In 1884 the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&Y) acquired the land for a new locomotive works at Horwich, in Bolton. Although repair work began in 1887 and locomotive building the following year, the works, with its foundries, forge, smithy and comprehensive range of shops (signal/telegraph/points, etc.), only became fully operational in 1892. Horwich Works was responsible for the L&Y’s locomotive building, repair, mechanical, electrical and hydraulic engineering. In its first ten years it produced 677 new locomotives.
Between 1902 and 1918, the L&Y experimented with electrification, with Horwich Works Drawing Office designed motor/trailer cars and bogies being built at Horwich Works. Its work on electrification continued during World War I. However, as Horwich Works became more involved in the war effort (manufacturing ammunition, shells, and fuses, and supplying chassis for motor lorries), the construction of passenger engines ceased and some goods engines were constructed using spares.
In 1922 the L&Y amalgamated with the London & North Western Railway which became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) under Grouping in 1923. The LMS inherited several large works and sought to rationalise its workshop operations. By 1927 the steel foundry, the telegraph shop, the signal shop, and the points and crossing shop at Horwich Works had all closed.
Locomotive building continued at Horwich Works until 1931 when it was suspended as a result of the economic depression. It continued to carry out repairs. During World War II Horwich Works produced ammunition, vehicle and plane parts. Locomotive production resumed in 1944. Horwich Works built its last steam locomotive in 1957 and its last diesel locomotive in 1962, concentrating on repairs and other railway engineering work. It was transferred to British Rail Engineering Limited in 1970. Horwich Works closed in 1983.
Date
1876 - 1979
Scope and ContentThe drawings consist of locomotive engineering drawings, with some charts, tables, diagrams and electrical engineering drawings. These drawings relate to the construction, running and maintenance of locomotives built at Horwich Locomotive Works, and also include other contractor/works drawings for locomotives and parts sent to Horwich. The drawings span the administration of Horwich Locomotive Works (c1876 –1960) by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, the London & North Western Railway, the London, Midland & Scottish Railway and British Railways (London Midland Region).
A full listing can be found on the National Railway Museum website under 'Drawing Lists' at https://www.railwaymuseum.org.uk/research-and-archive/further-resources/catalogues.
Extent46 boxes
Physical descriptionThe majority of drawings are on wax linen and are in a fair condition. There are also some paper prints/tracings and drawings on cartridge paper on linen that are in a more fragile condition. The registers are in fair condition. Photographic negatives are mainly silver gelatin glass with some on silver gelatin contact prints, silver gelatin, platinotypes and printing paper.
1847-1922, railway company, England
The title "Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway" was adopted by the Manchester & Leeds Railway in July, 1847 following its absorption of a number of earlier local railways, the largest of which was the Manchester and Leeds Railway.
In 1922, Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway amalgamated with London and North Western Railways; the expanded LNWR subsequently formed part of the London and North Western Railway.
Established by the Transport Act 1947, the Railways Executive was an operational executive under the control of the British Transport Commission. The Railways Executive was responsible for the management and operation of the nationalised railway companies and their undertakings.
Sir Eustace Missenden was Chair of the Railway Executive from its establishment until 1951. He was succeeded by Sir John Elliot. The headquarters of the Executive was 222 Marylebone Road, formerly the Hotel Grand Central.
The Railways Executive was divided into six regions, largely based on pre-nationalisation company boundaries. These regions were the Eastern region, the London Midland region, the North Eastern region, the Scottish region, the Southern region, and the Western region. These regions had Chief Regional Officers, the local representatives of the Executive and the co-ordinators of the department. The regional officers were issued directions by Railways Executive members, who were in turn issued directions from the British Transport Commission.
The Railways Executive was abolished by the Transport Act 1953, and its powers were transferred to the British Transport Commission.
The British Railways Board was an independent statutory corporation responsible for running the British railway network from 1963. It was established by the Transport Act 1962, which abolished the British Transport Commission and divided its undertakings between five newly-created bodies: the British Railways Board, the British Waterways Board, the British Transport Docks Board, the London Transport Board, and a Transport Holding Company. The British Railways Board was responsible for running the railway network, as well as managing government-owned railway hotels. Members of the British Railways Board were also appointed by the Minister for Transport. The first Chair of the British Railways Board was Dr Richard Beeching.
The British Railways Board operated through regional boards, which were responsible for regional sections of the railway network. These regions were Southern, Western, London Midland, London and North Eastern, Eastern, and Scottish. Members of these regional boards were appointed by the British Railways Board, in consultation with the Minister for Transport. The British Railways Board also operated a series of committees to manage every aspect of railway control, including committees for finance, technical, works and property. These committees were frequently reorganised throughout the life of the British Railways Board, under both different Chairs of the Board and different governments.
Several changes occurred during the 1960s. The Board had two new Chairs; Stanley Raymond, who replaced Richard Beeching in 1965, and his successor Henry Johnson, who became Chair in 1967. In 1968, the Transport Act transferred the control of the Sundries and Freightliner divisions from the British Railways Board to National Carriers Ltd and Freightliners Ltd. The Board retained a forty-nine per cent stake in Freightliners Ltd.
During the 1970s, the British Railways Board created several subsidiary companies which were to manage some of its undertakings. These included British Transport Hotels Ltd, British Rail Engineering Ltd, and British Rail Hovercraft Ltd. Many of these subsidiary companies were sold under the Conservative governments of the 1980s. There were also two new Chairs during this time. Richard Marsh replaced Henry Johnson in 1971, and Peter Parker became chair in 1976.
The privatisation of the British rail network during the 1990s radically changed the role of the British Railways Board. The Transport Act 1993 established Railtrack, a publicly-owned company. The Act transferred the ownership of track and railway infrastructure from the British Railways Board to Railtrack, in addition to the control of signals. Railtrack also replaced the British Railways Board as the body responsible for track investment and maintenance. The British Railways Board remained in existence after these changes, but only performed residual functions relating to pensions, liabilities, and non-operational railway land. The Board also continued to operate the British Transport Police service.
The British Railways Board was abolished by the Transport Act 2000, which transferred the remaining functions of the Board to the newly-created Strategic Rail Authority.
British Rail Engineering Ltd (BREL) was a wholly-owned subsidiary of the British Railways Board. Created through the Transport Act 1968, BREL began trading in 1970 under managing director A.E. Robson.
The company was created to manage British Rail’s thirteen workshops, replacing the British Rail Workshops Division. The works managed by BREL were Ashford, Crewe, Derby Locomotive Works, Derby Litchurch Lane, Doncaster, Eastleigh, Glasgow (formerly St Rollox), Horwich Foundry, Shildon, Swindon, Temple Mills, Wolverton, and York.
The primary object of BREL was to provide a construction, maintenance, and repair service to Britain’s railways. BREL produced most of British Rail’s new locomotives and carriages. These included the Class 141, 142 and 144 Railbuses, as well as the Mark III coach, used on all BR’s 125mph trains for inter-city travel. The company also overhauled BR’s fleet of locomotives and rolling stock, including passenger coaches. At one time, it was also the principal UK manufacturer of wagons for coal and freight.
In addition to carrying out work for BR, the Transport Act 1968 allowed BREL to use the spare capacity of its main works to manufacture for outside industry. In 1971, BREL formed BRE-Metro Ltd, a joint company with Metro-Cammell Ltd. This was to promote export sales of locomotives and rolling stock. Export contracts included the manufacture of coaches for the Northern Ireland Railway and Coras Iompair Eirann, and wagons for railways in Sweden, Malaysia, Yugoslavia and Bangladesh. BREL also supplied components and general engineering equipment to a wide range of non-railway customers, including the British Steel Corporation.
During the 1980s, BREL began a major project of rationalisation. Ashford Works, which had been gradually run down throughout the 1970s, was closed in 1981. Temple Mills Works, which mainly carried out wagon maintenance, was closed in 1983, and its work transferred to Doncaster. Shildon Works was closed in 1984, with Swindon following in 1986. In May 1987, the wagon department at Doncaster was separated from the rest of the works, and was sold to RFS Industries as Doncaster Wagon Works Ltd.
In 1987, the remaining BREL workshops were split into three distinct groups. Eastleigh, Wolverton, Doncaster and Glasgow were formed into BR Maintenance Ltd, a new British Railways Board subsidiary. Horwich Foundry was transferred to a new, separate subsidiary company, and was sold in 1988. Crewe, York, and the two works in Derby became BREL (1988) Ltd. In April 1989, BREL (1988) Ltd was sold to a consortium of BREL management and employees, the Swiss-Swedish conglomerate Asea Brown Boveri, and Trafalgar House. Asea Brown Boveri later bought out Trafalgar House, and in 1992 the company was renamed ABB Transportation Ltd.
Railways in Britain were nationalised under the terms of the Transport Act 1947 which came into effect on 1 January 1948. The Railway Executive, a corporate body subordinate to the British Transport Commission, was created to manage and operate the railways. It divided them into six geographical regions, largely based on the areas served by the pre-nationalisation railway companies.
London Midland Region (LMR) was one of those territories. It comprised the railway operations in England and Wales of the former London, Midland and Scottish Railway Company (LMS) with the exception of the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway which was placed in Eastern Region and lines in central and south Wales which passed to Western Region. Subsequently, the area of operations was adjusted by the transfer of “penetrating lines” between regions
Between 1948 and 1952 the regional manager was responsible to the Railway Executive for day to day operations in his region. After the Railway Executive was abolished in 1952, he reported to the British Transport Commission (BTC). In 1963, BTC itself was abolished and replaced by British Railways Board (BRB). Between 1963 and 1968 LMR was a statutory board in accordance with the provisions of the Transport Act 1962, subordinate to and reporting to BRB. It ceased to be a statutory board in 1968, following reorganisation of the railways’ business along sectoral or functional lines. The name survived until 1992 when the railways were privatised.
There were two principal routes in the region. The first was the former Midland mainline which had several components: London St Pancras to Sheffield via Leicester and Nottingham, Rugby through Derby to West Yorkshire and Leeds and continuing over the Settle-Carlisle route, Derby to Manchester, and Birmingham to Derby. The other was the West Coast Mainline (WCML) from Euston to Carlisle, via Birmingham and Manchester with its branch to Liverpool.
There was one major “penetrating line”, the former Great Central London Extension from Annesley in Nottinghamshire to London Marylebone, via Leicester, and Rugby. Originally in Eastern Region, this line was transferred to London Midland Region in 1958.
The WCML which formed part of the major route from London to Scotland was electrified in stages between 1959 and 1974. Only the southern end of the Midland Mainline from Bedford to London Moorgate was electrified during the period that London Midland Region existed.
Like other regions London Midland experienced withdrawal of services and closures, especially following the Beeching report. The most notable casualty was the Great Central line, which, because it largely duplicated the Midland Main Line from Nottingham to London, was closed almost in its entirety. The line through the Derbyshire Dales between Matlock and Buxton was also closed thus severing the route from St Pancras to Manchester. Many branch lines and industrial lines were also closed
Conditions governing accessAccess is given in accordance with the NRM access policy. Material from this collection is available to researchers through Search Engine.
Conditions governing ReproductionCopying of material from this archive is permissible as long as material is in a good general state and able to withstand the copying process without causing damage or compromising the document’s continued survival. The provision of copies is subject to NRM terms and conditions for the supply and reproduction of copies and in accordance with any relevant copyright legislation.
AppraisalThis archive has been appraised to retain the ‘master drawings’ and copy drawings that contain subsequent amendments or updates. Duplicate drawings that contain amendments or updates have been retained only if the amendments or updates have not been transferred to the “master drawing.” The NRM disposes of duplicate drawings that are simply duplicates in accordance with NRM procedures.
System of arrangementDue to the fragmentation of the Horwich Archive before it came to the National Railway Museum, it has been difficult to ascertain the original order of the records. The archive has therefore been arranged into three series as follows:
The majority of drawings are marked with a drawing number. However, due to the shortage of corroborating records (registers) relating to the bulk of the engineering drawings, it has not been possible to firmly establish the original arrangement of these records. The scheme of arrangement employed is based on the only surviving drawing register, i.e. with each drawing listed numerically by it’s drawing number.
The realisation that duplicate drawing numbers existed, and that many of these did not correspond with those documented in the register, suggests that there were several drawing series that ran independently of main series of Horwich created drawings. These drawings have been extracted from the main series and grouped into individual series according to creator or function.
Photographs, (1997-7059) are arranged (mainly chronologically) in numerical sequence by negative number, according to the original handwritten negative registers, (A-F series). Photographs (1997-7484) are arranged into themed volumes, (albums) as per original arrangement. Negatives (1997-7483) are also arranged by theme and subject.
