Starting Point - Lincoln Central Station. About 6 miles walking.
Lincolnshire has always been covered with agricultural land and as a result a thriving industry developed in the city of Lincoln as the agricultural industry became mechanised in the mid 1800s. The city boasted several well known firms including Ruston, William Foster, Clayton & Shuttleworth and Robey. Remnants of this industrial side of Lincoln's history can be seen today, including some manufacturing still taking place at a couple of sites.
Above Map from Open Street Map.
Ruston
Known as Ruston & Proctor from 1857 when Joseph Ruston joined the 1840 established firm Proctor & Burton by buying Theophilus Burton's shares. The firm made large numbers of agricultural steam engines such as traction engines and portable engines. They also ventured in to locomotive building.
Above - Ruston Proctor General Purpose Engine 33189 seen at the 2017 Boston Steam & Vintage Fair.
Below - Remains of a Ruston Proctor Portable Engine in Kosovo Polje.
The company were also pioneers of excavating machinery and internal combustion engines, items their successors would go on to develop with great success.
Below - Early Ruston Proctor internal combustion loco 52194 in the Museum of Lincolnshire Life.
In 1918 the company merged with Richard Hornsby & Co of Grantham to become Ruston & Hornsby and became one of the leading manufacturers of internal combustion engines.
Above - Diesel pumping engine in Dogdyke Pumping Station, Tattershall, Lincolnshire.
The Excavator side of Ruston's business, which was boosted by Ruston Proctor's acquisition of Leeds firm Whittaker Bros in 1910, was merged with American firm Bucyrus - Erie to form Ruston - Bucyrus, one of the leading excavator manufacturers, producing anything from small crawler cranes to vast draglines.
Below - Ruston Bucyrus excavators at Threlkeld Mining Museum
Ruston & Hornsby are also a name commonly associated with their locomotive production which was concentrated on industrial locos of all gauges. Ruston's locomotives would of course be fitted with their own engines.
Below - Ruston Hornsby loco shunting Crossley's scrapyard in Shipley in 2012.
Ruston's main works was situated between the River Witham and the railway line between Lincoln and Cleethorpes. Other sites were dotted around the city, as well as the former Hornsby works at Grantham. The company has survived through several changes of ownership and is now part of German firm Siemens. Although the presence in Lincoln has been downsized over the years much of the main works remains (below).
Clayton & Shuttleworth
Following the River Witham beyond the former Ruston works another notable engine maker could be found next door, Clayton & Shuttleworth. Founded in 1842, this firm also had its beginnings in agricultural machinery such as portable engines, threshing machinery and traction engines.
Below - At the time of my visit in 2015 the office building of the Clayton & Shuttleworth was still standing, though a section at the end of the building had been removed.
The Stamp End Works was situated behind this office building and up to the Lincoln to Cleethorpes railway.
Below - 1899 illustration of the works (Graces Guide)
The company later expanded to the east on two further sites. The first of these, the Titanic Works, was situated on the other side of the railway and can be seen just beyond the railway bridge that carries the Cleethorpes line over Waterside (South). There are two bridge spans where the railway crosses over the road and the riverside footpath, originally the span nearest the works carried an internal railway line between the Titanic and Stamp End works.
Below - The former Titanic Works.
It was in the Titanic Works that the company built a number of aircraft orders in the First World War, including over 500 Sopwith Camels. The Clayton Dewandre subsidiary were housed in the Titanic Works, making engine and brake system parts. The building now contains offices for several companies.
The bridge crossing taking Waterside South over the river is on the site of one that took the works railway to the next site, the Abbey Works and Clayton Forge complex. Turning right and following Spa Road, it leads to a path along the river and the works site can be seen on the left.
The Abbey Works site housed the Clayton Wagons subsidiary, this branch made steam lorries and railcars.
Below - Power unit of a Clayton steam railcar (Wikipedia)
Below - Clayton Steam Lorry 48647 at Netley Marsh traction engine rally in 2019
With the increasing use of internal combustion engined lorries after the First World War, the demand for steam lorries and railcars was quite short lived and the works was taken over by Smith - Clayton Forge, products included crankshafts for internal combustion engines. It went on to become part of GKN and the site is today owned by Italian firm Bifrangi.
Heading back towards the centre of Lincoln and turning left on to the A1434, Melville Street which becomes Canwick Road, takes us to another old engine works, that of Robey & Co.
Founded in 1854 as the Perseverance Works and later renamed the Globe Works, Robey & Co also manufactured agricultural machinery and later diversified in to steam lorries, rollers and engines for mines and factories amongst other products.
Above - Robey steam wagon 42888 in Ratmalana, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Below - Robey Horizontal Cross Compound engine in Bolton Steam Museum.
The company survived in to the 1980s making plant equipment, winding engine, compressors, boilers. In 1985 they were bought by Babcock but was wound up in 1988. The former works survives as the Buildbase supply depot.
William Foster & Co
To the west of the city between the Midland Railway line into St Marks station (remains of the station survive as a shopping complex) and the River Witham was the Wellington Foundry of William Foster & Co. The company was established by 1846 making mill machinery in a former flour mill before moving to the Wellington Foundry in 1899. Like their neighbours they got in to agricultural machinery such as traction engines and threshing machines.
The company is best known for the development of the Tank in the First World War, the name Tank being derived from a codename for the project "Water carrier for Mesopotamia" used to keep the work secret, the concept originally having being regarded as "Landships."
Below - William Foster's "Little Willie," the prototype First World War Tank in the Tank Museum at Bovington.
In 1927 Fosters acquired London pump maker Gwynnes Ltd and moved pump production to Lincoln under the Foster Gwynnes name. Pump production continued at the works until 1968. A modern retail park occupies the site today, though a monument has been erected on a nearby roundabout to recognise the "Birthplace of the Tank."
Immediately south of the Wellington Foundry was until recently another building belonging to Ruston, their Boultham Works and to the west of the Wellington Foundry was their Spike Island Works on the other side of the Midland Railway line (now Tritton Road). These works were used to produce aircraft engines during the Second World War and the Spike Island Works was used to produce Ruston Bucyrus excavators. A few buildings of the Spike Island Works survive, though I didn't get to these on my walk.
No comments:
Post a Comment