History
The original workshops of the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway were in Newton near Hyde in Cheshire but were inconveniently situated, cramped and makeshift. In 1845 the railway asked their locomotive superintendent, Richard Peacock, to find a more suitable site for a locomotive and carriage and wagon works. The site selected was two and a half miles east of Manchester at the side of the railway line between the Manchester to Guide Bridge. Peacock was responsible for the planning and design of the works, which at the time of completion covered about 20 acres (81,000 m2), and eventually growing to 30 acres (120,000 m2). By the time the works were completed in 1848 the railway had become the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway.
The original motive power depot at Gorton, in the form of a roundhouse was unique in that it had two roads instead of the customary one with a pillar in the centre supporting the glazed roof. It was later replaced by a larger facility but was converted to a smithy. The locomotive workshops were adjacent to the roundhouse on its Western side, with the carriage and wagon shops and a paint shop on the other side of the loco shops. A reservoir was constructed adjacent to the nearby Ashton Canal.
Richard Peacock left the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway in 1854 and with Charles Beyer founded the Beyer Peacock locomotive company at Gorton Foundry directly opposite Gorton Works on the Southern side of the railway line. He was replaced by William Grindley Craig, who served until 1859, and thence by Charles Sacré until 1886. Between 1871 and 1880 the works was unable to keep pace with new construction and repairs and so Gorton manufactured new parts for locomotives that were constructed or renewed at the Sheffield running shed.
In 1880 Sacré's Carriage and Wagon Superintendent, Thomas Parker oversaw the construction of new Carriage and wagon shops on the site thereby enabling the original shops to be converted into a new enlarged Erecting shop the following year. Following Sacré's retirement and suicide in 1889, Parker took over as Locomotive Superintendent until his own retirement in 1893. He was responsible for the construction of a new machine shop and stores in 1889, and the enlargement of the motive power depot to accommodate 120 locomotives.
Parker was replaced by Harry Pollitt who served until 1900. During this time the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway changed its name to the Great Central Railway following the opening of its London extension to Marylebone station. Pollitt was superseded by John G. Robinson, as locomotive and marine superintendent in 1900 and who was appointed chief mechanical engineer in 1902.
Under Robinson, new erecting shops were built, and the old erecting shop (the original Carriage and Wagon shops) were converted into machine and fitting shops, and the construction of a new carriage and wagon works at Dukinfield in 1910 enabled additional locomotive work to be carried out in the former carriage and wagon shops.
Read more about this topic: Gorton Locomotive Works
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