Butterley Gangroad Locomotives, Wagons and Track

Locomotives, Wagons and Track April 2015 1 of 13 BG2B0010 The locomotives of the Butterley Gangroad —Horse for the Crich Railway“ 1813 The very first —steam locomotive“ to operate in the East Midlands ran on the Butterley Gangroad. It was built by illiam Brunton, a Scottish engineer employed at the Butterley orks. He was charged for the —horse“ in the Butterley Company accounts. It propelled itself by a complicated mechanism resembling ski sticks. The engine weighed just 2.5 tons and did the duty of a horse by pulling empty wagons back uphill to the )uarry. It did very well considering that the gradient of the line was about 1 in 30. It was used e-perimentally for a few months over winter and by all accounts was a great success. .or more detail about this uni)ue locomotive please refer to the enclosed paper by Dieter Hopkin. —Coffee ot“ 1869 The second locomotive to be used was also a substitute for horses doing the same job of returning empties to the foot of the incline at the Hat .actory. e believe that this was a vertical boilered chain driven locomotive built by Chaplins of Glasgow to their patent, works number 1100 of 1120, which is recorded as being delivered to the Butterley Company. e know that 1100 was a very small locomotive whereas the —Dutch copies“ built by the Butterley Company for their other private railways were larger. It was known locally as the —coffeepot“ and local people said that the chimney had to be lowered to pass under bridges. It was largely displaced by —Salisbury“ and then stored in the open by the forge at Bullbridge until it was sold in 1015. This postcard sent to the Tomes family in 1034 includes what is probably a very accurate sketch of —Coffeepot“ drawn from memory. It matches drawings of known early Chaplin locomotives. References to an earlier locomotive an 0-4-0 c. 1120 have not been verified. 2 of 13 BG2B0010 —Fit$“ and —Salisbury“ .rom 1103 the new manager 7ohn 8.Hamilton carried out many improvements to the railway converting it to full steam operation. —.it9“ was supplied by Bagnalls of Stafford : orks No. 1435 of 1104). It had the unusual arrangement of water tanks that was characteristic of Bagnall, an inverted saddle tank with water stored around the bottom of the smokebo-. This improved efficiency and balance and reduced height, which was important on the gangroad. —.it9“ could storm up the 1 in 15 gradient to Hilt=s )uarry that allowed the cable incline to be replaced by single track but needed heavier rail. —Salisbury“ followed in 1000 :works number 1502). It was the last locomotive that Bagnalls built with an inverted saddletank, the Butterley Company needed this old design because of the tight clearances. Both were sold to .Bush of Alfreton in 1032 but they were cut up two years later because he could not find a buyer for such odd machines. Standard gauge The standard gauge sidings at Amber harf, Bullbridge remained horse worked until 1024. In that year a four coupled saddletank was transferred from the Butterley Company=s Dale Quarry at irksworth. It had been built by 8eckett as their works number 122 in 1000. A locomotive shed was built near the main line to house it. It was replaced in 1030 by a similar locomotive :see photograph) purchased from Colemans of Norwich. This was 8eckett works number 1220 of 1024. It was sold to the Derbyshire Stone Company in 1033 and was not scrapped until 1053. 3 of 13 BG2B0010 Butterley Gangroad wagons Very little has ever been published about the wagons used on the railway. The only reasonably clear photographs that exist are of some later ones being broken up. There are numerous references in the sources that we have studied but it would be dangerous to draw too many conclusions from these. They include some lists and statistics but inferring from these is difficult because some wagons were part of the Butterley Company —private owner“ standard gauge fleet were in use their Wirksworth quarry or simply were being switched between accounts for accountancy reasons. This note therefore simply groups all the information from all sources to give a general impression. References are included to the Butterley Company records at the Derbyshire Record Office. There is a wealth of information in the many ledgers and finding odd references can be difficult. In view of this our references usually include the page numbers to assist later researchers. It seems likely that all the wagons used on the railway were four wheeled (two-axle) vehicles. As well as carrying limestone there were probably wagons used to bring coal and general stores to the locomotive shed and quarries and there were probably wagons to take gunpowder from the stores at Amber Wharf. Wagons were also used to take waste material from the quarries to the tips and in later days they appear to have been different to those used to transport stone. The earliest wagons used on the plateway were probably similar in design to those used on the Peak ,orest Tramway a few years later. This line was also engineered by Ben-amin Outram and carried limestone. These wagons must have had either end or side tipping bodies because we know that tipplers were used at Amber Wharf. .nfortunately there is not enough known about these arrangements to know what form of wagon was used. /ater wagons that had flanged wheels were probably very similar to those used on other contemporary mineral railways. The wagons used to take material to tips included side tipping wagons the limestone wagons probably tipped as well. The only surviving wagon relic we know of is a small piece of a flanged wheel found in 0110 at the 3at ,actory. ,rom this we have worked out that the wheel diameter of the wagon it came from was about 18 inches. 4 of 13 BG2B0010 Butterley Works supplied odd wheels to the —Crich 5ang Road“ from 1777 (D8774-8- 1 pp 181 171). Robert Tipping was ordering material for the railway from Ben-amin Outram and Co. from late 1811 when he took over operation until 1816. 3is purchases included lots of 18 inch and 18-inch diameter wagon wheels and also iron axles suggesting that there was already more than one design of wagon. In 1816 he also purchased 10 00 inch diameter wheels (D813-40-1 pp.61 118 011 311) Tipping<s account with the company for 1810 refers to 41 wheels and iron axles used for six new iron wagons and four new wood wagons (D813-40-1 p.118). Wooden body wagons would have been used for general stores and possibly coal. It would also have been possible to transport burnt lime in them because this would have corroded iron-bodied wagons. Early wooden bodied wagons used on other —Outram“ lines had external framing so those used here were probably similar. The quarry kilns and railway were leased to Edward Banks in 1818. The lease shows that the assets included 41 iron and 4 wooden wagons. Possibly the latter were the same ones referred to three years earlier. It also mentions three iron wagons —to the said limekilns“. This is the first of only two rolling stock lists we have found for the whole history of the railway. In 1810 eight wrought iron —gang wagons“ (D813-40-1 p.884) were supplied and 11 more the following year (D813/40/0 p.11). ,ive years later ,arey described the wagons used on the line as having —plate-iron bottoms and sides“ he said they had a capacity of 38 cwt (1.78 ton). 3e also noted that the wheels were cast with round holes unlike the spokes he would have expected. The accounts get more —sketchy“ in their descriptions as time passes. In the 1801s wheels were being supplied from Butterley and also —slippers“ (D813/40/0 p.368 D813/40/3 p.344). Material supplied in 1808 and 1806 included wagon wheels slippers —beds“ (underframes?) and iron gang wagon bodies (D813/40/3 p.141). In 1837 six more —iron gangway bodies“ were obtained (D813/40/4 p.117). The accounts show if these originated from Butterley or Codnor Park. The purpose of the slippers is best explained in the words of Outram himself from his —Minutes to be Observed to be observed in the Construction of Rail-ways“ (1811)A On a rail-way on the improved plan, where the descent is more than as to 1 to 50: six or eight waggons, loaded with 30 or 40 hundred weight each, will have a tendency to run downwards, as would require great la our of one horse to check and regulate, unless that tendency was checked y sledging of some wheels. On such, and steeper roads, iron slippers are applied, one or more to a gang of waggons, as occasion may require. Each slipper eing chained to the side of one of the wagons, and, eing put under the wheels, forms a sledge.% The gradient of the original line was quoted by Brunton in 1813 as 1 in 36 which agrees with our own site investigations so braking to protect the horses on downhill runs would be required. Wessex Archaeology found a piece of wedge shaped iron on the old trackbed during the excavation in ,ebruary 0113. It<s possible this could be a broken slipper. 5 of 13 BG2B0010 ,langed wheels were introduced in the mid-nineteenth century and edge rails replaced the plates.

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