324 AUQUST1880.

ON THE DOCKS AND RAILWAY APPROACHES AT BARROW-IN-. - BY MR. F. C. STILEMAN,- OF LONDON.

The title of this paper was adopted from. a suggestion of the

Secretary, with the omission of one word-the epithet " new " : the reason for this omission being that the whole of the Town, Docks, and Railway at Barrow-in-Furness are new, the Act of PaTliament incorporating the Furness Railway having been passed in 1844, the Dock Act in 1863, and the Town having been incorporated in 1867. The Author has had the privilege of being professionally connected with most of the engineering works of the town, and of watching its rise and progress from the time of its foundation. As a pupil of the late Mr. J. R. McClean, he was instructed to find his way to Barrow, the means of doing so not being recorded in Bradshaw, and to set out the railway between Barrow and Pie1 to Dalton and Eirkby. The contract for this portion of the railway was taken by Messrs. John and William Tredwell in 1844. The line was opened in June 1846, for the carriage of iron ore and slate, which was shipped from a small T headed wooden pier erected by the Railway Company at Rabbit Hill Point, about the site of the present Barrow station. At this time the mineral owners would not undertake to guarantee the Railway Company a traffic of 75,000 tons of iron ore per annum; but soon after the opening of the line a great development of the iron ore traffic took place, and this quantity wafi increased fourfold. By degrees the railway system has been developed, and various other lines have been absorbed, now forming together the Furness Railways, which run from Lancaster. vi& Carnforth, to Barrow and , and combine business with pleasure traffic, the latter to and Coniston lakes. The requirements of this district now demand

Downloaded from pme.sagepub.com at UNIV OF VIRGINIA on June 4, 2016 AUGUST1880. BARROW DOCHS. 325 quick communication with London, Liverpool, Manchester, and Leeds, which is supplied by the express through trains of the London & North Western and the . In Fig. 1, Plate 33, is shown a general plan of the railway approaches, docks, and sea highway; and Fig. 2, Plate 34, is a larger plan of the docks, together with the chief features of the town of Barrow. The first harbour authorities (the Barrow Harbour Commissioners) were constituted under the Act of 1848. The powers therein granted becoming inadequate to the rising port, the Commissioners’ authority was enlarged in 1855, and became vested in the Furness Railway Company in 1863; and by the same Act power was also given to construct docks. The construction of the docks then authorised, situate between Bh~owand Barrow Island, was let in 1865 to Messrs. Brassey and Field. The docks have been named after the two Dukes, Devonshire and Buccleuch, the chairman and deputy- chairman of the Furness Railway ; and were formally opened on the 19 September 1867 with great public enthusiasm. The Devonshire and Buccleuch docks have together a water area of 65 acres. Their length is 5500 feet, and width 500 feet, with a clepth of 24 feet. They are entered through a basin 500 feet in length by 150 feet in width, worked by a pair of double-skinned wrought-iron gates, 60 feet wide in the clear, and by a wrought-iron caisson. Adjoining and parallel with the basin is a graving dock, capable of taking a vessel of 5500 tons burthezl. The north side of the was allocated to traffic in grain, jute, &c., and the shipment of steel rails and h*matite pig iron; the principal portion of the south side being reserved for, and now used by, the Barrow Shipbuilding Company and the timber trade : whilst the was more particularly reserved for the shipment of iron ore and timber, a trade generally carried on in 8 smaller class of vessels. Under these circumstances the entrance between the two docks was made 40 feet wide, or 20 feet less in width than the entrance into the basin. In 1872 the railway company obtained an Act authorising an extension of their docks, which was completed and opened in May of 2D

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last year. This extension, called the , has been named after the managing director of the Furness Railway ; and the Author trusts it will be a lasting tribute to the energy of Sir James Ramsden. The access to this dock affords a second way into the entire system of docks; it is through a basin 900 feet in length by 250 feet in width, having an area of 8 acres, into a lock 700 feet long by 100 feet wide, and nearly 2 acres in area ; and thence into the Ramsden dock and basin of 56 acres of water area. Besides this a further area of 200 acres has been enclosed for the and quays. The minimum width of the entrance to these docks is 100 feet. The outer cills are placed 6 feet lower than those of the Devonshire basin ; while those at the upper end of the lock, or second entrance to the docks, are at the same level with the cills of the Devonshire basin. The masonry of the basins, lock, and docks is built of red sandstone, chiefly obtained from Hawcoat quarry, 14 mile distant. In the construction of the basin and quay walls a large amount of concrete has been used in various proportions, the most usual being 1 part of hydraulic mortar made from Aberthaw pebbles, and 6 parts of gravel or shingle, taken from the southern end of . In Figs. 3 to 5, Plate 35, are shown sections of these walls. In tidal work, the excavation for the foundations, where trenched, was removed by buckets and skips, and the concrete was put in position by the same means. Concrete was also passed down through telescopic wrought-iron tubes ; but it was found that the cement floated to the top of the tube, and this plan was ultimately abandoned in favour of the skips. The invert of the lock is built of blue Flintshire bricks ; the cills, hollow quoins, and copings of Cornish granite. The slopes of the outer embankments, reclaiming the land for the site of the docks, are at 2 to 1, and are pitched with 12-in. sandstone pitching laid on 12 in. of clay puddle, the interstices being filled with broken stone. This mode has also been adopted for some of the inner slopes. As trade requires it, jetties will be built out to the foot of the-inner slope for vessels to lie alongside. The foundations proved very variable; some of the walls, especially a great part of the outer

Downloaded from pme.sagepub.com at UNIV OF VIRGINIA on June 4, 2016 -4CGUSE 1880. BARROW DOCKS. 327 channel wall, are erected on piles and flooring, as shown in Fig. 3, Plate 35 ; other portions have piles driven as a sheeting in front of the masonry. Amongst other means used for excavating the dock, the steam navvy was successfully employed ; its employment in stiff clay and gravel is very economical, saving much cost in getting, The work done by a 10 horse-power “nawy” per day was 600 to 800 cubic yards filled into wagons. The basin and dock gates are of wrought iron, segmental in form, and struck to a radius of 75 ft. 6 in., with a versed sine of 21 ft. The sea gates are plated to a greater height than the others, so as to exclude the equinoctial tides from the docks. Each leaf of these gates is 57 feet in length, measured on the arc. The framing consists of H-shaped built ribs, placed horizontally at various heights according to the water-pressure they have to sustain, and connected at five points by vertical frames, similar in shape to the ribs. At the back of each alternate rib is fixed a horizontd lunette frame, tied and braced vertically at the five upright frsmee. At the back of the gate, and attached to the framing at every point of intersection, are two diagonal bars, supporting and bracing together all the framing of the gate. The main ribs are plated on the outside up to the water level of the dock. The heel and mitre posts and the clapping cills are of greenheart timber. The centre of the heel post is set slightly eccentric with the centre to which the hollow quoin is worked; so that in opening the gate the heel post is at once freed from the masonry. The pivot, and the top and bottom shoes of the heel posts, are of cast steel. The gate is anchored back to the masonry by a wrought-iron strap, passing through a massive cast-iron anchor plate, which is built into the masonry and secured by long wrought-iron ties. Each gate is provided with one cast-steel roIIer, 2 ft. 6 in. diameter, placed 47 ft. 6 in. from the heel post, and carried by a vertical shaft having adjusting keys at the top. The weight of one sea gate, 57 ft, long and 36 ft. high, is 107 tons; and the gross weight, including the pivot, anchor plate, straps, roller-path, &c., is 127 tons. Each gate is provided with a single chain attachment for opening and closing, and with four sluices acting in pairs. There is a gangway 2D2

Downloaded from pme.sagepub.com at UNIV OF VIRGINIA on June 4, 2016 3 38 BARROW DOCKS. AuGusr 1880. at the top, and that*across one pair of gates is made sufficiently wide for vehicles. The railway and road approaches across the docks aro as follows, as shown in the plan, Fig. 2, Plate 34 :- 1st. The north road, crossing the inner end of the Devonshire basin by a lifting and rolling bridge, 60 ft. clear span and 13 ft. wide. 2nd. The middle road between the Devonshire and Buccleuch docks, for vehicles only, formerly passing over a 40-ft. swing-bridge, in two leaves worked by hand-powcr. This entrance is now being widened to 80 ft., and the bridgc is proposed to be a rolling one at a higher level. 3rd. The Buccleuch dock bridge between the Bucclcuch and Ramsden docks, crossing an opening of 80 ft., in two leaves. It is separated for railway traffic, vehicles, and foot-passengers, and has an aggregate width of 31 ft. The general construction of this bridge is shown in Figs. 6 to 13, Plates 36 to 38. The gross weight of each leaf is 116 tons, carried on a pivot P, by means of a pair of spring girders G G. This arrangement relieves the dead weight of the bridge off the bearings B, Fig. 10, which are in advance of the pivot; whilst the spring girders yield sufficiently to allow of the bridge taking all its bearings under a passing load. The two Icaves are connected in closing by a groove, and key, Fig. 9, having a slight draw, which maintains the ends of the leaves in level and direction. An 80-ft. fixed bridge is provided across the opening from the Ramsden into the Cavendish dock (at present to be used as a timber pond), for €he road to the cattle lairs, slaughter-house, and chill room on the Foreign Animals wharf. Nearly all the machinery for working the gates, sluices, capstans, cranes, pumps, bridges, grain elevators and bands, &c., is worked by hydraulic power, transmitted from two stations ; one near thc Devonshire dock entrance, the second near the Ramsden dock entrance, Fig. 2, Plate 34. An intermediate accumulator is fixed near the 100-ton crane of the Devonshire dock. Nearly all the hydraulic machinery and plant has been provided and erected by Sir William Armstrong and Go. The 100-ton crane was also arranged to lift T-ton loads, working over the same roller path ; this has not been found to be an

Downloaded from pme.sagepub.com at UNIV OF VIRGINIA on June 4, 2016 ALXXST 1880. BARROW DOCKS. 329 economical arrangement, since the whole dead weight of the crane has to travel over the roller path whether for the greater or lesser load. Barrow harbour is protected for its whole area by the Isle of Walney, which is about 10 miles in length, as seen in Fig. 1, Plate 33. The chief entrance is at Piel, at the southern end, where the rise of tide is 28 feet at springs, and 21 feet at neaps, equinoctial tides rising to 33 feet. The Furness Railway Company for the last ten years have carried on extensive dredging operations, employing four steam-dredgers, steam-barges, and pontoons, in straightening and deepening the channel between Pie1 and the Devonshire dock entrance. The result is shown in Fig. 1, Plate 33, where the strong dotted lines mark the new channel. A bar at the entrance to Piel is now being removed to a depth of 13 feet below low-water of ordinary spring tides; and this work, when completed, will enable vessels of the largest class to enter early and follow up the tide to the docks.

Discussion. Mr. T. ORMISTONhad long heard of the Barrow Docks as very extensive and successful, and as another proof of the great energy which some of the nobility had thrown into the extension of public works in the country. He hoped therefore it would not be considered that in what he was about to Nay he was criticising the works in an unfavourable spirit, and he spoke under the disadvantage of not having yet been over the works ; all that he desired was to elicit information and provoke discussion. One thing that he should like to know was why the graving dock at the Dcfvonshire entrance had been placed outside ; because in a general way it was considered that the great advantage of having a graving dock in connection with a wet dock was that repairs to ships could be made without going outside of the wet dock.

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It appeared to him that the deep entrance to the Ramsden basin was excellent, but that the raising of the inner lock cill 6 ft., or to the same level as the Devonshire cill, had prevented the full use of the large area of docks inside ; and he should be glad of further information on that question. Another question he should like to ask was why the entrance had been made so wide. Since paddle-steamers had been given up for the sea-going trade, it was generally held that nothing like the width of 100 ft. was required. He did not know any steamer afloat of anything like that width, except perhaps the Great Eastern; and it was not worth while to make exceptional arrangements for one ship. There was no ship that he knew of having more than 52 ft. beam over all. In a dock which he had lately finished he bad designed the width to be 60 ft. ; but he was overruled, and it was made 66 ft., which he thought was wider tban necessary. At Liverpool hc believed the standard width of entrance was now only 60 ft. If the width was made more than was amply sufficient, that meant heavier gates and heavier works generally, costing of course a great deal more money. Finally he should like to ask whether any silting took place in the channel, outside the docks ; and if so, how that was met.

Mr. W. G. STRYPEwould confine the observations he had to make to certain matters of detail, as the scope of Mr. Stileman's excellent paper was so large, and the subject so extensive. He would refer especially to the mode in which the quay walls were constructed. The paper stated that the plan of running the concrete in by means of tubes had been abandoned in favour of the old plan of lowering the concrete by skips. The tube plan appeared to be simple and economical, and capable of being successfully employed if proper precautions were taken ; and one of the most important of these was that the concrete should be poured into the tube in very large quantities and as uniformly as possible, and some special arrangements should be made to ensure this. The extensive and successful use of concrete in the construction of quay works such as dewribed in the paper had of late received great attention ; and the plan of putting

Downloaded from pme.sagepub.com at UNIV OF VIRGINIA on June 4, 2016 AUGUST1880. BARROW DOCKS. 331 the concrete in sit6 had met with so much favour with engineers as to lead them to look forward to the time when the use of large concrete blocks, with their extensive, cumbrous, and costly plant, would be a thing of the past. For irregular foundations and uneven bottoms there was everything in favour of placing the concrete in %it&. It would therefore be very interesting to have a little more information as to the reasons that had led to the use of tubes being discontinued ; and also some description of the method employed, which was not found to answer ; if the tube arrangement could be successfully employed, it would be of considerable advantage in depositing concrete in great depths of water. He should like to ask in what depth of water the concrete was deposited in the present instance. The rise and fall of tide was considerable, and he should like to know how the panels were constructed, the method of placing them and staunching them at the bottom ; and also to what height with respect to the rise of the tide they were carried up before the cement was filled in, and to what extent in advance of the work the paneling was projected.

Mr. G. B. RENNIEasked why the three sections of dock wall in Plate 35 showed such different modes of construction: Fig. 3 being half rubble-masonry ; Fig. 4 almost entirely lime-concrete ; and Fig. 5 rubble-masonry and lime-concrete, with cement-concrete at the bottom. Also whatn was the object of the trench of cement- concrete shown at the bottom of Fig. 4. Further it was stated in the paper that, amongst other means used for excavating the dock, the steam-navvy had been successfully employed. Would Mr. Stileman kindly state what was the relative cost of excavating by the steam-navvy as compared with hand-labour ?

Sir JAMESRAMSDEN, in the absence of Mr. F. C. Stileman, would answer some of the general questions that had been asked, leaving Mr. Stileman’s son to reply to matters of detail. With regard to the construction of the graving-dock at the Devonshire entrance, he quite agreed in the view taken by Mr. Ormiston, that the entrance should have been from the dock itself; but in the early days of the

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docks economy had been one of the first things to be attended to. It had been found that the foundations of the north-east corner of the Devonshire dock were very bad ; there was a thick deposit of peat, and other unfavourable material, and therefore the cheapest mode of access to the graving-dock was found to be from the sea. With reference to the great width of the entrance to the new dock, he ventured to differ from Mr. Ormiston, though with considerable diffidence. Although it was a fact that vessels were now being built without paddles, there were other circumstances connected with the working of the dock which practical men would at once appreciate. Much longer vessels now frequented the port, since the improvement of the channel and the opening of the new docks ; and it mas important that these should be docked as quickly as possible, not only with a view to the safety of the vessels, but also with a view to getting as many vessels as possible in and out of the docks on the tide. It was found from experience that the 60-ft. width of entrance at the Devonshire dock might be very much improved. After considerable enquiry the directors came to thc conclusion that 100 ft. was the best width for that particular tide- way ; and this had been proved in the most satisfactory manner by experience in working the dock. They now found that ships of any length might enter the dock practically without putting a rope ashore; and this was due entirely to the great width of the entrance. Where there was a narrow entrance, it was necessary that the ship should. practically be brought to a right angle with the tide-way before she could enter ; but with the present wider entrance, a slight alteration of the helm made the vessel describe the arc of a circle, and she was not at right angles with the stream until she was practically within the entrance of the basin. Again there was an enormous area of dock at the back of the entrance, so that it was desirable to contemplate the admission of ships in very large numbers; and it had been found by experience that one vessel could enter and another leave the basin at the same time. That of course was due to the extra width, which would no doubt save the additional entrances that must otherwise have become necessary in the course of time.

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With regard to the question of silting, the water in Barrow harbour was all pure sea-water; there was no alluvial deposit, and consequently no silt. The bottom of the channel was hard material, gravel and clay. Moreover the Island of Walney gave a double entrance, both north and south; and it was a curious fact that, owing to the meeting of the waters of the Atlantic and the Irish Channel immediately opposite Bay, the level of the tide at Pie1 was 2 ft. higher than it was at the estuary of the Duddon, nino miles further north. Hence for two hours after high water the tido was running to the north, and when the water returned it was as clear as crystal, so that any mud moved by the flowing tide was washed away into the sea to the north. The dredging work had been very much facilitated by the scouring power of the tide. All that the dredgers had done had been to remove the hard clay and gravel, the tide washing away the finer material. He believed that two-thirds of the material removed had been washed away by the operation of the tide. With reference to Mr. Ormiston’s question about the level of the water in the docks, he might point out that the docks were fed by a stream of water called the Abbey Beck, which stream practically maintained a depth of 24 ft. of water in the docks at all times. This level was the same as that of high-water spring tides, i.e. 30 ft. over the outer cills; at naap tides, when the high-water level was below this, vessels were admitted when necessary into the docks by locking. Experience had taught that it would have been better if the inner cill of the lock had been lower, from the fact that since the dock was designed vessels had become longer and deeper. In all that had been done at Barrow they had endeavoured to advance with the times; but by the time they had carried a plan out, they always found themselves behind the requirements of trade. He had only to add that the whole works had been carried out by Mr. Stileman in the most satisfactory manner to the directors of the company, and that nothing could be improved in the way of practical details.

Mr. FnANB: STILEMANexplained that the section Fig. 3, Plate 35, wss built outside the entrance and wss tidal work ;Fig. 4 was the return

Downloaded from pme.sagepub.com at UNIV OF VIRGINIA on June 4, 2016 334 BARROW DOCK& AUGCST1880. wall in the basin and was all done with navvy work; Fig. 5 was the section of the Anchor Line basin-wall, where the same amount of work in masonry could never have been completed in anything like the time. The trench shown at the bottom of Fig. 4 was made to get the concrete through a layer of gravel down on to a good bottom. With regard to the material, all the tidal work outside was in cement-concrete, and that inside, in the dry, was in lime-concrete. With regard to the cost of the steam-navvy and of manual labour, in the hard stuff in which these docks were excavated the cost was found to be 4d. per cubic yard for the steam-navvy, as compared with 1s. 2d. for manual labour. These prices in both cases included the lead, but not coal for the steam-nawy. No doubt on railways, in remote places where men and lodgings were difficult to get, the saving would be still greater. In regard to the question that had been asked with reference to passing concrete down wrought-iron tubes, the tubes were made 30 ft. long and 2 ft. diameter, and in three telescopic pieces of 10 ft. each, to enable them to be raised or slung as required: it having been determined not to carry the concrete higher than 3 ft. at a time. These tubes held a considerable amount of concrete; and it was found that, during the process of filling, a portion of the cement made its way out through the joints in the foym of scum, leaving the first portion of each tide’s work with less cement in it than there should be. Working as they were at 14ft. below low water, it was found impossible to make the joints water-tight. Under these circumstances the method of building was altered. A steam crane was floated alongside the piling ; the gravel and cement were also brought alongside in barges, and the concrete was mixed on these barges, and lowered by the crane into the foundations, in Appleby’s hopper-bottom buckets. It would thus be seen that the concrete was still deposited in sit&; it was only the method of doing so that had been altered. With regard to dredging, they had raised by dredgers alone from 3,000,000 to 4,000,000 cubic yards. The quantity raised varied according to the time of year; but taking it all the year round, the cost was about 54d. per yard actually raised. Taking it

Downloaded from pme.sagepub.com at UNIV OF VIRGINIA on June 4, 2016 AUGUST 1880. BARROW DOCKS. 335 however from Sir James Ramsden’s point of view, i.e. including the quantity removed by the scour, the cost was reduced to somewhere about 2d. per yard. In reference to the construction and testing of the steel spring girders of the Buccleuch dock bridge, Plate 38, their top and bottom flanges were of steel boiler-plates, 18 in: wide and 18 in. thick ; and the webs were of Butterley channel iron, 39 5. wide on the flanges, 9 in. deep, and 4 in. thick. They.were riveted up with steel rivets 1in. diam., the rivet-holes being rimered out when necessary, so that the rivets entirely filled the holes. The girders were constructed with a reversed camber of 2 in. ; and each when finished was accurately tested on bearings 25 ft. apart in the following manner, the results being registered. A load of 32 tons was applied at the centre, and the deflection and permanent set were noted. Successive loads increased by 10 tons at a time were then applied, and each time were wholly taken off again, until 62 tons load was reached. This load was then applied again and again repeatedly, until no further permanent set was produced. The deflections were then noied both at 55 tons and at 62 tons load, and were found to amount to 1Ain. under the former and 19 in. under the latter. The spring-girders rested direct on the pivot, and, when out of strain, had a reversed camber of 2 in.; so that when no moving weight was on the bridge, the spring of the girders lifted the bridge off its front bearings ; but the girders were so adjusted that when a train came on they yielded enough to let the bridge down on its front bearings, while it was fixed at the heel end by two wedge-shaped keys, fitted into jaws bolted to the masonry, as shown in Fig. 8, Plate 37. In opening the bridge, the force required to start each leaf was found to be 30 cwt@.

The PRESIDENTproposed a vote of thanks to Mr, Stileman for his valuable paper, which was passed by acclamation.

The following paper was then read :-

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