A little bit of our railway history …….. rescued from the skip

I am looking at a collection of railway history, dating from 1854 through to 1893, which were destined for a skip.

Happily, they were rescued, and for that we have Steve Casson’s dad to thank.

Despite not quite knowing what to do with them he knew they deserved more than being thrown out.

There are twenty of them in all and they consist of the plans for building schemes along the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, and given that they were found in Manchester Victoria Railway Station, the plans relate to Manchester, Lancashire, and Derbyshire.

All but one was handwritten, and they specify the materials to be used, the methods of construction and the time allotted for the work.

All of which offers up a fascinating glimpse of how one railway company went about improving its track, viaducts, and buildings.

So in the May of 1862 the company set about replacing a timber viaduct over the River Roach, with a brick one, while five years later work was about to commence on for “the necessary excavation and filling in, the Diversion of the River Irwell and the arching over of the River Irwell and Trough Syke Brook with the building of a hut in front of the present arch over the Irwell”.

In some cases, the company was responding to other civil engineering projects being undertaken by canal companies and local authorities which necessitated alterations to the railway’s buildings.

And then there are the intriguing constructions, like “the erection of four cottages at Bacup in the County of Lancaster”, in the June of 1870.  I would like to think that they were homes for railway workers, and with a bit of detective work it might be possible to find them.

Which in turn raises the interesting question of whether some of these “works” are still there to day.

Of these the two that fascinate me are “the Works required in Building a Bridge under York Street and Widening the Viaduct at Victoria Station”, in 1854 and for covering stairs at Ducie Bridge two years later.

Now someone may well beat me down there to see if there is any evidence for the two projects.

In the same way, there will be someone who knows the Starkie Bridge at Padiham, near Burnley, which was the focus of a critical letter written by Thomas Chaffer on December 4th 1872, which was a “Report on the alterations made by the engineers of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Co., in the construction of the Starkie Bridge at Padiham, Burnley”.

He was the Bridgemaster and highlighted what he felt were the failings in the construction, concluding, it “is a style of work that I should not entertain without a seven years guarantee or even more time, so I think there is considerable risk in the stability of such a construction in an Arch of the Span, and without the guarantee of the Railway Company for upholding the same, I would not entertain its construction at all”.

That said, someone responded in the margin with comments, finishing  with the rebuttal “no guarantee can be given”.

And that is it, other than to say a big thank you to Steven Casson, and the promise that in quieter times I will approach the Science and Industry Museum at Castlefield and the Archives at Central Ref to see if either would like to accept them.

In the meantime I shall pour over each one for other hidden gems.

Location, Manchester, Lancashire, Derbyshire

Pictures; from the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway archive, 1854-1893, donated by Steve Casson, and Victoria Railway Station, 1855 C.W. Clennell, m63270 courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass