The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1869-08-28 00:00:00

FROM BROAD TO NARROW GAUGE.

The following account of the operations in changing the
broad to the narrow gauge between Gloucester and Hereford
wdl be read with interest—
The Great Western Railway Company, having de-
termined several months aince to render perfect its
communication between Bristol and the North, till
Hereford, commenced at once the works necessary to
that end. These works were
I. Toe mixing of the gauges in the extenalve Glocester
station-yard, a work of peculiar difficulty, in consequence of
station being a single-platform one

_
that the Petrie ' omnibus service is very -Much that se _.„,_ _________
2. The niistng of the gauged front Glocester to Grange-
better than our own. That the French vehicles court, ',mere tile Glocester and thereterst Railway branches
are more c •mmemdious the fares much better, ell—the Gtocester and Gereford branch being a single line on
ansl the whole arrangements more coovenient thviolezttgwaougier.aimiar
y portions of the work having
than our own; most people who have had experience been completed early in the month, it became necessary
will admit; and the contrast just referred to is ell to close the (*tester end Hi relord in order to narrow
the more stalking when it is borne in mind that the its gauge. Accordingly, it was announced that the
populatiou and the size of Paris as compared with Lon- traffic would be entirely suspended fir is fortnight by
een I Hereford the pa.ssen-
dsue may be set down as 2 to 3. The great London
rg'eirsi bewtow Grange-cmu
eild be conveyed bt y cenomb. . To m'ret this, thie
company, with its average revenue of more than Most complete arrangements were made by the general
1:10,000 a week, has yet to learn the good policy of cheap manager of the Great Western Railway, Mr; Grierss•n,
fares. assisted by the general superintendent, Mr. Tyrrell,
and the local superintendent, Mr. Burlitison. Ten
A leading legal journal, alluding to the new law of
first-class coach.eu were pit on the road by Mr. Hughes,
evidence and to a case where a young lady who owner of the well-known Bayswater line of omnibuses,
sought to heal the wounds of her heart by a plaister and on Monday, the 16th inst.. they commenced run-
• f bank notes was examined as a witness, and told fling between -Heref••rd and RI., that being the
her story with convincing modesty, of course obtaining sheeeitniondigi tchoenvlitemeAl rbet roen
.gin.hgeanrda,utlfiroe
[tar g Is
substantial consolation, adds that one objection to Grange-curt. Y Y
the new law was and is that pretty plaintiffs will It had been determined that the work of narrowing
wheedle tender-hearted juries. The wisdom of a should he done by the men in the regular employ of
tammon jury is not likely to be proof against the company on the permanent way; accordingly, a
force id 45a men was selected from the gangs regularly
It, nor, for that matter, of a special jury
at work on the Hereford division of the Great Western
dither." But, with all due deference to this legal Railway, a eection neatly 700 miles long. These Sr.
opinion, the public seem generally to think rived by three special trains at the Bares-court et atien
that truth will be more often arrived at by on Saturday night, being so timed that the one from
xemining parties to actions than by the old plan of the ni•rth came in first, that from the Aberdare district
,
second, and the broad-gauge tram from Milford Haven,
'4
-gaily shutting their mouths. One effect undoubtedly
which had picked up men the whole way to Grange-
till be, it will make divorce and breach of promise court, last. It was arranged that the whole of these
cases more interesting, and we may expect that when men should lodge during the execution of the work in
latch trials take place the courts will be more crowded a broad gauge train of coveted waggons, carefully
whitewashed and eupplieil with an abundance of clean
than lmfore.
straw and new sacks. The train that arrived from
The doings of the Oxford and Harvard crews, pre- Milford was apart of this sleeping train, the other
a aratory to the great Anglo-American beateace, are part having arrived early in the day at Hereford; the
eagerly watchoth May the best msn sin. There are sleeping train, with waggons fir water cask,Nelorrys,
kw° very gratifying circumstances connected with the tt.ii caor itsht:e tnoefc
eti,,.l a
ry teo, broad-gaugeand vehicles.a
ppiaces, hawviens;;
t at.h—that it will be for the pure honour of winning, been unloaded, were quickly transferred to the sleep-
mud that very rigid regulations have been made to ing train, the staff occupying a first-class carriage for
a :event the men being incommoded by steamers, as the night.
via too frequently been the case when great rowing- At leer o'clock on Sumba,' morning, the 15th inst.,
the sleeping train was in motion, and an engineer had
&etches have taken place.
gone ahead sett leg up a flag-pole at the end of each
We have a Workmen's Train Association here, and gang's length if murk for the day. The train stopped
.1 step which they have taken is of general interest. at each flag-hole, and a ranger and gang of twenty-two
Through the agency of the society between five and ,ix men, furnished with a day's provisions, jumped out
s. soutufil persons living in the north-western suburbs wo Iti
ehv titille LI:.
en:, c: o e ar y
I;," ancltriti°ell 1 allh'i i ea' pera;es s" se sews acts'inr:
at London signed a memorial to, and ultimately hail an tieue•l throughout the whole length of line 450 men
itterview With the directors of the Greet Western could he spread over. Soon a line of smoke was to be
dls:lway. They state that they are now cut elf from teen amending, and the w••rk if getting breakfast was
%Away communication by the high fares, but that actively going on. The men brought their own food
—a week's supply -as it was arranged that should the
alr y will all travel by the line if they can have weekly work extend beyond that time through had weather or
Zekets at not more than a shilling a week. The any unforeseen circumstance, they were to be allowed
.rectors are taking the matter into consideration, and to stop for a day ti get fresh supplies. Fry's cocoa
ahetimpe will do what some other companies have done. seemed the favourite beverage, the food various
Sint thereie one consideration connected with cheap trains tcioolnds boafeopna,ymnati, oz, bwreelald
and ntil ce hee enee. ra l Tahrre a cnigme:
*r werktrien, which seems generally to be overlooked. meat.. haul been conveyed to the mengrn print. As to
TtLat working men might to be able to travel ta and payment—each 1, in sea. e i I • •.'e the rate of pay he
tres between their homes and their markshops is true mit on his regills. 1. .... •1: eL. .nd overtime. A day
flbough, but the question is, can the railway companies to be si hours, ULU two home a quarter. Also 15d.
zr
warerd ityailof.r rtatainol zo,u wTob,rie,
onfunnarrwoewre.
to do so while juries give tu 1 enormous me
stataages in, cam of accident. Take the present case. enacothloning
jig was god g on. It tisk several hones to lay out the
We will ray that 5,000 people travel twelve times a whole Is tic-, so that lengths first taken in hand were
-week fora stilling each. The mere carrying will no mush noire ft ward than others. Advantage was taken
mubt pay the company, considering that if the men of this to keep up the cotnmunigation with Hereford by
Arl net travel at this rate they would not travel at' tufieeant'en"Eatithiiebnrim °t'vh.eTatalliee:; nastratsil7l:iste,ttselkeep'P-
-all ; hut look at the nick run by the company, of hav• ing train at night. By six p.m. on Sunday thienta row-
tsg to pay a good round sum in the event of any aeci- gauge train was able to come close to the sleeping train
lent to any she of those 5000. We ought to look to at Holm Lacey, and the men having got into it with
teeth tides. The subject will come bet ire the atten- their tube, the train was net in motion and the tools
en yrtt out at the flag-poles for the AL'a
lof Parliament next sessi on ,- an hbe im. memr hay- :1:;!, ght's halt wait called at I awl u'
lay work.
ey.
as given notice of a motion on railway compensation. At four a.m. on Monday the men were on their way
'We perhaps knew very little more in this country bacs to Holm Lacey, and by the close of Alonday
-w:ative to the internal economy, the manners and evening the narrobwitig hat reached Fawley. It nate
...ottoine
end the
social me
of itosdo than
we do
of lazdamidelsevwhelerenti.tsnaetd tx,woucliiil,gl it•:-ieeacc(huiedmieinlieTetitaty,4
:as Celestihl Empire. We may look forward to two traffic by rail between Hereford and Ross on Wedties-
.swportant bookie on the subject. Sir C. W. fluke is day. Rose was actually reached on Tuesday night, and
•sw in Russia, and is particularly examining into the the sleeping train put into a limp line at that station Ise
' edition of the serfs, with a view to a work on the the night. A consultation having been held, it was
decided to make an effort to accomplish the narrowing
raliject. To make a thorough investigation, Sir Charles the whole was from Ross to Grange-court next day' and
a
„steeds to return to the country next yer. Mr. On WedneAday it WWI announced that traffic by railfrom
'isaiworth Dixon, till recently editor of the Athenrcon, Hereford toGlososter, by narrowgenge, would tie 4,prned
',sale° about to visit Russia awl make a long stay on Friday. Proceeding as before, the men were laid out
• u're, with a view to a book on the subject. Works top.2.statzfen..crer.u)rwt
.t,znaluNgVeeetl:taiesnity.dmsu,rilnogn,,amitbLeevmet.i
sami two such men will naturally be looked for with al itcheldean-read station. As this train had to Zuni
xlerest for a force of 200 men st II working behind and could
not he put in forward motion for Grange-court, where
tins sleeping train now was. until late, it was decided to
pdlt up the men behind and return with them hi RAMO,
which was accomplished at half.paat ten on Wednes-
day night. A few of the men out of provisions were
provided for, and the whole force dispersed through
the town to look for lodgings. It may he here stated
to the credit of these non that a gentleman who
arrived at the Royal Hotel, Ross, at twelve o'clock
that night, said the streets were as silent as if not a
tingle stranger wan in the place.
At four on Thursday thernins the narriw-gauge
train again left Rots, and, pi oceeding at alumet walk-
ing pace. while the engineers i 'emitted the previous
day's work, actually re •ched Grange-cond by 'Mout
ten Lou. In its course strong working parties were
dropped out to put the line into permanent working
order, and a ferce brought into Grange-romt Jul ction,
where certain alteratious were in hand, that could not
I•e toucl•esl befere the sleepieg trait had passed en-
tirely off the broad gaiter. By Thureday night the
whistle work was accomplished, and the narrow.gange
trains, worked by the proper Vatfortee at Grame.
court Junction taking throughout tit- t•reper lines for
Gloucester. Thus in five days the whole line, twenty-
tan miles long, was ceminencert and fitifiehed.
The permanent way of the Great Western Railway
is well-known to be the most p-rfect in England. For
'set only is it compimed, like the Loudon and North.
Western and some others, of the heaviest rails made
tool best timber emplessed in permanent way, but the
boll and timber parts are Issdesi tegether with the
three-quarter inch bolts, screwing into large nut,,
below the diatom while ether railways have the ken

Heartily sympathising with the Poll Volt, which
, cents the probable cutting down of the fine old trees
which but a few years ago the rooks made their
••erts in the garden of Chesterfield House, it is pleasing
see—so to speak— attention thus called to au un-
, teasant subject. "We could better spare the rookery
St. Giles," says your contemporary, "than that of
cheatertield Home, and we ahould have little rervan to
:ss-ret the deetruction of the foul nests that swarm in the
ighbourhood of the Seven Dials, avid which are, for
most part, unfit for human habitation. We cut
• awn trees' and cover green meadow 4 with places, but
•hs Pigstyes which disgrace the metropolis FOCIII to
ow a charmed life, an though fate itself coul I not bear
a touch with its finger these loathsome harbours of
ire and vermin, pestilence and crime." I can vouch

w this not beis:g-lauguage t,rke whit too stronsr. But
trw hours 5.40 I waq i•, ^ ,s:s istiOshoutlioorl—

k, foul, reeking with filth, and
•sbere pla3ing a' net eiltH
logl down wretched alleys wile enough to make
s‘e's heart ache to look upon them ; and this
yi.tgbbourhriod wag claw to a fine large brain
-.s.woughfarir with splendid shops._ There are

T suchc trAate in the metropolis. Turn out
% noble stre'et, where carriages roll along grandly,
d dulirs lounge shout the shops, and you shall
Or Mealy own. upon filthy abodes ol wretchtdann,

parts only 4...keit down to the timbers, a mode of h-
struction attended with danger when the timber begins
to decay. It will be seen at once how much this prac-
tice of bolting added to the labour on the narrowing of
li Glocester and Hereford On each stile 3,800 bolts
bad to be withdrawn, or 8.3 600 in 22 miles, and the
.me numbs r of auger holea tooled through the sleepers,
then the bolts put throu2h and the nuts drawn up by
turning the bit round by its head with a hand span-
ner. There was the labour, too, of moving 22 miles
of rail, a distance if 28 inches sideways, of changing
sides three times wilt the narrowing, in consequence
of the stations not being all on the same side. The
permanent way, too, is composed of no less than four
distinct kinds, requiring different sorts of tools, which
had to be so looked after as to insure their always
being in the right place—no easy matter, where they
were handled by 450 men. Three tunnels, of an ag-
gregate length of a mile and a half, added to the
difficulty of the work. Recently much sensation was
occasioned by an announcement that American engi-
neers had changed the gauge of 200 miles of American
railway in 12 hours. Bearing in mind that this invol-
ved only moving a nailed-down rail two or three lushes
it will be seen that the narrowing of the Gloucester
and Hereford railway, as above described, in five days
is a much more surprising engineering feat.
Of the 40 men employed it is impossible to speak
too highly ; during five days of incessant toil, during
which time they bad never bad their clothes off, and
had only three-and-a-half hours' rest each night, not a
single instance of disobedience, intoxication, or display
of bad temper occurred ; but on every side the engi-
neers directing the work met with the most cheerful
obedience. Of the efforts the men made the result is
the best proof. Such men are the right arm of the
engineer's skill, seconding his efforts, and keeping
abreast with him in the many practical expedients that
become necessary to improvise in the execution of
every great engineering work.
On the Weds, tidily night some of the working parties
between l'alitclieldean and Grange-court camped out in
preference to walking down to Grange-court. Gathered
round their camp fires they whiled away the night with
such amusement as singing or "nigger" performances,
and conspicuous amongst these was a gsn,t in charge of
a noted railway foreman on the Great Western, called
Toni Green. It was not hard to tell when you were
near an encampment of Welshmen, for the Psalm
tunes they are so fond of were tube heard far away in
the stillness if the night.
The organisation of the system for carrying out this
°seep' Mind description of work and the personal charge
of it during its execution were in the hands 41 Mr. J.
Ward Armstrong, divisional engineer, Hereford
Great Western Railway; the whole having been
previously revised by Mr. Owen, of Paddington, the
engineer-in-chief to the Great Western Railway Corns
party. Mr. Armstrong was most ably assisted both in
the organisation and execution of this work, by Mr. W.
Lancaster Owen, district engineer, Glocester district,
who also carried out the preliminary mixing of thegauges
in Glocester-yard and the main line from Glocester to
Grange-court. Mr. .J. Leon, district engineer, Neath,
ahin rendered able assistance, and came on the ground
with 150 men. Mr. Brokenbrow, Great Western Rail-
way, Worcester district, contributed valuable aid in
men and materials; as did also Mr. It. Chapman, of
tie Salop district. Mr. G. Wells Owen, of 7, West-
minster Chambers, London. and Mr. Reichenbach,
C. 8., assistant district engineer, likewise rendered
valuable assistance. The energy of the permanent
way inspectors—Messrs. Joseph Folly, .Tohn Morgan,
James Scutchley, John Hart, John Richards, and
George Milker —deserves especial notices.