Sharp, Stewart and Company

Sharp, Stewart and Company was a British steam locomotive manufacturer that began in Manchester, England, and later moved to Glasgow, Scotland. The firm grew out of the Sharp Brothers and Sharp, Roberts and Company partnerships, and took the name Sharp, Stewart and Company in 1852 when Charles Patrick Stewart replaced the retiring senior partner John Sharp. In its Manchester years it built the Sharp single, an early standard express passenger locomotive of which around 600 were made between 1837 and 1857, and supplied engines to railways such as the Furness Railway, the Midland Railway and the Great Indian Peninsula Railway. The company also made and improved the Giffard injector for locomotive boilers. In 1888, after completing its 3,442nd locomotive at Manchester, it moved to the former Clyde Locomotive Company works at Springburn in Glasgow, renaming them Atlas Works. In 1903, having built 5088 engines, it amalgamated with Neilson, Reid and Company and Dubs and Company to form the North British Locomotive Company.