Bromsgrove railway works was established in 1841 at Aston Fields, near

Bromsgrove Bromsgrove is a town in Worcestershire, England, about north-east of Worcester and south-west of Birmingham city centre. It had a population of 34,755 in at the 2021 census. It gives its name to the wider Bromsgrove District, of which it is ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

, England as a maintenance facility for the

Birmingham and Gloucester Railway The Birmingham and Gloucester Railway (B&GR) was the first name of the railway linking the cities in its name and of the company which pioneered and developed it; the line opened in stages in 1840, using a terminus at Camp Hill railway station, ...

. However, as well as maintaining those provided by other manufacturers, it built one locomotive.

Locomotive production

The railway's engineer James McConnell obtained the directors' permission in March 1844 to build a new locomotive for the

Lickey Incline The Lickey Incline, south of Birmingham, is the steepest sustained main-line railway incline in Great Britain. The climb is a gradient of 1 in 37.7 (2.65% or 26.5‰ or 1.52°) for a continuous distance of two miles (3.2 km). Constructed o ...

. This followed a series of accidents on the incline. One involved a demonstration locomotive by William Church, called, unfortunately " Surprise". Its experimental boiler blew up, killing the enginemen, Thomas Scaife and Joseph Rutherford. Their decorative monuments are in St. Johns churchyard Bromsgrove (and have been restored in 2014), though the depiction of a locomotive on the tombstone is of one of the Norris Locomotives. Then a further boiler explosion on another loco killed William Creuze. The company had been using American Norris s, which in fact lasted until 1856. The Americans made much of the fact that they were showing the British how to build engines, but they were expensive to import.

Edward Bury Edward Bury (22 October 1794 – 25 November 1858) was an English locomotive manufacturer. Born in Salford, Lancashire, he was the son of a timber merchant and was educated at Chester. Career By 1823 he was a partner in Gregson and Bury's stea ...

had tried one of his

London and Birmingham Railway The London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom, in operation from 1833 to 1846, when it became part of the London and North Western Railway (L&NWR). The railway line which the company opened in 1838, betw ...

engines in 1841 but its performance up the bank was less successful than that of an American engine because of the latter's undisclosed but much higher boiler pressure. Another locomotive that had been tried was ''Ysabel'' a {{whyte, 2-4-0 built by Isaac Dodds. McConnell carried out a number of innovations, culminating in his locomotive built at Bromsgrove specifically for the incline, the "Great Britain", reputed to be the first saddle tank. It was completed in June 1845. It was a six-coupled loco, weighing 30 tonnes, with outside cylinders and an oval boiler. Initially number 38, it was later renumbered 276, then rebuilt as a well tank in 1853, renumbered again as 300 and withdrawn in October 1861. McConnell continued to seek higher standards in railway engineering. In 1846 he met with

George Stephenson George Stephenson (9 June 1781 – 12 August 1848) was an English civil engineer and Mechanical engineering, mechanical engineer during the Industrial Revolution. Renowned as the "Father of Railways", Stephenson was considered by the Victoria ...

and Archibald Slate at Bromsgrove. It was at this meeting that the idea of the

Institution of Mechanical Engineers The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) is an independent professional association and learned society headquartered in London, United Kingdom, that represents mechanical engineers and the engineering profession. With over 110,000 member ...

came about. In March 1847 McConnell transferred to the

London and North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the LNWR was the largest joint stock company in the world. Dubbed the "Premier Line", the LNWR's main line connec ...

as superintendent of its southern headquarters at

Wolverton Wolverton ( ) is a constituent town of Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of Milton Keynes urban ar ...

Later history

The works built only one locomotive and after the merger with the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 in rail transport, 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had ...

, such work was concentrated at

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

. However it became a well-respected wagon works, using components from

, apart from laminated springs which it fabricated itself. It became part of the LMS and, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the Works Manager initiated a scheme for recovering timber and metal fittings for re-use as spares. After nationalisation in 1949 it remained busy with one of the highest productivity rates, but following a reorganisation of railway workshops, it closed in 1964, with the work being transferred to Derby.

Sources

* This is Worcestershire, ''Reaching for new standards'', Wednesday 18 February 2004 * Lowe, J.W., (1989) ''British Steam Locomotive Builders,'' Guild Publishing * Baxter, B., (1982) ''British Locomotive Catalogue 1825-1923,'' Moorland Publishing Co. * Hunt, David, (1997) ''American Locomotives of the Midland Railway,'' Wild Swan Publications. Railway workshops in Great Britain Defunct railway workshops Locomotive manufacturers of the United Kingdom Midland Railway