Fairlie
The company was the largest British builder of the Fairlie articulated locomotive. Among the first to be built at Bristol was James Spooner, in 1872, for the Ffestiniog Railway. Made to the same basic design as the remarkably successful Little Wonder, constructed by George England and Co. in 1869, it incorporated many detailed improvements and became the prototype for subsequent Ffestiniog Railway engines built in that company's works at Boston Lodge.
In 1872, on the recommendation of Sir Charles Fox and Sons, Avonside built two large 42-ton Fairlies for shipment to Canada, one each to the Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway and the Toronto and Nipissing Railway. The Avonside Works manager at the time these locomotives were built was Alfred Sacré, the brother of Charles Sacré, Locomotive Engineer of the Manchester Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway. Alfred Sacré trained under Archibald Sturrock at the Doncaster plant of the Great Northern Railway and in 1872 moved from Avonside to the Yorkshire Engine Company, Sheffield, where he built more Fairlie types.
Avonside locomotives were exported also to Uruguay, where two 1874 Fairlie type locomotives worked in the Ferrocarril y Tranvía del Norte, at Montevideo.
In 1874, New Zealand Railways ordered two types of double Fairlie locomotives from the company. Both the B class and E class double Fairlies were fitted with Walschaerts valve gear. This was the first use of this technology to be used in New Zealand, and is possibly the first time a British manufacturer supplied it. The B class lasted in service until the late 1880s. The E class were officially written off in 1899, but most were still in use during the First World War.
An single Fairlie was built for the Swindon, Marlborough and Andover Railway in 1878. This was the first British-based locomotive to use Walschaerts valve gear, which fitted entirely outside the wheelsets, leaving the space between the frames clear for the boiler.
In 1878–1879, on the recommendation of Robert Fairlie, Avonside built the R class of 18 single Fairlies for the New Zealand Government Railways. One, single Fairlie number 28 (of 1878) survives at Reefton.
4-6-0 types
Avonside was a very early British builder of tender locomotives with a wheel arrangement. Ten such narrow-gauge freight-hauling locomotives, weighing from 20 to 25 tons, were supplied to the Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway and the Toronto and Nipissing Railway. These very successful, reliable wood-burning locomotives pre-dated the first significant British domestic railway, the "Jones Goods", by more than 20 years.
