Title
Gorton Works Contractors' Drawings
Reference
GOR
Production date
1850 - 1950
Creator
- Gorton WorksBiographyBiography
During the early 1840s several companies were in negotiations for what would later be the formation of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR). One of these companies was the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway (SA&M). On 27 August 1845 the board of the SA&M decided to construct a locomotive depot and works, chose land at Gorton on the outskirts of Manchester and approved plans for construction on 4 March 1846. The works were planned by the locomotive superintendent Richard Peacock, then aged 26, who later became a partner in Beyer Peacock & Co. In the early 1850s he established their works directly opposite Gorton Works.
The works were completed by 1848. There were separate depots for locomotive work and for carriage and wagon work, the latter being on two floors with an elaborate lift system to take carriages to and from the first floor. In the early years work was confined to repairs and adjustments. A decision to build locomotives was made in 1857 and the first Gorton-built locomotive appeared in 1858.
For the whole of the life of the Works it was common to outsource construction, principally to Kitson & Co Ltd of Leeds, Beyer Peacock next door in Gorton, and Neilson & Co of Glasgow. Other contributors to the fleet included Stephensons, Armstrong Whitworth and Sharp Stewart.
Always confined as to space the Gorton Works soon earned the nickname of ‘The Tank’. Overcrowding became such that in 1910 a new site was opened at Dukinfield, to which carriage and wagon work was transferred in 1910.
In 1897 the MS&LR was re-styled as the Great Central Railway (GCR) in anticipation of the completion of its London extension. Its headquarters were removed to the London Terminus at Marylebone. Following amalgamation under the post-war grouping scheme in 1922 the GCR became in turn part of the London and North Eastern Railway. Locomotive construction was increasingly concentrated on the Darlington and Doncaster works, though a small amount continued after nationalisation under the aegis of British Railways. The last locomotives were built during 1950.
Scope and Content
The drawings held by the National Railway Museum do not represent the full range of locomotives repaired or constructed at the Gorton Works. They are confined to a number of rolls of contractor’s drawings. These are sets of drawings for particular types of locomotive produced by outside contractors. Originally covering all drawings that might be required for construction and repair, in virtually all cases the drawings showing the general arrangement of the locomotives and tenders are missing, but the bulk of the sets remains. In the majority of cases there is also an index with each set, listing the individual drawings originally provided.
The associated list provides a description of the sets of drawings as boxed, using any descriptive information found on the rolls. It does not list the individual drawings, which are in most cases still attached in their sets to wooden rods. To make the best use of the rolls some knowledge of the successive classification systems used by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR), the Great Central Railway (GCR), London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) and British Railways is required. In most cases the rolls already indicate the GCR and sometimes the LNER classification numbers, occasionally only a locomotive number series.
In the case of some sets of drawings, as well as the original drawing numbers for the set, there is also an LNER drawing number. However, to access individual drawings from the collection the only numbering system that works comprehensively is to use the box number, coupled with the drawing number as per the index. It is sometimes also necessary to distinguish whether the drawing relates to the locomotive or the tender where the latter are listed to a separate sequence.
Included within the collection are 64 drawings from the LNER period. These mostly relate to O1, O4, O5 and Q1 locomotives, though some other classes are included. These drawings have been separately listed.
Related to these drawings are the registers from the Gorton Works Drawing Office and a wide selection of drawing schedules, some of which will relate directly to the rolls of drawings in this collection.
A full listing can be found on the National Railway Museum website under 'Drawing Lists' at https://www.railwaymuseum.org.uk/research-and-archive/further-resources/catalogues.
Extent
44 boxes
Physical description
The majority of the drawings are wax linen affixed in sets to wooden rods. One or two rolls have become detached from their rolls. There are a small number of miscellaneous loose drawings and blueprints, mainly from the later London & North Eastern Railway period.
Language
English
Level of description
TOP
Repository name
National Railway Museum, York
Associated people and organisations
- Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway CoBiographyBiography
Incorporated by act of 5th May 1837. Under act of 1846 (9 & 10 Vic, cap.268), Sheffield, Ashton under Lyne & Manchester Railway Company; Great Grimsby & Sheffield Junction Rly. Co; Sheffield & Lincolnshire Junction Rly. Co; Sheffield & Lincolnshire Extension Rly. Co; and Grimsby Dock Co., were amalgamated to form Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway Company.
By act of 9th July 1847, Manchester & Lincoln Union Railway Company and Chesterfield & Gainsborough Canal Company were united with Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway Company. Latter company was re-incorporated under Consolidating Act of 1st August 1849, and by Great Central Railway Act of 3rd June 1897 name of Company was changed from 1st August 1897 to Great Central Railway Company. Great Central Railway Company was vested in London & North Eastern Railway Company as from 1st January 1923 by virtue of North Eastern, Eastern & East Scottish Group Amalgamation Scheme 1922 dated 30th December 1922
- Great Central Railway CoBiographyBiography
The Great Central Railway (GCR) began its existence in 1837 as the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway authorised to build a railway between Manchester and Sheffield via Woodhead. In 1846 it took over the Manchester & Lincoln Union Railway, the Sheffield & Lincolnshire Junction Railway and the Sheffield & Lincolnshire Extension Railway and changed its name to the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway. It changed its name again in 1897 when it became known as the Great Central Railway Company.
Until the building of the London Extension in 1893 its area of operations was east from Manchester to Sheffield and the south Yorkshire coalfields, and North Lincolnshire. It expanded westwards as a member of the Cheshire Lines Committee. As a result of its rivalry with the Great Northern Railway, it became a member of the Euston Square Confederacy (an anti-competitive conspiracy of the LNWR, LYR, East Lancashire and MR) from 1851 to 1857, when it settled its differences with GNR.
The GCR expanded southwards into Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. Its purpose was to collect coal traffic which was then forwarded to the GNR for delivery over the GNR’s system. However, the ambition of its chairman, Sir Edward Watkin, was to extend to London and beyond. The London Extension was completed in 1897. It ran from Annesley near Nottingham to Quainton Road, where it joined the Metropolitan Railway, and terminated in its new London terminus at Marylebone. The GCR subsequently built a new route jointly with the GWR via Aylesbury, Princes Risborough and High Wycombe to give it a second approach to Marylebone.
Its main works were at Gorton in Greater Manchester.
Sir Edward Watkin was appointed general manager in 1854 but resigned in 1862. He was chairman between 1864 to 1894. He was ambitious for the GCR and turned it from a provincial railway into a national one.
Sir Sam Fay became general manager in 1902. J G Robinson became chief mechanical engineer in 1900. His 2-8-0 became the Railway Operating Department’s locomotive during the Great War.
The GCR became part of the London & North Eastern Railway under Grouping in 1923. The London Extension and the lines through the Woodhead Tunnel have now been lifted.
- London & North Eastern Railway CoBiographyBiography
The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was one of the four railway companies that were formed in 1923 due to the amalgamation of 1921. During the First World War the government had taken control of the railways for the purpose of the war effort. After the war ended it was decided that the railway companies could not competitively return to their prior state, and so the decision was made to combine the 120 existing railway companies into four companies, which became known as ‘the big four’. Smaller railway companies were merged together to form LNER, these previous companies consisted of; Great Central Railway, Great Eastern Railway, Great Northern Railway, Great North of Scotland Railway, Hull and Barnsley Railway, North British Railway and the North Eastern Railway. LNER was the second largest company of the ‘Big Four’ in terms of route miles (total route mileage amounted to 6700) and became famous for its prestigious high speed trains, including the Flying Scotsman and the Mallard, which reached speeds of 126mph (breaking the world record for steam).
William Whitelaw, who was a public figure in Scotland, was appointed the first chairman of LNER operating mainly from the London headquarters. The management of LNER was decentralised as much as possible and one of Whitelaw’s main responsibilities became scrutinising proposals of expenditure, due to the shortage of investments. It was decided that the head of management should be Sir Lewis Wedgewood and it was under his management that three main headquarters should be created to best oversee the company. These areas were; Southern, North-Eastern, with offices being situated in York, and Scotland, which was then divided into Northern and Southern Scotland. By 1928 organisation in LNER had stabilised with the chairman being based in Marylebone, Chief General Manager being based in Kings Cross and the Southern headquarters being based in Liverpool.
Sir Nigel Gresley became the first Chief Mechanical Engineer of the company. Each of the big four had a Chief Mechanical and Electrical Engineering department which was formed in 1923 with the creation of each company and after nationalisation in 1948, one CM&EE department was created. Gresley became very influential in the company, not only due to his designs of the Flying Scotsman and the Mallard, but also his Pacific designs and long-distance locomotives with the ability to overcome difficult operating conditions. Gresley died in office in 1941 and was succeeded by Edward Thompson, who remained CME until 1946. Arthur Peppercorn, a student of Gresley’s, succeeded Thompson but remained CME for just 18 months, as nationalisation cut short his career.
After the Second World War all four railway companies were in financial trouble. The growth of road transport and the effects of the war had meant that each company was in need of severe maintenance work (LMS calculated it would have to spend £40 million on maintenance). Investors of the railways were also at a loss, the LNER’s investors had received no dividend since 1941. With the arrival of a new labour government in 1945, the decision to nationalise all public transport was put forward and in 1948 the ‘Big Four’ were replaced with the British Transport Commission, which separated LNER into Eastern and North Eastern Regions, as well as surrendering the Scottish territory.
Subject
Conditions governing access
Access is given in accordance with the NRM access policy. Material from this collection is available to researchers through Search Engine.
Conditions governing Reproduction
It is not possible to provide copies of these drawings, other than those from the two boxes of LNER drawings. None of the drawings have been microfilmed at this stage and there are no surrogates. It may be possible to trace microform versions on aperture cards for the missing General Arrangement drawings by reference to the former British Rail/ Oxford Publishing Co series available for reference at the National Railway Museum.
External document
Finding aids
There is a tabulated catalogue, which provides a listing of the boxes and a general description of their contents. As most rolls include an index and the numbering system within the rolls does not lend itself to a full list of the individual drawings, this has not been attempted. Individual drawings can only be identified by reference to the box listing and the roll index within the box. https://www.railwaymuseum.org.uk/research-and-archive/further-resources/catalogues
Related object
Appraisal
No appraisal has been undertaken.
System of arrangement
In the majority of cases the rolls of drawings have survived remaining attached to their sticks, and this arrangement has been maintained. The rolls have been boxed and sorted as complete sets in chronological order by company. There are a small number of drawings that do not fall into this sequence.
