheeled engines. Of the original L&BR stock of 90 engines, Bury's firm built exactly half.
Birmingham and Gloucester Railway.
In 1838 Bury was appointed as locomotive agent and advisor to the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway (B&GR). Bury immediately sourced two secondhand locomotives and the building of four Forrester singles. Bury refused to supply locomotives for the steep Lickey Incline, though was contracted to design a stationary engine for the slope. The B&GR's engineer Captain Moorsom overrode Bury and purchased from Norris Locomotive Works of America not only bank engines for Lickey Incline but further locomotives for the railway as well.