The Vulcan Foundry was established at Newton-le-Willows by Charles Tayleur in 1830 and in 1832 it started producing girders for bridges, switches and crossings, and other ironwork following the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway

In 1884 the 1,000th locomotive was completed at the Newton-le-Willows works. By 1898 the foundry had produced 1,500 locomotives making in the fourth largest locomotive constructor in Britain. More than two-thirds of its output was exported. The majority of exports were built to standard gauge. By 1914 the number produced had increased to 3,000 locomotives.