Stratford Works


Stratford Works was the locomotive-building works of the Great Eastern Railway situated at Stratford, London, England. The original site of the works was located in the 'V' between the Great Eastern Main Line and the Stratford to Lea Bridge route and in the early years was also the home of Stratford Locomotive Depot. The final part of the works closed in 1991.
Overall Stratford works built 1,702 locomotives; 5,500 passenger vehicles and 33,000 goods wagons.

History

Early history (1840-1862)

Activity on the site was started in 1840 by the Northern and Eastern Railway who had opened a new line that joined the Eastern Counties Railway at Stratford. The locomotives were maintained at a roundhouse called the Polygon which was built between July and September 1840 to a design by Robert Stephenson.
In 1847–1848 by the GER's predecessor, the Eastern Counties Railway moved onto the site as its own works at Romford had outgrown that site. Railway King George Hudson was behind this move and many of the original buildings were replaced at this time by new buildings. The area was known as Hudson Town for a number of years as the company built a number of houses in the area as well.
In 1850 1,000 men were employed at the works.
It was not until 1850 that the Eastern Counties Railway under Gooch built a locomotive at the then newly opened Stratford Works. Number 20 was the first of a class of six 2-2-2T locomotives. Slightly bigger improved versions of the class followed in 1853 and 1854.
Fog signals which contained gunpowder were manufactured at the works with a special reinforced building being provided c. 1855. On 26 February 1857 this building exploded with three casualties. The subsequent inquiry was unable to uncover why the explosion had happened.

Locomotive superintendents

From 1834 until his resignation in February 1843 resident engineer John Braithwaite responsibilities included locomotive matters, thereafter incumbents of Locomotive Superintendent of the Eastern Counties Railway were:
In 1862 the Great Eastern Railway took over the running of the works.
In the 1870s land was acquired to the north and west of Stratford station and new locomotive sheds were built. This site was sometimes referred to as High Meads. However locomotives were still serviced on the original site until the 1880s. The carriage and wagon works expanded into new buildings alongside Angel Road and Leyton Road.
In 1875 a six-month period saw 66 engines repaired.
Between 1870 and 1900, some 960 locomotives were made at Stratford.
In 1891 the works set a new time record for building locomotives – a Class Y14 tender engine was built in 9 hours 47 minutes from the time the frames were stamped out to the completed and fully functional locomotive leaving the works. This record still stands.
However a need to find extra capacity for carriage painting led to some 200 carriages per year being repainted at a depot at Felixstowe Beach railway station.
Wagon building and maintenance moved to Temple Mills Wagon Works in 1896.
An order for two steam breakdown cranes was placed in 1902 and completed in 1908. It was unusual for a main line railway company to build its own cranes and most British companies bought their cranes from either Cowans, Ransome & Rapier or Craven Brothers. The latter of these lasted into British Rail days being allocated to Ipswich and after withdrawal was cut up at Saxmundham in 1967.
By 1912 some 6,500 people were employed at the works.
During 1912 39 new locomotives were built with 10 others being converted. The new builds included the first five S69 class 4-6-0 as well as Y14, E72 0-6-0 and G69 2-4-2T locomotives. A total of 82 new carriages were built in 1912 with 51 main line and 31 suburban carriages being built. Additionally a total of 75 non-passenger vehicles were also constructed including horse boxes, six wheel carriage vans and an elephant van! How many elephants were carried by the latter vehicle is not known.
During World War I the works undertook war work including munitions manufacture and building a hospital train for the army. At the beginning of the war the superintendent for the works identified that the works was already pressed to meet the requirements of the Great Eastern Railway and requested the building of a new locomotive repair facility. With a predicted up-turn in rail traffic likely, this request clearly resonated with the authorities and the Engine Repair Shed, situated on the far western side of Stratford TMD, was opened in 1915.
In addition to its usual load the works overhauled eight Caledonian Railway 0-6-0 locomotives.
One of the more unusual tasks the works undertook in the war was the construction of henhouses for the GER farm at Bentley, Suffolk. each of which had a works number.
Late in the war during 1918 Stratford Works repaired two Belgian locomotives. These had been evacuated to France in 1914 when the Germans invaded the country and had been used in France by the Railway Operating Division. They were both 0-6-0 locomotives.
In a six-month period in 1920 the works undertook 216 heavy locomotive repairs, 40 rebuilds and 11 new locomotives were built.

Facilities at grouping (1921)

In 1921 the offices were located in front of the main works. As well as housing administrative and managerial staff there were draughtsmen working under the Chief Mechanical Engineer. These were destroyed by an incendiary bomb in World War II.
The Great Eastern Railway produced a number of booklets about the works; the 1921 issue was reproduced in 1991 to mark the closure of the works. This booklet also covered the wagon works at Temple Mills. The table below lists the workshops and departments of the works in 1921.
Department/ShopLocationNotes
Erecting and Fitting ShopOriginal siteBuilt 1847 this shop was 350 feet long by 142 feet wide and could accommodate up to 50 engines.
Westinghouse Brake ShopOriginal siteManufacture and repair of power brakes for locomotives and rolling stock
Brass Finishing ShopOriginal siteDealt with manufacture and repair of whistles, valves and copper firebox stays
Chemical Laboratory ShopOriginal siteEquipped to undertake chemical tests for both the works and other GE departments.
Testing HouseOriginal siteCovered 6,300 square feet and was where hooks, chains, boiler plates and even rubber were tested.
Spring ShopOriginal site132 feet long by 40 feet wide and was where locomotive springs were manufactured.
SmithyOriginal siteThis shop was 136 feet long by 132 feet wide included steam hammers, nut, bolt and riveting machines as well as a Thomson Electric Butt Welder.
The Steam Hammer ShopOriginal site140 feet long by 71 feet wide and known as the forge. This contained 6 furnaces, and two steam boilers which were used to heat the shops during winter.
Loco Wheel ShopOriginal site190 feet long by 70 feet wide in two bays. Used for the production of locomotive wheels.
Axle Box ShopOriginal site104 feet long by 49 feet wide used in the production of locomotive axle boxes
RotundaOriginal siteUsed as a wheel fitting shop this was the original roundhouse. This activity ceased c1949.
Boiler shopOriginal siteThe main building consisting of 6 bays measured 212 feet by 139 feet whilst extensions for boiler mounting and light plating measured 230x100 feet and 74x46 feet respectively. This shop was hit by bombs in April 1941.
Hydraulic installationOriginal siteTwo sets of steam driven pumps supplying water to the works.
Tool ShopOriginal site5,000 square feet - responsible for the tools used throughout the Great Eastern
Machine ShopOriginal siteConsisted of 5 bays producing amongst other things locomotive cylinders, side rods and connecting rods.
Coppersmiths ShopOriginal siteAdjacent to the machine shop this was a lofty building of 4,880 square feet.
Brass FoundryOriginal siteAlso within this area at this time were the white metalling shop and brass and copper pipe stores. There were 12 coke fired "pot hole" furnaces and 1 tilt furnace. During World War 1 this area was used to produce copper shell bands, fuse sticks etc.
New Iron Foundry and Pattern ShopOriginal siteCompleted in 1912 covering 41,000 square feet this shop could turn out 85 tons of castings each week. This shop was hit by bombs in World War 2 and was rebuilt. In later years it was used for crane repairs and locomotives were broken up here.
Boiler repairing and tube shopOriginal siteIn this shop and adjoining yard locomotive boilers were stripped and prepared for acceptance by the boiler shop.
Tender shopOriginal siteHad 3 pits running along its length with capacity to repair 20 tenders.
Engine Paint shopOriginal siteWas a "weaver roofed" building consisting of six roads. Locomotives would work a trial trip after repair and if satisfactory would then be painted.
Engine Repairing ShopFar west side of Stratford TMD adjacent to the Channelsea LoopFrom opening in 1915 this was where locomotives received lighter repairs. It could accommodate 40 locomotives at a time. During World War 1 the shed was used for munitions work and some 2,279,000 shell forgings were produced. It was also the last part to the works to remain open, closing in 1991.

There were two separate carriage works. These were known as CD1 and CD2. CD1 was to the north of the original site whilst CD2 was on the High Meads site linked together by a tunnel under the Lea Bridge line. CD1 was expanded in the late 1840s and again in the early 1860s.