Brewers Dray, c1900

 

  A John May Brewers dray decorated for the coronation of King Edward VII 

This is a typical horse-drawn Brewers Dray of the Edwardian era, used for delivering barrels of beer from the brewery to local pubs. This one was built for John May's Brewery in Brook Street, Basingstoke by Trueman's, also of Basingstoke. Sometime in the 1900's it was sold off and used as a shooting brake for shooting parties on a country estate, then in 1919 bought and used for a man as temporary accommodation for him and his family whilst their house was being built. It remained on this site and, when regulations regarding caravans was changed, it was covered over by a wooden shed, and remained on this site until 1992 when a descendant of the 1919 owner contacted the Hampshire museums service, and has been conserved rather than restored, apart from the lower wheels which needed some repair where they had sunk into the ground. The original fabric was discovered under the roofing added when it was used as temporary accommodation, so what you see is fragile but highly original and on display at the Milestones Museum, Basingstoke

 

Thornycroft Steam Lorry, 1902

 

This very nice early survivor is a typical vertical boilered steam lorry as built by Thornycroft of Basingstoke, Hampshire in the early 1900's. I don't know anything about the history of this example as there is no display board for it, but it is preserved at the Milestones Museum, Basingstoke, very close to where it was built over a century ago, in the colours of the County Borough of Bournemouth, Dorset

 

Sunbeam Patent W-metal lamp, 1910

The electric light bulb was invented by Joseph Swan in Tyneside, north east England, in 1879. It works by the electricity, when the supply has been turned on, passing through a thin filament heats it which makes it glow brightly. At first the filaments were made of carbon which made them expensive, but in around 1910 they started to be produced with a tungsten filament which made them more affordable. The chemical symbol for tungsten is W, hence it being used in the name and advertising for the new light bulbs.

Gyro-car, 1907

 

 Designed and built by Louis Brennan in 1907, this gyro-car model was one of quite a few attempts to have a two wheeled self-stabilising vehicle, using spinning fly-wheels to keep it stabilised (this is a very basic explanation of gyrostats). The gyro-car ran on a single rail, the idea being that this would be easier to build than a traditional railway in remote areas and mountainous areas. Weight distribution was not a problem, nor was having it pushed to try and topple it over. Two full size prototypes were ran and exhibited to the public in 1910, and was later demonstrated to the War Department, as per the markings on the original model, now in the National Railway Museums' stores, which are open to the public, at York

 

Robey Tandem Compound Steam Engine, 1905

This Robey Tandem Compound steam engine was one of two built in 1905 to power eight new malthouses at Sleaford, Lincolnshire, for the Bass Brewery. The other engine was the mirror image of this engine, and were housed in a central engine house, powered by a large coal fired boiler, and was used to drive a line shaft from its thirteen foot flywheel which powered hoists, pumps, screens and ventilators at the malthouses around the site. It worked at Sleaford until the site closed in 1959, and is now on display, still in working condition (but powered by a gas boiler) at the National Brewery Centre, Burton-upon-Trent

Newcastle A Class Tram 114, 1901 - Part Two

This wonderfully restored Edwardian electric tram has featured previously on the blog here - http://electric-edwardians.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/newcastle-class-tram-114-1901.html , however these photos show it as decorated for the 40th anniversary of the Beamish Open Air Museum's tramway operation. It is decorated with flowers similar to how many Edwardian trams were for, apparently, any occasion they could think of!

Narrow Boat 'Kildare', 1913

'Kildare' is a typical, unpowered narrow boat which worked the country's waterways in the late 19th and early 20th century. They were narrow enough to fit down the canals and the locks used to climb or descend terrain, and featured a long cargo area with sheeting to protect the cargo, and a small cabin at the rear where the crew and his family would live, with sleeping accommodation and small cooking facilities. It was one of twenty-four 'butty' boats, built with an iron hull, built between 1912 and 1914 for Fellows, Morton and Clayton at Hilltop, West Bromwich by Braithwaite & Kirk. 'Kildare' was registered on 10th April 1913, and would usually have been pulled by a heavy draught horse such as a shire horse - the horse would walk on the towpath alongside the canal using a rope, with tunnels and bridges often having special arrangements to allow for the horse to continue to pull them through, or use other power (often human) to propel them. With the introduction of steam, then petrol and then diesel powered narrow boats, unpowered narrow boats would be towed behind the powered narrow boats, or be tied alongside a powered narrow boat, which was both faster and also made more sense as although the powered boats were faster, the space used for the engine and fuel had an impact on the amount of cargo that would be carried, so by powering another boat it made more economic sense.

'Kildare' almost came to an end in 1940 when whilst in a wharf in Birmingham, a bomb from a German aircraft sunk it and three other narrow boats, however was refloated and repaired. In the 1970's, after being retired from working use, was used as a camping boat, still in mostly original condition but with camping facilities in the cargo hold. In 1992 'Kildare' was purchased by the Black Country Living Museum, and restored to original condition to work in conjunction with 1909 steam narrow boat 'President' featured previously on the blog. They are both seen together at canal events around the network, and in 2012 for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, with 'President' took part in the flotilla down the River Thames. For more information on 'Kildare' and 'President', see the Friends of President website here - http://nb-president.org.uk/

Crossley 40hp Car (Lambert & Butler Motors 13 of 25)

This is 13 of 25 in the Lambert & Butler Motors Series of Cigarette Cards, issued in 1908. From the back of the card;

"Mr Charles Jarrott on his 40hp Crossley, on which he has twice made record runs from London to Monte Carlo - in 37.5 hours in 1906, and in 35.5 hours in 1907. British made throughout, this car is famous for its silent running; and it embodies, "The good points of every car and the bad points of none"

North Eastern Railway Electric Locomotive No 1, 1904 - Part 2

The earliest main line electric locomotive to run in the UK, North Eastern Railway bo-bo Electric No 1, built for use on the Newcastle Quayside branch where it and identical No 2 served for almost sixty years, is now in preservation as part of the National Collection owing to it's importance in railway history. It has been covered before on the blog here;

http://electric-edwardians.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/north-eastern-railway-electric.html

However I was able to take these photographs inside the locomotive, with thanks to to Anthony Coulls at the National Railway Museum. The end with the control panel of switches running down the centre of the cab windows is 'A' end. If anyone would like larger copies of any of these please let me know and i'll e-mail them over. It struck me how similar the controls are to that of a Tram of the period.

From what i've read, the location of the controls changed since it was first built - I have no definite date for this but presume it was when the ES1s were changed from the large bow pick-up mounted on a wooden beam half way across one of the bonnets to the roof mounted pantograph before they entered service in 1905.

A end is the front, which is also the unobstructed front of the locomotive as viewed in the museum, this is the left hand side looking forwards

B end

A end

The electrical resistances in one of the noses - the interior of the other nose is identical. The two vertical cylinders at the end are the sandboxes, filled from the two noticeable circular lids on each nose

B end controls

 

Control panel on A end - for example in this position, the pantograph or 'trolley' is lowered, so the locomotive is not getting it's power (current) from overhead wires, and is being powered from the third electrified rail from the shoes mounted on the locomotive's wheeled bogies, which it would do during the tunnel linking Trafalgar Yard near Manors Station and the Newcastle Quayside. It would also use the third rail to transit back to it's shed

  

Inside the box for B end on the control panel

The handle for the pantograph - this is in the 'down' position

Interior of the box between the cab windows at B end

Steam Narrow Boat 'President', 1909

 

 This steam narrow boat was built by and for Fellows, Morton and Clayton at their dock in Saltley, Birmingham in 1909 at a cost of £900. It was registered on 23rd June, one of thirty-one steam narrow boats operated by Fellows, Morton and Clayton, one of the best known canal carrying companies, which were built and operated between 1889 and 1931. They operated the 'fly' routes, the fastest routes, between the main cities on the canal network, such as Leicester, Nottingham, Northampton and Birmingham, and even London, the journey from London and Birmingham taking fifty-four hours non stop. The only other alternative at the time was for the boats to be hauled by a draught horse, petrol motors not coming on until the Edwardian era.

The accommodation, which included a bed and also a very, very small kitchen was in the cabin at the rear of the boat, with the steam engine at the front end of the cabin. This had a big effect on the amount of cargo that could be carried, but the power of the steam engine meant that unpowered 'butty' boats, otherwise pulled by a horse, could be towed or tied alongside the steam narrow boat to increase the cargo capacity, and that is how 'President' is seen here, with butty boat 'Kildare' of 1913 to feature in another post. The first Fellows, Morton and Clayton motor boat was built in 1912, and the smaller space of a petrol motor was a massive advantage, and 'President' was converted in 1925. By 1973, 'President' was a derelict hull but purchased and restored to original condition, and is now owned by the Black Country Living Museum and operated by the 'Friends of President' who keep it in working condition with 'Kildare' and can often be seen at canal events around the country - in 2012, 'President' and 'Kildare' took part in the Queen's Diamond Jubilee flotilla down the River Thames in London. Their website is http://nb-president.org.uk/