The f ireless locomotive forms a very interesting chapter in our railway histor y. With limited steam capacit y, they were never repurposed for passenger ser vices like ot her shunting locomotives were in the twilight of steam, such as the famous GWR pannier tanks, and as such were never truly part of the public gaze. Yet, as enthusiasts mourned the death of steam in the late 1960s and bid farewell to industrial steam in the 1970s, many of these unassuming locomotives still continued to carry out their daily duties into the 1980s and, in a few cases, as recent ly as the 1990s. Often, where they have survived into preser vation, they are tucked away in museums if they are lucky – or, for the less fortunate, decaying in the open air behind the back of sheds. Barely any remain in operationa l condition. On the continent, however, several are still in use to this day, becoming part of the histor y of the f ireless locomotive, which stretches back to the late 19th centur y.
The idea of f ireless locomotives may have been first f loated as early as the 1860s. In 1864, noted American locomotive designer Zerah Colburn reportedly suggested a f ireless locomot ive as a means to safely run trains through the newly-opened Metropolitan Ra i lway, the London Underground, but this idea did not come to pass. It wou ld take a dentist to make the idea of a f ireless locomotive a rea lit y. The dentist in question was Dr Emile Lamm, an inventor whose patents included gold fillings before he turned his hand to steam locomotives. Dr Lamm was responsible
