Wolverhampton railway works

Wolverhampton railway works

Wolverhampton railway works was in the city of Wolverhampton in the county of Staffordshire in England. It was located almost due north of the city centre, and it is commemorated with a small display of level crossing gates and a plaque. Known as the Stafford Road Works it was opened by the Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway in 1849 to maintain bought-in locomotives.

Overview

Wolverhampton works became the workshop of the Northern Division of the Great Western Railway in 1854 under Joseph Armstrong who had been in charge of maintenance for the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway at Saltney. The first broad gauge line arrived at Wolverhampton and the running shed was rebuilt. Locomotive repairs were concentrated in Wolverhampton, while carriage and wagon work was transferred to Saltney.

Locomotives

Joseph Armstrong was promoted to Swindon in 1854 and his brother George succeeded him. Wolverhampton became responsible for building standard gauge locomotives independently of Swindon and was expanded in 1858.

First to be produced were two 2-2-2 locomotives, 1859 designed by Joseph Armstrong. In 1875 Swindon were building and repairing standard gauge engines, however Wolverhampton was frustrated by a variety of different locomotives from the various lines that had been taken over. Much of its work, therefore, was in rebuilding and standardisation. However its independence showed when it turned out superficially similar engines to those produced in Swindon that, nevertheless had detail differences. In particular, while the livery of Swindon engines was leaf green and oak brown frames, Wolverhampton's were Dark Blue-green with red-brown frames.

The end of broad gauge

When broad-gauge was abolished in 1889 Swindon took over as the main locomotive builder. However Wolverhampton continued to build small tank locomotives. When George Armstrong retired, aged 75, in 1897, Swindon influence grew stronger. After producing some 800 standard gauge locomotives, all new building ceased in 1908. It continued to repair and overhaul all classes of locomotive from the humble tank engine to the King class and BR Standard locomotives until it closed in 1964.

References

* Simmons, J., (1986) "The Railway in Town and Country," Newton Abott: David & Charles
* Larkin, E.J., Larkin, J.G., (1988) "The Railway Workshops of Great Britain 1823-1986,' ' Macmillan Press

External links

* [http://www.localhistory.scit.wlv.ac.uk/Museum/Transport/Trains/trains.htm Locomotive Building in Wolverhampton]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Swindon Railway Works — Die Swindon railway works waren ab 1841 die Zentralwerkstätte und spätere Lokomotivfabrik der Great Western Railway (GWR) in Swindon, Grafschaft Wiltshire in England. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Geschichte 1.1 Anlass und Initiative 1.2 Frühe Jahre …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Wolverhampton —   City   City of Wolverhampton …   Wikipedia

  • Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway — [v · d · …   Wikipedia

  • Wolverhampton — Wolverhampton …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Locomotives of the Great Western Railway — The Great Western Railway had an uninterrupted life of over a century to develop its locomotive designs as it was barely affected by the Grouping of 1923. As a result its locomotive history is a long and interesting one. BackgroundNumbering and… …   Wikipedia

  • South Wales Mineral Railway — The South Wales Mineral Railway was a broad gauge railway at Briton Ferry, Glamorgan, Wales. It only operated goods trains. It was leased to the Glyncorrwg Coal Company, which became the Glyncorrwg Colliery Company Limited in 1870. It was… …   Wikipedia

  • Bishops Castle Railway — The original plan behind the Bishops Castle Railway in 1861 was to build a line from Craven Arms to Montgomery, thus linking the Shrewsbury to Hereford line to the Oswestry to Newtown, Powys line (later called the Cambrian Line), linking Mid… …   Wikipedia

  • Railway signal — Not to be confused with Railway signalling. A signal is a mechanical or electrical device erected beside a railway line to pass information relating to the state of the line ahead to train/engine drivers. The driver interprets the signal s… …   Wikipedia

  • Great Western Railway — The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company and a notable example of civil engineering, linking London with the West Country, South West England and South Wales. It was founded in 1833, kept its identity through the 1923… …   Wikipedia

  • Droitwich Spa railway station — Droitwich Spa Location …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”