to the London, Brighton and South-Coast Railway Company, adjacent to
the East-end of the Park, Victoria Road, built about seven years since,
show a marked difference to the small wooden shed they erected some
eighteen years ago when they had convenience for only four engines.
The present sheds are very soundly built, and can accommodate 56
engines which work from the end of the line, there being 63 engines
at work when there is no extra traffic, which is not very often the
case. The locomotive staff numbers upwards of 300 hands, the major
part being drivers, firemen, and cleaners, who muster 200. They have
every facility for doing work required in a prompt manner. There is an
engine-hoist which will lift an engine of forty or more tons in a very
short time. The break-down van stands in one of the sheds ready at a
moment's notice for any casualty that might happen. This is fitted up
with hydraulic apparatus and every appliance for getting engines and
other vehicles on the line quickly. The method of coaling engines is
very good. Half-ton trolleys are loaded out of the trucks of coal,
which can be moved with ease by one man on the iron-plated coal stage,
from which it is shot on the tender of the engine; so that one man can
in a few minutes put one or two tons of coal on a tender. Three hundred
tons of coal are kept in stock, and the weekly consumption is about
five hundred tons. The sheds are remarkably clean, being constantly
whitewashed, and the engines, which are kept clean and fresh painted,
to use a figurative expression, are perfect pictures. The passenger
engines are a light brown color and the goods engines are a dark green.
The offices attached to the sheds are at the entrance in one of the
railway arches, and suit in every way the requirements of the place,
and when inside one would hardly think it was only a railway arch.
Other arches have been fitted up as work-shops for the mechanics, and
another arch is entirely appropriated for the stores. Also an arch has
been utilized so as to form a comfortable mess-room for enginemen and
firemen, with cooking apparatus, lockers, and lavatory; adjoining which
is a room similarly fitted up for the engine cleaners. Although these
works are fraught with many dangers, it is rarely that any serious
casualty occurs. District Loco. Superintendent, Albany Richardson,
Esq.; Assistant Superintendent, Mr. John Richardson.
There are two gauges known as the Stephenson or narrow gauge, 4-ft.
8½-in., and the broad gauge 7 feet between the rails introduced by the
younger Brunel on the Great Western Railway.
The locomotives on the Brighton and South-Coast Railway are constructed
for the narrow gauge. The "Kensington," No. 205, belonging to the
London, Brighton and South-Coast Railway Company, is a four-wheel
coupled engine, designed by W. Stroudley, Esq., Locomotive Engineer.
Diameter of cylinders, 17 inches; stroke, 24 inches; diameter of
driving and trailing wheels, 6 feet 6 inches; leading wheel, 4 feet 3
inches; wheel base, 16 feet 3 inches; number of tubes, 260; diameter of
ditto outside, 1½ inch; length of ditto, 10 feet 11¾ inches; area of
fire-grate, 10.25 square feet; pressure of steam, 140 lbs. per square
inch; tube surface, 1,125 square feet; fire-box surface, 112 feet;
total surface, 1,237. The total weight of this class of engine and
tender when loaded is about 50 tons, and will convey a load of 236 tons
at a speed of 40 miles an hour.
This class of engine was constructed for running the express traffic,
which in the season is very heavy on this line. Cost of engine about
£2500.
"A pint of water is converted into two hundred and sixteen gallons
of steam by two ounces of coal, and has sufficient power to lift
thirty-seven tons; the steam thus produced has a pressure equal to that
of common atmospheric air. By allowing it to expand, by virtue of its
elasticity a further mechanical force may be obtained, at least equal
in amount to the former. A pint of water therefore, and two ounces of
coal are thus rendered capable of raising seventy-four tons a foot
high. Two hundred feet of steam can be condensed in one second by four
ounces of water, and their expansive power reduced to one-fifth."
The first person who sought to apply the expansive force of steam as
a motive power to machinery was an Egyptian, Hero of Alexandria, who
lived about 15 years before Christ.
In the year 1543, Basco de Garay, a Spanish captain, astonished the
world by asserting that he would propel a vessel without sails or oars.
The Emperor Charles V. ordered the experiment to be made, and on the
17th of June a vessel called the "Trinity," of 200 tons burden was
moved by wheels turned by steam at the rate of two leagues in three
hours. To Spain belongs the honour of having invented the first steam
vessel.
In the annals of the steam-engine are enumerated the names of Solomon
de Caus, Giovanni Branci (1629). Edward Somerset, (1698). Newcomen,
Cawley, Humphrey Potter (an engine boy), and Smeaton. But it is to
the master spirit and inventive genius of James Watt the mathematical
instrument maker who was born at Greenock in Scotland January 19,
1736, that we are indebted for the high state of efficiency to which
our modern steam-engine has been brought. Matthew Bolton of Birmingham
undertook the enterprise of introducing Watt's condensing engine into
general use as a great working power.
Samuel Smiles says, "Many skilful inventors have from time to time
added new power to the steam-engine; and by numerous modifications
rendered it capable of being applied to nearly all the purposes of
manufacture--driving machinery, impelling ships, grinding corn,
printing books, stamping money, hammering, planing, and turning iron;
in short of performing every description of mechanical labour where
power is required. One of the most useful modifications in the engine
was that devised by Trevithick, and eventually perfected by George
Stephenson and his Son, in the form of the railway locomotive, by which
social changes of immense importance have been brought about of even
greater consequence, considered in their results on human progress and
civilization than the condensing engine of Watt."
The Stockton and Darlington Railway was one of the first examples
of locomotive power on a railway for passengers. Mr. Murdock was the
first Englishman who in the year 1784 constructed a non-condensing
steam locomotive of lilliputian dimensions. It is to be seen at South
Kensington, in the Patent Museum.
Battersea Wharf, belonging to the Brighton, and South-Coast Railway
Company, close to Chelsea Bridge, combines a water frontage affording
facility for discharging cargoes of goods for and from all parts of
the Brighton, South-Eastern, London, Chatham and Dover Railways. The
traffic during the last ten years has very sensibly increased, and the
point itself has become an important place and of great convenience to
the public.--Manager, Mr. William Everest.
The London and Brighton Railway was opened 21st September, 1841. In
1873, Number of miles open 345; gross receipts for the same year
including 31st December, £1,618,461.
Comparative statement of traffic returns for week ending October 6th,
1877, to corresponding week in 1876. Total miles open 379¾.
RECEIPTS, 1877, RECEIPTS, 1876, INCREASE,
£40,425. £37,210. £3,215.
That part of Battersea known as Long-Hedge Farm which was kept by a
Mr. Matson and afterwards by Mr. Graham, is now partially inclosed
by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway Locomotive Works. The land
originally purchased by the Railway Company was about 75 acres, and
nearly one-half this space is appropriated to the Locomotive Department
and Goods traffic yard.
The Works were built by Messrs. Peto and Betts, from designs furnished
by Joseph Cubitt, Esq., engineer, and finished in the year 1863, (two
years ago the erecting shop was enlarged). The name, however, is still
retained and the Works are called Long-Hedge Works. These Works are
surrounded with a wall ten feet high. There are six gates, but the
principal entrance to the Works is at the gate by the time-keeper's
office; the other five gates are used for shunting purposes. Within
this enclosure no person is allowed to go except on business, and
this rule is strictly carried out. There are the boiler-shop, the
tender-shop, erecting shop, copper-smiths' shop, fitting-shop,
brass-finishers' shop, pattern-makers' shop, smiths' shop, boiler-house
with three large boilers, which drive the large stationary engine. The
whole of these buildings, which consists of a series of ranges, are
substantially built of brick, with walls of immense thickness. On the
south side is the stores department. At the east-end of the turnery is
the Superintendent's office, clerks' offices, etc. The area between
each shop has an intersection of rails communicating with the line.
The lower turnery is 250 feet long and 44 wide. It has twenty-five
windows on either side; the dimensions of each window is 12 feet by 3,
and a third portion of each window can be opened or closed at pleasure
for ventilation; also three pairs of double doors of the same height as
the windows, and wide enough to admit a truck or carriage. There are
lines of rails laid parallel with the building, both on the outside and
through the centre. Opposite each of the large doors, both inside and
out, are turn tables to connect the shops with any part of the yard.
The floor is laid with blocks of wood about five inches square. Around
large steam-pipes are laid on either side of the shop to add to the
comfort and convenience of the men. The shaft which gives motion to
the machinery passes through the centre of the shop and the machinery
on each side. Towards one extremity of this range of building is the
engine house, in which are two beautifully-finished high and low
pressure horizontal engines of one hundred horse power, which drive all
the machinery and fan-blasts for smiths. There are three boilers, each
thirty feet long, and six feet in diameter, having pressure of forty
pounds upon every square inch. The shaft belonging to the stationary
engine is forty-seven yards high.
In the lower turnery there is a double-headed slot-wheel, three large
wheel lathes, and two small wheel lathes; the small are for carriage
wheels. There are also three fifteen-inch lathes, two crank lathes
for turning crank axles, two twelve-inch lathes, two large boring
machines--one of these is a radial machine for boring tube plates; one
boring machine for cylinders, also one large planing machine for the
same purpose, and one hydraulic press for taking off axles. On the same
basement with the turnery is the Loco. Manager's office.
Leaving the turnery we ascend a broad and substantial staircase of
wood overlaid with sheet-lead, leading to the fitting-shop which is
over the turning shop. On the same story is the brass-finishers' and
pattern loft. The fitting-shop is light, clean, well ventilated, and
comfortable. Here, as in the shop below, the shafting runs through
the centre with a continuous branch of counter shafts on one side,
extending the entire length of the building. The whole machinery is
propelled by the same engine as that below. In this shop there is one
large planing machine, nine shaping machines, six drilling machines,
three slotting machines, one double-headed slot drill for cutting
key-ways in axles, one twelve-inch lathe, four ten-inch lathes, four
eight-inch lathes, two six-inch lathes, one ten-inch break lathe, six
small planing machines of different sizes, four screwing machines, one
nut-cutting machine, two grindstones, one hoist, twenty pairs of vices,
etc., etc. In the brass-fitters' shop are four six-inch lathes in use
for cocks, plugs, injectors, etc. Length of fitting, brass and pattern
shops (inclusive) 406 feet.
The boiler shop is 200 feet in length and 48 feet in width. It has a
stationary engine with machines for punching, drilling and bending the
boiler-plates; also a powerful travelling crane, arranged for conveying
boilers from one end of the shop to the other. The second building on
the left-hand-side and facing the turnery is the erecting shop, 380
feet in length and 100 feet wide. This shop has a travelling table
which runs from one end to the other, and is worked by a small engine.
The use that is made of the table is to convey those engines which need
repairing to the different pits. There are 42 pits in this shop with
room for 42 engines. There are two travelling cranes above which run
on girders; these are worked by the hand and are employed for engines.
There is also a small stationary engine for driving drilling machine
and grindstone, and each side has a row of vice-benches extending from
one end of the shop to the other.
Not an uninteresting department is the smithery. Its length is 306
feet and it is 48 feet wide. On entering one seems to have got
into a region where Vulcan and his Cyclops are at work, not forging
thunderbolts for Jupiter, but giving shape and form to bars of
half-molten iron, which shall afterwards be used in the structure of
steam-engines and for other practical purposes. The scene is grand, and
might supply a study for such painters as West, Stothard, Conway and
Northcote. In the back ground is a depth of gloom, sombrous and murky
which is relieved at intervals by the fierce glare of thirty fires. At
as many anvils strong, athletic, Titan-like figures, with uplifted arm
and heavy stroke scatter "as from smitten steel," sparks like brilliant
stars, in all directions. Here are thirty smiths' forges, and the tools
used by the smiths, as tongs, hammers, swages, etc., are arranged in
racks against the walls. Here also are two steam-hammers, one fifteen
tons, the other five tons. Either can be most scrupulously adjusted
by aid of a small lever. Here also are furnaces, a stationary engine
with fan, grindstone, and powerful shears for cutting bar-iron. Lines
of rails run throughout the shop, so that the coal and iron can be
conveyed to any part where it is required.
A Second Shop for Carriages, Waggons, etc., is being erected at an
estimated cost of nearly £14,000.
The carriage shop is 370 feet long, 150 feet wide, 30 feet high in
the centre, and is capable of containing 80 railway carriages. It is
divided longitudinally into three parts by the two rows of iron pillars
which support the roof. The central division is forty feet wide and
is occupied by the traversing table which is used for shifting the
carriages. The two side divisions are the parts for vehicles under
repairs, and are also occupied by the workmens' benches, etc. The
roof is composed of a light but strong iron framing covered first
with deal boards, and with slates over all except the central part,
which is composed almost entirely of glass. The floor consists of wood
bricks, laid on a solid foundation of concrete, and is intersected
by the iron rails for the carriages and traverser. At the south end
are the offices, with the trimming shops above them. The shop is well
and efficiently ventilated, and is furnished with a system of heating
apparatus consisting of a double row of large steam-pipes passing all
round under the windows. Water is laid on in ample quantities, and one
of the regulations carried out with unvarying rule, is to fix hose
pipes in two separate parts of the shops every night with stand pipes
ready for instant use in case of fire. There are 130 windows in the
shop exclusive of the roof. Most of the carriages are made of teak
instead of mahogany, as being more durable as well as economical and
not so likely to split when exposed to the heat of the sun.
The saw-mills are used for cutting the timber, with rack and vertical
saws. It is then prepared by eleven other different machines, such as
general joiner, rabbeting, grooving, tenoning, mortising, boring and
moulding machines, of every description. The timber is first cut out
with the hand-saw, and then shaped by a large shaping machine 5 feet
4 by 2 feet 10, with two perpendicular spindles performing upwards of
1200 revolutions a minute. The saw-mills are well arranged, the driving
wheel and shafting being all underneath. Next to the saw-mills is an
engine-house in which is a horizontal engine of forty horse power with
two large boilers, sixty pounds pressure, made by Walter May and Co.,
Chelsea.
At the west end, and near "Long-Hedge House," is a small building
containing the gas-meter; this, like the water-meter in the traffic
yard, has its index taken every morning to show the amount of gas that
has been consumed in the works.
The stores department consists of a large building, with various
offices for the store keeper, clerks, and warehousemen. One half is
upstairs which is fitted up with shelves, tables and pigeon-holes for
the various articles kept in stock. The lower part is arranged for
heavier goods, such as brass, copper, steel, and iron. There is a
large yard for goods of different descriptions, and for the purpose of
receiving goods brought by carriers, etc. The design of this department
is to keep for immediate use almost every article used on a railway, to
supply all the departments with materials for the making and keeping
of the line in good condition, and to forward the goods as required to
their destination on the line, and the quality of the goods is there
determined before received for use.
In the running sheds engines are cleaned and running engines kept
repaired, etc.[1] There are 82 locomotives, 65 of which are daily
running on the line. Since the opening of the Ludgate Station on
the London, Chatham and Dover Railway Metropolitan Extension Line
a very considerable portion of the Goods traffic is carried on at
Blackfriars.--Locomotive Superintendent, W. Kirtley, Esq.; Works
Manager, Mr. G. Leavers; Manager of Carriage Department, Inspector,
etc., Mr. C. Spencer; Superintendent of Stores Department Mr. John Ward.
[Footnote 1: Since the above was written, the semi-circular Engine
Shed has been pulled down and a very large quadrangular Engine
Shed constructed in its place. The former shed was inconveniently
small and not at all adapted to the present emergency. It has been
demonstrated by Mr. Kirtley that the system which has been so popular
(with Locomotive Superintendents) in the early days of railways of
using a turn-table or revolving platform for turning locomotives
into the direction required in sheds where they undergo repairing,
cleaning, etc., was at all times liable to cause not only delay in the
departure of one engine, but in the event of mishap to the turn-table
itself, the whole stock of engines would be locked up; hence the
erection of the splendid new engine shed at the London, Chatham and
Dover Railway Locomotive Works, which is said to be one of the finest
and most commodious of its kind in England. It stands upon about 1¾
acres, and some idea of its magnitude may be realized from some of the
principal materials used in its construction: namely, 40,000 cubic
yards excavation; 6,000 cubic yards concrete; about 3½ million of
bricks, besides 250,000 blue paving bricks of the Staffordshire hard
manufacture which form the flooring; 30,000 feet of glass; 60,000 feet
of slating, 260 tons of iron, and over three acres of boards which form
the roof, and the newly-invented steam and smoke conductors designed by
Messrs. Mills and Kirtley. There are also offices for the foremen of
each department, and separate mess-rooms for the men of various grades
employed, wherein their every comfort has been carefully studied, with
lavatories, cooking apparatus, etc. Besides boiler-house and standing
engine for driving machinery, etc. Also a tank of enormous capacity,
made by Spencerlayh and Archer, of Rochester, to supply the engines
with water from a well of considerable depth in case of failure of the
regular supply from the Water Company's Works. There is also a new
coal stage, built upon an entirely new principle, from which engines
can be loaded with the necessary supply of coals in less than half
the time previously occupied, with a similar diminution of labour.
Another great feature in the approach to these Works is that the roads,
sixteen in number, all lead from one line of rails. Each road, with
pit in the engine shed, will hold five main-line locomotives or seven
tank engines. The whole building will hold between eighty and ninety
locomotives. The Works have been designed by Mr. W. Mills, C.E., and
carried out by Mr. Charles Dickinson, the Contractor, and his Agent,
Mr. D. Stubbings, and under the immediate superintendence of Mr.
R. S. Jones, C. E., the engineer in charge of the works. Although
nine months have only elapsed from the time of the demolition of the
former structure to the erection of the New Engine Shed, etc., it is
gratifying to state that under a merciful Providence no casualty such
as might have been expected considering the number of locomotives
running in and out daily has occurred. Mr. W. Wilkinson is foreman of
this Branch of the Locomotive Department.
FOREMEN, (_Locomotive Department_).
Erecting Shop J. Fletcher.
Fitting " W. Siddon.
Turning " T. Eaton.
Smith " R. Allen.
Boiler " W. Benton.
FOREMEN, (_Carriage Department_).
Painters' Shop W. Banks.
Coach-builders' " G. Faulkner.
Fitters' " W. Churchill.
Trimmers' " J. Gallop.
Saw-mill " C. Picton.
Waggon " F. Laraman.]
The number of operatives employed inclusive of drivers and firemen is
about 600. The men are intelligent and orderly; they, with myriads
of their fellow-countrymen, are assisting in carrying out the great
practical issues of civilization. Of such a class of noble-minded,
generous-hearted, skilled mechanics and artisans, England may well be
proud.
"What says each true workman, where'er he may toil
As bravely he joins in life's busy turmoil,
With each sinew brac'd stoutly by duty and love,
And the gaze of his soul fixed on heaven above.
Oh I'm king of a line of long renown,
And the sweat of my brow is my diamond crown;
I toil unrepining from morn till night,
For I bear in my bosom a heart brave and light,
And my labour no matter how hard it may be,
Brings ever a joy and a blessing to me."
The London Chatham and Dover Railway was opened 29th of September,
1860. Number of miles open 141. Gross Receipts including 31st December,
1873, £904,509.
The first railway train (London, Chatham and Dover) entered the City of
London over the new Railway Bridge, Blackfriars, 6th October, 1864.
Adjacent to the Railway Viaduct and facing the south-eastern gate of
Battersea Park is Sargent's Carpet Ground. Here during the Summer and
Autumnal months a Gospel tent is pitched wherein Special Religious
Services for the people are conducted by Messrs. Simmonds, Swindells,
Waller, Rigley, Harris, Smith, Hewett, Crosby, Turpin, Twaites, Kirby,
Reeve, Thompson, Eveleigh, Lane, and other well-known Christian workers.
_Extracted from the Kensington News._--Amidst the various styles of
ecclesiastical architecture which our modern amalgamation of various
civilizations has produced, none strikes one as so peculiar as that
which is called the preaching tent. Associated as this moveable
structure is with the wandering life of the Eastern Arab, its
consecration to purposes of modern Christian evangelization is a proof
of the intense catholicity and energy of our modern religious life.
While thousands of our home heathen never enter the sacred precincts of
our churches or chapels, it is a blessing to find that they enter by
hundreds inside the temporary canvas walls of our consecrated gospel
tents. Very often the surroundings of the locality where these places
are erected, the kind of services held in them, and the earnestness,
homeliness, humanity, and appropriateness of the illustrations of
the preachers who discourse at them, have beyond question, great
attractions for the class of our Metropolitan inhabitants just
mentioned. It calls for no surprise to find gigantic temporary
structures of this kind erected amidst the uncultivated and populous
"East" for the purposes of religious worship, but we hardly expect to
find their tapering canvas roofs amidst the luxury of the "West."