Locomotives
On vesting its headquarters in July 1865 in Oswestry, the company built the Cambrian railways works to the north of the station on Gobowen Road. Its construction hastened Oswestery's boom as a railway town, from a population of 5,500 in 1861, to nearly 10,000 40 years later.
Built of local red brick and costing £28,000, the locomotive erecting shop had a central traverser which was hand-moved, serving 12 roads on each side. On the far north end of the works, 11 sidings accessed a carriage and wagon works. Power to the machines was provided by a large steam engine via overhead shafting and belts. The 150 feet (46 m) chimney is still a local landmark. Whilst many carriages and wagons were built in the workshops, only two locomotives were actually constructed at Oswestry. After the Cambrian Railways was taken over by the GWR on grouping in 1923, the GWR kept the works open as a regional carriage and wagon works, and locomotive repair shop for the associated locomotive shed.
In 1911 there were 91 locomotives and one rail motor car in the Cambrian's rolling stock. At grouping in 1922, 94 standard-gauge engines and five narrow-gauge engines were transferred to the GWR, identified by type and builder at Locomotives of the Great Western Railway.
After becoming part of the London Midland Region in 1963, the depot closed in January 1965, the works in early 1966. A Grade II listed building, the works today is an antiques centre, small business hub and document storage centre.
Read more about this topic: Cambrian Railways
Famous quotes containing the word locomotives:
“The flower-fed buffaloes of the spring
In the days of long ago,
Ranged where the locomotives sing
And the prairie flowers lie low:—”
—Vachel Lindsay (1879–1931)