Horwich Loco Works 18” Gauge Railway Horwich was transformed by the building of the Locomotive Works. [11] Horwich Locomotive Works in 1930. [12] 76, Wight Street, Horwich was my grandparents’ home right in the centre of the old village of Horwich, between Chorley Old Road and Chorley New Road. I stayed there frequently as a child (Google Streetview). For a number of years in the 1920s and possibly also the 1930s my grandfather worked as a blacksmith in Horwich Loco Works. The works have always, as a result, had a specific interest for me. It has been somewhat saddening over the years to see their gradual deterioration and eventual closure. Horwich Locomotive Works “was the last major British railway works to be established on a green field site. There were traditionally very strong links between the Lancashire & Yorkshire and London & North Western railways, and John Ramsbottom, late of the LNWR was in 1883 appointed consultant to the LYR regarding the planning of Horwich Works. He advocated an 18in gauge internal transport system similar to that he had earlier installed at Crewe. Originally extending to 7½ miles, this enjoyed a longer life as the last surviving locomotive built for it, ‘Wren’, was not retired until 1962. The system was used for moving components around the works.” [10] In November 2019 I was reading Issue No. 27 of the Railway Archive Journal published by Black Dwarf Lightmoor Press of Lydney, Gloucestershire. I enjoyed reading Jeff Wells’ article about the Manchester Exhibition of 1887 in that journal. [1] The article highlighted a number of railway exhibits on display at the exhibition. Among these exhibits was ‘Dot’ a Beyer Peacock 1ft 6 inch gauge 0-4-0T engine. According to the official catalogue, Dot was ‘specifically built for working on tramways in yards and workshops, and also adopted for tail-rope shunting of ordinary wagons’. After the exhibition, ‘Dot found work at the L&YR’s Horwich Works, joining two other Beyer, Peacock 18 in engines, Wren and Robin, which had arrived in April 1887. Such engines were considered necessary to convey materials around the seven miles of internal works’ railway.’ [1: p67]Jeff Wells was unable to find a picture of Dot but could find a picture of Robin which is reproduced here along with the accompanying text from his article. [1: p68] The image included in Jeff Wells article is the Beyer Peacock works image of the locomotive from 1887. Some limited further details of the image can be found on ‘picclick’ and in an edition of the Model Engineer. [17][19] Drawings produced in 2012 can be found on the site ‘Laurel Today’. [20] The short excerpt from Jeff Wells’ article above, prompted further investigation of the internal railway system at the Horwich Loco Works. … An 18-inch (460 mm) gauge railway, with approximately 7.5 miles (12.1 km) of track was built to carry materials around the works complex at Horwich. It was modelled on a similar system at Crewe Works. John AF Aspinall ordered two 18″ Gauge 0-4-0 tank engines from Beyer Peacock of Leeds at a cost of £250 each. They both arrived at Horwich Loco Works on 7th April 1887 and were named ‘Wren‘ and ‘Robin‘ respectively. A third Locomotive was ordered on the 8th November 1887 at a cost of £300 and on arrival was named ‘Dot‘. A further five similar locomotives were built at Horwich Loco Works and were named, ‘Fly’ ‘Wasp’ ‘Midget’ ‘Mouse’ and ‘Bee’. From 1930 they were gradually withdrawn from service, the last, ‘Wren’, was withdrawn in 1961/1962 and was originally renovated and placed on display in the Erecting Shop. [2][3] It is now preserved at the National Railway Museum. [4: p 215][5: p128-129] The excellent book by M.D. Smith about Horwich Locomotive Works [6] has a picture on its front cover of the diminutive ‘Wren’ as can be seen in the image at the top of the next page. As noted above, this locomotive is now preserved at the National Railway Museum as a public exhibit illustrating the use of industrial and military railways. Photographs of ‘Wren’ at work in Horwich follow below. The first comes from the D. Prichard Collection and is in the public domain. [7] The second from Steam World Magazine. [9] ‘Wren’ was fitted with a strongbox on the tender for distributing wage packets. [10] Wren’ Horwich Works in the 1950s. [18] ‘Wren’ Horwich Works in the 1950s. [18] A similar picture was in Steam World Magazine. [9] The name of the loco shown in the adjacent image cannot be picked out in the picture. Radii were tight and locomotives had to manouvre around many different obstacles. The picture was taken in 1905 within the Locomotive Works (© National Railway Museum / Science & Society Picture Library) [13][18] M.D. Smith’s book about the Works is a comprehensive review of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Loco Works in Horwich and contains a myriad of monochrome pictures of the works which. Illustrate maintenance and construction practice at the Works over the years. In many of the photographs, an 18″ gauge railway can be seen running down the central corridor in each workshop. In some shops the 18″ gauge track runs between the rails of a standard-gauge track serving the workspace. Two images will suffice to illustrate this point. The first shows the north side of the Smithy in 1902 with the 18″ gauge track running down the centre of the workshop. The second shows the Wheel Shop in 1920 with both track gauges present. [6: p52-53]. Smith’s book is a fantastic exploration of the Works of great interest to anyone with connections to it or with a desire to better understand its workings. Horwich Locomotive Works: The Smithy 1902 [6: p53] Horwich Locomotive Works: The Wheel Shop 1920 [6: p52] ZM32 (in ‘wasp’ livery) and ‘Wren’ at Horwich works on 4 March 1961. [8] In 1957 a Ruston & Hornsby Class LAT 20Hp diesel locomotive (ZM32) was built for the system and arrived in British Railways Green with Yellow and Black ‘Wasp’ warning panels. With works number 416214 it worked up until 1965 when the 18″ gauge railway was abandonned and the diesel loco was put into store. It had been intended for this loco to be sold to a railway in British Honduras but this fell through and in 1971 it was sold to RP Morris. The loco was re-built and re-gauged to 2′ gauge and worked at Pen-Yr-Orsedd Quarry, Nantlle and Gloddfa Ganol. It was finally acquired for preservation in 1997 by The Steeple Grange Light Railway near Wirksworth in Derbyshire. It was fully overhauled and the 18″ gauge wheels were re- instated. It received original British Railways Green and in its honour was named ‘Horwich’. The Steeple Grange Light Railway website comments that “In the summer of 2004, ZM32 topped an informal poll amongst narrow gauge enthusiasts to determine the ten most popular non- steam locomotives in the UK.” [8] Other relevant resources: Notes on RMWeb: ‘An Illustrated History of 18 Inch Gauge Steam Railways’, by Mark Smithers (OPC 1993) devotes 13 pages to the Horwich system, with photos, drawings and a track plan. There are 2 photos in “Lost Lines, British Narrow Gauge” (by Nigel Welbourn, published 2000) on pages 95 & 96 showing Wren and ZM32. A model of ‘Wren was produced in “O-9mm” and can be found here: http://www.springsidemodels.com/id153.htm. [14] The GN15 Forum: Notes and pictures of a model in GN15 can also be found at the end of a discussion on this forum: http://gn15.info/forum. [21] Blackrod Station: owed its ongoing existence into the late 20th Century to the Works. [15] The Condition of the Works in January 2011: is illustrated on the 28 Days Later Urban Exploration forum. The pictures on that site provide a very atmospheric look at the old buildings of the Works. As well as modern monochrome images, the site also has a number of archived images of the Works. [16] References 1. Jeff Wells; The Railways Involvement in he Manchester Royal Jubilee Exhibition of 1887; in Railway Archive Issue No. 27, June 2010, Black Dwarf Lightmoor Press, Lydney, Gloucestershire, p57-69. 2. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horwich_Works#, accessed on 15th November 2019. 3. “Motive power miscellany: Midland Region Central Lines”. Trains illustrated. Vol. XIV no. 154. Hampton Court: Ian Allan. July 1961. p. 441. 4. John Marshall, B.W.C. Cooke (ed.), “Notes and News“, The Railway Magazine, Westminster: Tothill Press, vol. 110 no. 759, July 1964. 5. John Marshall; The Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway, Volume 3; David & Charles, Newton Abbott, 1972. 6. M.D. Smith; Horwich Locomotive Works; Amadeus, Huddersfield, 1996. 7. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LandYR_Horwich_Works_locomotive_%27 Wren%27.jpg, accessed on 10th December 2019. 8. http://www.steeplegrange.co.uk/locos-zm32.htm, accessed on 10th December 2019. 9. https://steamworldmag.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/sw321- horwich.compressed.pdf, accessed on 10th December 2019. 10. https://preservedbritishsteamlocomotives.com/wren-0-4-0st-lyr-horwich-works- narrow-gauge, accessed on 10th December 2019. 11. https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/13573684.how-the-loco-works-transformed- a-town (5th August 2015), accessed on 10th December 2019. 12. https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/17827041.loco-works-changed-horwich- sleepy-village-hive-industry (19th August 2019), accessed on 10th December 2019. 13. https://www.ssplprints.com/image/117089/locomotive-at-horwich-works-c-1905, accessed on 10th December 2019. 14.