Stratford Works

"... Stratford is now more celebrated for its immense workshops, erected by the Eastern Counties Railway Company, for the repair and construction of their carriages and locomotives.

The altered appearance of various parts of the country, produced by the formation of railways, is nowhere more apparent than in this locality, where buildings to the value of half-a-million of money have been erected during the last five or six years. The locomotive engine and carriage factory cost about £100,000, and occupies with its various yards nearly twenty acres — the engine-room alone covering one acre and a quarter. These extensive works afford occupation to about 1,000 men and boys to accommodate whom the Company have erected a number of dwellings, called Hudson New Town, which possess that grand desideratum for the working classes, the maximum of comfort with the minimum of expense. It is here where all the repairs of the engines and carriages are effected;— in fact, these works are nothing more than a vast hospital for sick and wounded rolling stock; and in a large building or ward adjacent, the visitor will see a number of engines undergoing operations more or less severe, some merely having a bolt extracted or a screw fresh wormed, while others, after some months adherence to strict temperance principles, are suffering from disordered stomachs, and are having the incrustation removed from their boilers, produced by the constant evaporation of water, and the deposit of the calcareous matter held in solution. In another portion of the buildings the carriages are being cared for and attended to: some, first class, are being stuffed, and padded, and petted, to fit every bend of the human frame; others, second class, have tc be satisfied with a dose or two of paint,and a lotion of varnish and the less-favoured third class, merely get a copious application of cold water, and a liberal allowance of mop. Other carriages however, like the engines, are being absolutely operated upon — new wheels or axles being required, or perhaps a first class, having spent a long life in the service of the public, instead of being allowed to pass its old age in quiet and retirement, is being cut down and altered into a second class, and has yet another course to run. All these various operations are carried on here with great regularity and economy to the Company, and the visitor will be much delighted at the orderly appearance and intellectual faces of the artificers engaged, who form a very fair sample of that portion of the community of which England is so justly proud — its artisan population.

The extent of the works here may be imagined from the fact that the operations of the line are carried on by 203 engines;164 first class, 154 second class, and 164 third class carriages; 241 horse boxes, carriage trucks, and luggage vans; 2,151 goods waggons, 679 sheep and cattle waggons, 802 trucks, and 49 breaks; all of which require periodical repairs. The engines alone, consisting, as each of them does, of 5,416 distinct pieces, which have to be fitted with as much accuracy as though for a watch — employ a great number of hands to keep in repair. At Stratford and out Stations there are employed — 20 clerks, 176 smiths, 224 fitters, 67 joiners, 61 painters, 72 coachmakers, and 192 drivers; making a total, with labourers, &c, of 1,068 : receiving wages to the amount of £1,321 weekly. Number of engines in steam daily, 75. Miles run per week, 46,500.

In connection with these facts we may mention that in the half-year ending Jan. 4, 1851, the total number of miles run by engines on this line, was 1,249,747; that the consumption of coke was equal to about 4½d. per mile, and that the average cost of a train per mile was 1s. 5d."