Newton-le-Willows
the history of our local area
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Content & Copyright
Most all items in the gallery are scanned from items owned by Steven Dowd, a few items in the gallery have been scanned from photos or postcards owned by others, and are shown here with their permissionThe content and Images within this website, unless otherwise noted, are the copyright of Steven Dowd ©2001-2009.
| A history of the Vulcan Foundry |
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| Written by Steven Dowd | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Page 4 of 7 Period: 1895-1914.
Sir (then Mr.) William Collingwood, had taken over the management from Mr. W. F. Gooch, and under his direction, the Works were rapidly extended, and the personnel duly increased—in 1905 the labour force had been built up to 1,390. There can be no doubt that Sir William Collingwood's engineering skill and organising ability contributed largely to raising the Company to such a favourable position in the Locomotive industry. He was intensely interested in the subject of Locomotive design, he was original in thought, and possessed a charm of manner which endeared him to all with whom he was associated. He was the son of Mr. George Collingwood of the Hon. East India Company's home establishment, and a descendant of the famous Admiral Collingwood, and was born in London 1855. In 1872 he entered upon a pupilage under Mr. W. Adams at Bow on the North London Railway for two years, and afterwards at Stratford on the Great Eastern Railway for three years. In 1878 he joined the East Indian Railway as Assistant Locomotive Superintendent, and subsequently rose to the rank of District Locomotive Superintendent ; before leaving India in 1892 he acted as Chief Locomotive Superintendent. During the greater part of his service in India, he was in charge of the Allahabad district, covering some 900 miles of line.
It was part of my duties as a boy, to open the morning correspondence for Sir William, and he always had a cheery word for the juniors when entering the office. One winter's day, another junior and 1 discovered that a certain executive had, very unwisely, left open his cupboard containing a half bottle of whisky which, withyouthful bravado we proceed to sample. When Sir William chanced to remark that we were in good ''spirits'' that morning, he little knew that he was so dangerously near the truth.
One of the workers, Mr Sansom recounted some memories from this period, he states "Mr. James Nichols was Chief Accountant during my early years; his grim countenance and gruff voice hid a kindly heart. He once suspended me for a fortnight for some boyish prank, and to my surprise and delight, paid me for it. Mr. Tom Fairclough was second-in-command to Mr. Nichols. He was known as ''Gammy'' Fairclough, due to his propensity for writing with his left hand, but he was ambidextrous, and could write equally well with either. Mr. Willan was Works Manager for a while ; he had a steam-car fired with coke from the rear end of the chassis, and the story goes that he pulled-up to give a lift to the then Chief Draughtsman, Mr. McLay, but Mr. McLay declined the offer, stating that he was in a hurry ! This was before the era of motor transport as we know it to-day, and packing cases were taken to the Goods Station by horse and cart, a labourer taking the smaller parcels by wheel-barrow. Old Tom Carter was in charge of the stables, which were situated where the lecture room stands to-day. I occasionally ran errands for him, and he used to reward me with a handful of horse-beans!" The Vulcan Institute was opened in 1907 and except for the addition of forty-eight feet to the length of the main dining hall at the east end, outwardly appeared then much as it is to-day. We have had passed on to us a programme of the "First Popular Concert for Members and Friends" held in The Vulcan Locomotive Works Institute on Saturday, November 28th, 1908. The artists taking part included the Misses M. Jackson, J. Howard & A. Grissold, Messrs. A. R. Hill, A. Grissold & W. Hems with a choir conducted by Mr. R. J. Hughes and the accompanist Miss D. Profit. To revert to Locomotive Production, thirty mixed traffic 4-6-2 tender engines were built in 1902-3 for the Western Australian Government Railways. The Great Western Railway had imported a French express engine in 1904, and The Vulcan Foundry were invited by the Great Northern Railway to submit designs for a 4-cylinder Atlantic type balanced compound engine on the De Glehn system, for trial, to prove that British Engineers could do as much as the Continental. The design was accepted, and the engine, after delivery, was subjected to exhaustive trials alongside simple engines of the same general type, and showed decided advantages in economy. Two features peculiar to this engine, were the; Vulcan Patent Starting Valve and Reversing Gear. After hearing the result of the trials of this engine, the Buenos Ayres Great Southern Railway ordered eight of a somewhat similar type. Some powerful 2-8-0 goods engines were built for the broad gauge Indian Railways in 1907 andgave a good account of themselves hauling heavy loads over certain sections of the Bengal Nagpur Line. A considerable number of standard 0-6-0 goods engines were delivered to the North Western Railway of India in 1908, and these proved very efficient on mixed traffic duties. For the difficult transport of all kinds of traffic over the Argentine Transandine Railway, which operates on the Eastern slopes of the Andes, three powerful 2-8-4 side tank engines were built by The Vulcan Foundry in 1909, to suit the metre gauge track. During this period, considerable developments were made in tank engine designs and a series of large standard 2-6-4 side tank engines were delivered to the East Indian Railway for heavy fast local traffic, with its accompanying frequent halts.
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