Horwich works narrow gauge railway

[JeffP]

I only ever saw "Wren" in the Railway Museum, but my old Observer's book of Railway Locomotives tells me that there were quite a few locos used in and around the old L&Y works at Horwich.

 

Photos, however, are hard to come by. So far I've found several of Wren on open days, icluding one at Crewe, (did Crewe ever have a similar system?). I've also found photos of the diesel which was used when Wren needed maintenance. It, too, is now preserved.

 

Searching on OldMaps show what would appear to be quite an extensive railway within the works.

 

But can anyone tell me where to find photos of the locos, maybe even the others, actually working? On their little two-road shed?

And where could I find a track plan?

 

Thanks.

[halfwit]

'An illustrated history of 18 Inch Gauge Steam Railways', by Mark Smithers (OPC 1993) devotes 13 pages to the Horwich system, with photos, drawings and a track plan.

 

The book also covers the Crewe system.

[JeffP]

Thankyou. I'll start looking for it.

[Jenny Emily]

There was a commemerative book about Horwich loco works that I had that (IIRC) gave some information about the internal system. It was produced for some event (late 1980s?) though I cannot locate it after three house moves. My memories are that there were indeed more locos than just Wren, though I couldn't tell you if they had names too. My memory is that one other may still survive somewhere, but I may be wrong.

 

They were used to convey, amongst other things, the wages packets to the workers around the site on payday. I believe there were also lines that extended out to the flat area to the south-east of the works though the reason for these (some kind of tip?) is unknown to me.

 

EDIT: Wikipedia is helpful - apparently there were eight locos, with Wren being the last in use. The system was modelled on a similar one at Crewe.

 

http://en.wikipedia....i/Horwich_Works

 

I found the following sites that may be of use:

 

http://www.railuk.in...tory.php?id=616

http://nwex.co.uk/sh...read.php?t=4833

 

EDIT AGAIN: I found this 1905 picture. I don't know whether this is Wren or one of the other locos.

 

One of the other narrow gauge locos was called 'Robin', so I suspect that the fleet were all named after birds.

[pH]

One of the other narrow gauge locos was called 'Robin', so I suspect that the fleet were all named after birds.

 

The engines were named 'Wren', 'Dot', 'Robin', 'Fly', 'Wasp', 'Midget', 'Mouse' and 'Bee'. This is from the 1958 edition of the "Observer's Book of Railway Locomotives of Britain", which may be the book referred to by JeffP in the O.P., in which case I apologise for adding nothing to what he already knows about the railway.

[Boris]

That's quite fascinating, the number of times I have seen that loco at the NRM and I have never made the connection.

[flyingsignalman]

There are 2 photos in "Lost Lines, British Narrow Gauge" (by Nigel Welbourn, published 2000) on pages 95 & 96 showing Wren and ZM32 (a Ruston diesel that worked until the final closure of the system).

[keefer]

came across this pic from the david heys collection site: http://www.davidheyscollection.com/USERIMAGES/dp-wren-copy.jpg

 

taken from this page (scroll down to get the caption for the pic): http://www.davidheyscollection.com/page2.htm

[JeffP]

Thanks for ALL replies.

 

I DID, at one time, know all the names, but without digging out the Observer's book, I couldn't remember them.

 

I SEEM to think that NOT all locos were to exactly the same design as "Wren".

"Wren" was a saddle tank, I think one or two may have been pannier tanks, with at least one well tank.

 

Now the bad news: the book mentioned above ( 'An illustrated history of 18 Inch Gauge Steam Railways', by Mark Smithers (OPC 1993))would seem to be out of print and copies are changing hands at prices between £45 and £70.........well out of my price range.

 

I'm really surprised that the ONLY model of "Wren" ever produced was in "O-9mm" and can be found here: http://www.springsidemodels.com/id153.htm

 

It originally used the Ibertren "Cuckoo" chassis, sadly now discontinued, so it would be a difficult model to complete now.