Reports from our Talks Programme
By Peter Keen

The Vulcan Works : Keith Naylor

SCARS' season of talks kicked off with a visit from Keith Naylor, postponed from a previous occasion when he was unable to attend through illness. His topic was the Vulcan Loco Works and he dedicated it to his maternal grandfather, Mr. William F. Taylor who, with his two brothers, put in a total of 150 working years at the factory. When William joined the firm he went first to the fitting shop and working his way up to Charge-hand in the frame cutting department and the marking out tables and latterly Foreman in the Spares and Jig department.

The Hay Foundry had been formed in 1830 by Charles Tayleur, a Liverpool businessman who came originally from Shropshire with other family members at the end of the 18 th Century. The success of the Liverpool and Manchester railway had a marked effect upon the company. Stephenson had been resident in the area during the building of the railway, and there had been difficulties in transporting locos from his Newcastle factory to south Lancashire so he and Tayleur set up a partnership to build locos at the renamed Vulcan Foundry. The new company adopted Vulcan, the Roman god of fire as its symbol.

There was a sister company, the Bank Quay Foundry in Warrington which was in production between 1834 and 1847, involved in shipbuilding and munitions. An iron ship the Tayleur sank on her maiden voyage with the loss of 400 lives and the company ceased shipbuilding in the mid 1850s. The works went on to produce hydraulic presses, iron plating (some of which went into the Menai Tubular Bridge at Anglesey) and locomotives for the Liverpool Manchester Railway and North America. Daniel Gooch was an apprentice at Vulcan Works, eventually becoming a Director of the Great Western Railway. The first loco to run on the GWR, a wide gauge engine, was named the Vulcan.

In 1837 Stephenson left the company and other personnel joined including Mr. Dupres and Henry Dove who later moved on to the North British Railway. A period of prosperity followed with orders for locos from all over Britain and Ireland. Over an eight year period to 1856 no less than 200 locos were built. In 1851 the first loco for India was produced, the forerunner of a steady stream of locos of various gauges amounting to one a fortnight for 100 years.

In 1864 the company became a "Limited" Company and the following year William Gough was appointed as Manager. By this time 537 men were employed at the works including some from North America. 1870 saw the first loco for Japan, and later came the narrow gauge locos for the North Wales slate mines of Ffestiniog and Snowdon. One problem faced by the company with its foreign trade was the shipping of the locos. They were far too heavy for the timber derricks of the sailing vessels of the time so they had to be partially stripped down into lighter components before being lifted aboard.

As the works were set up in an area which was previously sparsely populated, the company provide accommodation in the form of Vulcan Village. By 1847 the village comprised of 114 cottages, a school, general store and an Inn. The road through the village was free to travellers except on 29 th February each leap year, when a toll could be levied. The gate post which supported the toll gate still survives at the roadside.

Locos continued to be produced for railway companies all over Britain for goods haulage, passenger services and shunting duties in the multiplicity of marshalling yards which had developed to cater for the wide range of raw materials, agricultural equipment, livestock, food and finished products which were being carried. Locos were also being built for the United States and various countries in South America.

In 1892 Gough left the company, to be replaced by William (later Sir) Collingwood. By 1905 under his leadership the workforce had expanded to 1390. He was interested in public affairs, and encouraged the Workers Federation. The Vulcan Institute, with its water tower, was built for community use.

Development continued in the company's product range. A steam car was designed, a 4 cylinder compound engine proved to perform well so more were built. Locos with integral cranes were produced and an oil fired loco was exported to India. In 1914 the Works' 3000 th loco was out-shopped.

During the 1914-18 conflict production switched to armaments, including shells, gun mounts and paravanes, (anti mine devices for the navy). As in other industries at the time there were many women and girl workers employed and they dealt with the machining where necessary. Although there were many air raid warnings, the nearest Zeppelin bombs to fall were at St. Helens and Wigan.

In the late 1920s the Indian Railways became Government administered and went over to standardised loco design. The Vulcan Works was in the forefront of production of the new locos for broad, metre and narrow gauge systems.

By 1930 Vulcan was the largest loco works in England and celebrated its Centenary with a trip to Blackpool, travelling by rail of course. Soon however came the depression and workers were laid off from many industries. Vulcan was no exception and William Taylor, Keith's Grandfather, was one of those who lost his job. However when it became know at the works that he was seeking employment elsewhere he was offered his job back. Clearly he had skills and knowledge which the company was loathe to lose.

It was in the mid 1930s that the first crash occurred at Winwick Junction, when two trains collided, causing many injuries and 11 deaths. Since he was a trained ambulance-man William was one of the team from the works which was sent to the site to give assistance. A similar collision took place during WW2 but this was hushed up, as were many disasters on the home front.

The interwar years saw great unemployment and distress and attempts were made to provide employment. The Vulcan Works was given an order to build its quota of fifty Black Five Locos. Crewe and Derby works were also given their quotas but it was the Vulcan loco which first took to the rails, so experienced were the designers and workers.

Locos were now being produced for export to China as well as India and the Americas. Although loading aboard ship was now easier the increased size of the locos meant that there was increasing difficulty in getting them from the works and through the town to the open road which could lead them to either Liverpool or Salford Docks. All routes from the works led to low bridges so it was necessary to build a special low loader which was capable of being lowered when it reached the Liverpool-Manchester Railway bridge. Keith related how, when this vehicle was scheduled to leave the works all the inhabitants of Wargrave Road would fill every household receptacle with water since it was almost certain that the water mains would be fractured at some point along the route.

During WW2 the company again switched to the war effort, building Matilda Tanks (left), thousands of machine gun mountings and countless shells which would be used on the battlefields of Europe, North Africa and the Pacific. It was during this period that the workforce reached its maximum number of 4128 and the Works were honoured by a visit by King George 6 th and Queen Mary. More unwelcome visitors, the Luftwaffe, would have loved to inflict severe damage upon the factory but the "friendly" anti-aircraft fire did more damage than the German planes.

With materials in short supply during and after the war Vulcan was able to turn out "Austerity" locos, basic machines without embellishment but well able to perform their many and varied duties. Over a hundred "Liberations" were built which had to be sufficiently versatile to run in 7 continental countries in the years after the war when transport was in such great demand but short supply.

Vulcan eventually came under English Electric ownership. By this time the steam loco was nearing the end of its life on main lines in Britain and the works had switched to building diesels and electric locos. A diesel shunter was named "Elizabeth", not in honour of royalty but of Nurse Elizabeth Poole who had looked after the health of the workers from 1918 to 1949.

In the late 1960s Vulcan was at its height, playing a major role in British Rails' transition from steam to diesel and electric locos. Although it produced Class 37 diesels, Class 40 diesels and diesel multiple units, its most memorable product was the Deltic, which handled the east coast main line traffic from London to Edinburgh.

Vulcan helped in the restoration of the Ffestiniog Railway and its apprentices prepared the "Lion" for its role in the 1980 Liverpool-Manchester Railway celebrations. 1970 saw the last locomotive to be produced, after which the company, by then under GEC, switched to diesel plant and equipment.

Keith then showed a series of interior shots of the works featuring foundry work, marking out, milling, cutting, planing, slotting, boring and erection shops (Left, in the 1950s). Their combined efforts had sent their products to Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa and North and South Americas.

Sadly there remains little to show on the site, the original buildings having been demolished and the area scheduled for development as housing. However, since there are Vulcan locos still in service all over the world, many having covered millions of miles, the triumphs of those old-time loco builders live on.

William Taylor received the traditional clock on retirement, a strange concept since retirement meant that the recipient no longer had to follow the works' timetable. This was inherited by Keith and its Westminster chimes still register the hours, reminding him of the achievements not only of his Grandfather but also of the hundreds of other workers who sent examples of top quality English engineering to world-wide destinations.

Editor's Note:

Our cover and the pictures accompanying this Report are from Graeme Pilkington's excellent website http://www.enuii.com/vulcan_foundry/index.htm. Graeme has not only kindly allowed us to use the images, but even sent larger files to improve their appearance in print.

I sent him a draft of this Report, and he is putting a link from the Vulcan site to the SCARS website so that others may read it also. He was particularly interested in the reference to the designing of a steam car at the works. He had not heard of this project before, and would be grateful for further details.

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