LIFE IN A RAILWAY FACTORY
UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME
THE READERS’ LIBRARY
50 Volumes Published
Full list of Titles can be had from the Publishers
DUCKWORTH & CO.
COVENT GARDEN, LONDON
LIFE IN
A RAILWAY FACTORY
BY
ALFRED WILLIAMS
AUTHOR OF
‘A WILTSHIRE VILLAGE’
‘VILLAGES OF THE WHITE HORSE’
LONDON
DUCKWORTH & CO.
3 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, W.C.
First Published 1915
Published in the Readers’ Library 1920
Printed in Great Britain
by Turnbull & Spears, Edinburgh
To My Friend
ALFRED E. ZIMMERN
PREFACE
My object in penning “Life in a Railway Factory” was to take advantageof the opportunities I have had as a workman, during twenty-three years’continuous service in the sheds, of setting down what I have seen andknown for the interest and education of others, who might like to beinformed as to what is the actual life of the factory, but who have nomeans of ascertaining it from the generality of literature publishedupon the matter.
The book opens with a short survey of several causes of labour unrestand suggestions as to its remedy. Then follows a brief description ofthe stamping shed, which is the principal scene and theatre of the dramaof life exhibited in the pages, the central point from which ourobservations were made and where the chief of our knowledge andexperience was acquired. After a glance into the interior we explore thesurroundings and pay a visit to the rolling mills, and watch the menshingling and rolling the iron and forging wheels for the locomotives.Continuing our perambulation of the yard we encounter the shunters,watchmen, carriage finishers, painters, washers-down, andcushion-beaters. The old canal claims a moment’s attention, then we passon to the ash-wheelers, bricklayers, road-waggon builders, and thewheel-turning shed. Leaving them behind we come to the “field,” wherethe old broad-gauge vehicles were broken up or converted, and proceedthence into the din of the frame-building shed and study some portionof its life. Next follows an exploration of the smithy and aconsideration of the smith at work and at home, his superior skill andcharacteristics. From our study of the smiths we pass to that of thefitters, forgemen, and boilermakers, and complete our tour of thepremises by visiting the foundry and viewing the operations of themoulders.
The early morning stir in the town and country around the sheds, thepreparations for work, the manner in which the toilers arrive at thefactory, and the composition of the crowd are next described, afterwhich we enter the stamping shed and witness the initial toils of theforgemen and stampers, view the oil furnace and admire the prowess of“Ajax” and his companions. The drop-hammers and their staff receiveproportionate attention; then follows a comparison of forging andsmithing, a study of