Delivery of Locomotives Produced by Private Contractors

For that reason, and the amount of damage flanged wheels would cause to the road surface, I reckon the story of running directly on the road may be a myth. Perhaps what they actually did was lay temporary track, perhaps with a gang moving panels from back to front as the loco moved slowly along. This would also require permission to block the highway, and repair of damage to the road surface.
The myth would arise from “Uncle Fred remembers when they drove a locomotive down this road” kind of stories. Or does anyone have pictures ?

 

I assumed something like that. I'm thinking Gromit in the Wrong Trousers, but much slower.

 

The source is probably I W Boulton's accounts. I presume the roads in Ashton at that time would be stone setts, wooden setts or water (not tar) bound macadam. By 1864 the famous 'Boulton's Siding' had been built alongside the MS&LR and from then on presumably only components would have been taken to and from the works.

The Council was probably keen to support employment at that time as the cotton mills were laying off workers due to the American Civil War and the town's population was falling.

 

Early GWR locos were delivered by barge to Maidenhead Bridge.

 

North British did it by road as were the UNRRA 2-8-0's which were out of gauge

 

I can see where dunhill1 is coming from ,BR were quite keen on double split pins (To stop nuts coming loose and falling off ,two holes were drilled thro the end of the bolts ,and split pins inserted ) Stewart and Lloyds Corby, Iron ore wagons that went out on the main line to Glendon and Wellingboro 'all had to be double spit pinned .The wagon inspector would red card any wagons that hadn't been done.

 

Here is the 'how to build a railway from scratch in a country on the other side of the world' guide:

http://www.qm.qld.gov.au/~/media/Documents/QM/About Us/Publications/Memoirs - Culture/C5/qmchap4-20-june11.pdf

A fascinating read in itself, but I've lifted a few pertinent passages that show that kit form could also be an option. The first 4 locos were from what was to become Avonside.


Queensland’s rst railway workshops were established at Ipswich in 1864..... The buildings required for the workshops were brought out from England and assembled..... Once the workshops were established, one of the 1st tasks required was the assembly of the four locomotives and necessary rolling stock that had been imported from England....The transfer of sections of heavy machinery like locomotive boilers, frames, girders, machine tools and so many other things from the ships arriving from England onto small paddle steamers would have been a challenge.

The Queensland Government appointed Charles Fox and Sons, London as their engineering consultants and agents in England. This firm acted on the government’s behalf calling tenders, letting contracts, purchasing equipment and undertaking the necessary inspections before despatch to Queensland. The company even arranged for the employment and passage to Queensland for the necessary skilled workmen. When the rolling stock had passed inspection it was disassembled and transported out from England as a kit of parts. They were sent out in small sections to enable easier handling when being trans-shipped at the mouth of the Brisbane River and transported to the Ipswich site where they were assembled (Queensland Railways, 1914: 20).

 

Although railway practice is to fit split pins to all critical nuts and bolts I don't think I've ever seen a bolt or pin with two split pins in it.

 

I have seen an illustration of a loco being driven on temporary track panels down a road somewhere- I seem to think it was in GWR territory.
In Cliff Thomas' book regarding quarry Hunslets he mentions Alice being dragged along a road somewhere damaging the surface.

Chris

 

Again in Queensland, they used portable track panels to deliver newly built locos from Evans Anderson Phelan & Co, the roughly half mile from Kangaroo Point to the Wooloongabba rail yard.

The locos were in steam and generally travelled in pairs.




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Somewhere I have seen a picture of a loco crossing a road being pulled over by a tractor, the loco wheels ran on bullhead rail laid on it's side. I think it was around Kettering. The loco was then taken away, possibly for preservation.

 

Seems much more credible to me. Apart from anything else how the hell would you steer your locomotive rolling on the road? A team of horses dragging the front round? Almost easier to put it on a cart in that case.

 

Jim, here's how the Queenslanders managed it in the example that @Muzza sighted above:

• Engines were PB15 class built at Evans, Anderson and Phelan engineering works being moved to Woolloongabba via Main Street. (Information taken from Australian Railway Historical Society Notes written by George E. Bond ,1982) Traffic, consisting of horsedrawn carts and their drivers, stop to watch the spectacle. The horse team is also phographed, tethered at the roadside, prior to the removal of the temporary track sections.
• Engineering company of Evans, Anderson and Phelan built locomotives for Queensland Railways between 1895 and 1927. Their depot was situated at the eastern end of Main Street, Kangaroo Point and the locomotives had to be delivered to the Woolloongabba locomotive depot 2 kms away at the other end of Main Street. Short sections of track were assembled and laid along the street. Two locomotives were coupled together in steam, and moved along the section of track to its end. A team of horses pulled another section of track into place at the front of the existing section of track, progressing the movement along Main Street. This was a highlight for the children at the Kangaroo Point State School who gathered to cheer and clap.
• 

 

Here is a more 'colourful' description from a newspaper article of a similar operation by the same firm, albeit a couple of decades later:

LOCOMOTIVES IN MAIN-STREET, KANGAROO POINT. '

Kangaroo Point, in the vicinity of the engineering works of Messrs. Evans, Anderson, and Phelan, was early yester-
day morning the scene of unusual activity. Two railway engines and tenders of the class C, superheated type, each having
a net weight of 84 tons, were at 7 o'clock started on their maiden journey from the works to Woolloongabba, where
they subsequently passed on to the Government railway line to join the ranks of locomotives that are honoured-by being
frequently called upon to make mail train runs. Previously it had been arranged that the line, at Woolloongabba should be
"broken" at a given time in order to permit the transfer of the new engines,hence operations at Kangaroo Point were
commenced on the tick of time. As the clock struck, some one said, "Let her go!" and the driver of the front engine
pushed the throttle over. Steam belched from the "funnel" of the engine, and for a second or two the wheels raced; then
they gripped, and the locomotive passed slowly along about 100 yards of temporary track. The other engine joined it a
moment later, and, by continually shifting the track by means of horse teams and two "iron horses" ultimately completed
a journey that they will never retrace. A large crowd assembled to see the start, and grew in size as the journey was
covered and the householders along-Main-street became aware that this tree-lined and usually tranquil thoroughfare was
temporarily being converted into a rail-road........ Yesterday's operations were supervised by Mr. Phelan, sen., and Mr. G. Simson (inspector of loco-motives).