Rambles on Railways

by Sir Cusack P. Roney

“After passing through a workshop,” continues Sir Francis, “containing thirty-four planing and slotting machines, in busy but almost silent operation, we entered a smiths’ shop, 260 feet long, containing forty forges all at work. At several of the anvils there were three, and sometimes four strikers, and the quantity of sparks that more or less were exploding from each, the number of sledge-hammers revolving in the air, with the sinewy frames, bare throats and arms of the fine hale men who wielded them, formed altogether a scene well worthy of a few moments’ contemplation. As the heavy work of the department is principally executed in this shop, in which iron is first enlisted and then rather roughly drilled into the service of the company, it might be conceived that the music of the forty anvils at work would altogether be rather noisy in concert. The grave itself, however, could scarcely be more silent than this workshop, in comparison with the one that adjoins it, in which the boilers of the locomotives are constructed. As for asking questions of, or receiving explanations from, the guide who, with motionless lips, conducts the stranger through this chamber, such an effort would be utterly hopeless; for the deafening noise proceeding from the riveting of the bolts and plates of so many boilers is distracting beyond description. We almost fancied that the workmen must be aware of this effect upon a stranger, and that on seeing us enter they welcomed our visit by a special charivari sufficient to awaken the dead. As we hurried through the din, we could not, however, help pausing for a moment before a boiler of copper inside and iron outside, within which there sat crouched up, like a negro between the decks of a slave-ship, an intelligent-looking workman, holding with both hands a hammer against a bolt, on the upper end of which, within a few inches of his ears, two lusty comrades on the outside were hammering with surprising strength and quickness. The noise which reverberated within this boiler, in addition to that which was resounding without, formed altogether a dose which it is astonishing the tympanum of the human ear can receive uninjured; at all events we could not help thinking that if there should happen to exist on earth any man ungallant enough to complain of the occasional admonition of a female tongue, if he will only go by rail to Crewe, and sit in that boiler for half-an-hour, he will most surely never again complain of the chirping of that ‘cricket on his hearth,’ the whispering curtain lectures of his dulce domum.”

It is impossible to follow and narrate, in a work of this description, all the details of manufacture by which the rough masses of iron, steel, copper, and brass become converted into the perfect locomotive. We therefore close these extracts from Sir Francis’ pleasant book, by what he says of the erecting-shop at Crewe, it being remembered that production being now more than double what it was in 1849, the delivery of an engine every three days is its usual amount, and sixteen or eighteen times a-year there is an interval of only two working days between the births of two engines:—

“At the farther end of the line of rails close to the north wall, there appeared a long, low, tortuous mass of black iron-work, without superstructure or wheels, in which the form of an engine-bed in embryo could but very faintly be traced. A little nearer was a similar mass, in which the outline appeared, from some cause or other, to be more distinctly marked; nearer still, the same outline appeared upon wheels. To the next there had been added a boiler and a fire-box, without dome, steam escape, or funnel-pipe. Nearer still, the locomotive engine, in its naked state, appeared in point of form complete, and workmen were here busily engaged in covering the boiler with a garment about half an-inch thick of hair-felt, upon which others were affixing a covering of inch deep plank, over which was to be tightly bound a tarpaulin, the whole to be secured by iron hoops. In the next case the dome of the engine was undergoing a similar toilette, excepting that, instead of a wooden upper garment, it was receiving one of copper. Lastly (it was on a Saturday that we chanced to visit the establishment), there stood, at the head of this list of recruits, a splendid bran-new locomotive engine, completely finished, painted bright green (the varnish was scarcely dry), and in every respect perfectly ready to be delivered over on Monday morning to run its gigantic course. On other rails within the building were tenders in similar states of progress; and, as the eye rapidly glanced down these iron rails, the finished engine and tender immediately before it seemed gradually and almost imperceptibly to dissolve in proportion to its distance, until nothing was left of each but an indistinct and almost unintelligible dreamy vision of black iron-work.”

In 1849 the coach repairing business of the northern division of the company, as well as the locomotive establishments, were at Crewe, but by a recent arrangement all the locomotive staff and material which existed at Wolverton (for it was, until the transfer, both the engine and the carriage repairing establishment of the southern division of the London and North-Western Company) have been removed to Crewe. Wolverton has received the carriage repairing establishment of Crewe, and henceforward its duties will be limited to this service. As regards waggons and all the rolling stock relating to the goods department, a separate establishment has been formed at Earlestown, near the junction station of that name, 187 miles from London. By this arrangement Crewe will shortly be able to turn out some thirty or forty more engines a year, bringing the regular number of engines manufactured up to three a week,—of the money value of fully £7,000.

Let us now give some details of the growth of Crewe in the last nineteen years. In 1849, as has just been stated, 1,600 men and boys were employed there, averaging £1 a week each in wages. At present the number of workmen of all kinds employed, including the locomotive works, the steel works (of which anon), rail making, and “the steam shed,” is about 4,350. It is never at present under 4,300. The wages due to “the hands” each week is £5,050, so that the average per person employed has increased from £1 a week in 1849, to £1. 3s. 3d. at present. In 1849 there were 360 miles “worked” by Crewe. Now the number is 1,328. In 1849 there were about 100 “Crewe engines” in steam daily; now there are from 800 to 850, varying according to the amount of work that has to be gone through.

Among the additional buildings which have very recently been erected is a new repairing shop, capable of accommodating thirty-two engines. It is fitted up with travelling cranes, worked by cord, on the principle invented and employed by Mr. Ramsbottom. Full and interesting particulars of this, and the other machinery now adopted at Crewe, will be found in the Engineer newspaper of February 9th and 16th, 1866, and in Engineering of the 25th of October, 1867.

In addition to the cranes just referred to, one has recently been supplied to the new iron foundry, in which are placed two very large cupolas required for the heaviest castings. This crane is capable of sustaining a weight of thirty tons; a smaller one lifts ten tons. There are also two hydraulic cranes, similar to those invented by Bessemer, for hoisting ingots out of the converting pit at the steel works; also a hoist worked by hydraulic machinery for lifting metal, coke, &c., from the ground floor to the firing stage of the cupolas. In the same range are a brass foundry, millwrights’ shop, carpenters’ shop and saw-mill, the whole covering an area of about 112,000 superficial feet.

Before quitting the subject of locomotive repairs, it must be stated that there are—what on other railways would be called large shops—minor establishments at Carlisle, at Camden, at Edge Hill, near Liverpool, at Longsight, near Manchester, and at Preston. The very heavy repairs, however, which all engines require from time to time are done exclusively at Crewe.

But, besides locomotive work at Crewe on the foregoing gigantic scale, and in all its infinities, the London and North-Western Company decided in 1863 to commence the manufacture not only of rails on the ordinary system, but also upon the new and marvellous process known as the “Bessemer Process,” so called after the name of the distinguished gentleman who is its inventor. Thanks to this process, of which, owing to the scope and character of our work, we can only say a few words, a most important saving in the items of maintenance and renewals, is about to be effected on railways. The Bessemer works at Crewe were opened in September, 1864. The number of men exclusively employed at them is 378, and their wages are £444 a week. In the article of steel rails alone, the works turn out at the rate of 6,000 tons a year, and this is exclusive of the number of steel tires, axles, &c., also manufactured there. This number is increasing daily, owing to the increased economy effected by their introduction.[70] The amount of iron rails also manufactured is about 14,000 tons a year. As renewals of rails are required on those parts of the system where the traffic is heavy and the trains are frequent, iron will be superseded by steel rails. It is probable that, eventually, the latter only will be found on the London and North-Western system. This, however, is not likely to be the case for some years to come. In the meantime, the iron rails constructed at Crewe, being so much superior in quality to those manufactured by the iron masters, will carry the traffic on the less frequented portions of the line, and will cost less for maintenance and renewal than steel rails at their present prices. The cost of their production will, however, no doubt, he greatly diminished in the course of the next three or four years. Mr. Bessemer’s royalties, unless he obtain renewal of his patents, will cease about that period.