In essence the erecting shop of a loco works is only part of a large factory where a machine is stripped and reassembled after componants and sub assemblies are repaired.
The erecting shop is where the finished product is seen and is therefore the 'drawcard' for any railway enthusiast who is lucky enough to pay a visit a railway workshop. When visiting a locoworks how many of us as youngsters on a guided tour of the works only wanted to get to the erecting shop to see what was in there. The other workshops were'nt important, were they ??
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Every workshop in a locomotive works is important, one cannot survive without the other, all have a very important roll to play whether it is the 'Tin Smiths' shop making oil cans or head lamps or the Weigh House, or 'Brass Finishing Shop' they all go hand in hand to produce a locomotive
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Gorton Lococmotive Works, during its history, had three Erecting Shops (though other shops also carried out locomotive repairs at some time or other in the history of the works). The first shops were those built in 1847, The second after the works expansions of the 1870s, this being in the original two story C & W shops and converted for the purpose)
The third erecting shop was built approximately 1900, (This is the shop we are concentrating on on this page) though its design and concept could have gone back to about 1893. This shop was built adjacent to the main Manchester to Sheffield main line, and, was much larger than the previous two shops
The shop was 480 feet long and 250 feet wide and had five bays of three roads, each bay was 50 feet wide. The shop was 'joined' onto the original C & W of 1848 at its eastern end, The C & W shops themselves had served as an erecting shop up to this new shop being built (see above) and was later converted into the main machine and fitting shop.
No1 bay was to the south of the building and nearest to the main line. This bay was used from the early 1950s exclusively for the construction, repair and overhaul of the M,S & W class ' EM1' Bo+Bo and ' EM2 ' Co-Co (later classes 76 and 77) electric locomotives.
The Erecting shop floor level was approximately six to seven feet lower than the ajoining machine shop floor level. This caused an onging problem right up to the closure of the works as newly overhauled boilers had to enter the erecting shop via the machine shop and into the erecting shop. A short section of the erecting shop floor was raised at the machine shop end for approximately 20 feet in length and the full width of the erecting shop, and was at the same level of the machine shop, this elevated section of the shop was known as the "Stage". Above the stage was the pubic footbridge that traversed the whole width of the erecting shop known locally as the "Birdcage".
For a boiler to enter the erecting shop it would leave the boiler shop on a flat railed truck and would be pulled from the boiler shop on the truck pulled by a rope and capstan, it would have to traverse the machine shops and onto the 'stage'. All of this was carried out in No1 bay of the erecting shop. For a boiler to now get to the other bays it had to be lifted by the 40 ton crane approximatey 200 feet down No1 bay and lowered onto a flat truck that was on railway track at 90 degrees to the bays. The boiler was then moved to the required bay.
This track extended from outside the south side of the erecting shop near to the main line, through all five bays and into the Wheel Shop which joined the northern wall of No5 bay.
No1 bay had three overhead cranes, one of 40 tons SWL (nearest the eastern end - machine shop end), the other two cranes were of 50 tons SWL each. The 40 ton crane was used mainly for moving boilers off the 'stage' as detailed above.
The columns supporting the overhead cranes in this bay had extra columns added at some time, probably very early LNER days. These columns were set between the original colums and were probably fitted when the two 50 ton cranes were added, most likely because the original support columns were only designed to carry the cranes with a 40 ton load. Early photographs show the overhead cranes with lifting chains, later photographs show wire ropes, this indicating that the cranes were probably renewed, most likely at the same time the that the 50 ton cranes were added , The conductor rails carrying the electric power for the cranes was changed also in the past, again probably in early LNER days at the same time that the cranes were renewed.
No2 and 3 bays had two 40 ton SWL cranes.
No4 bay had two 40 ton SWL cranes and a smaller 5 ton crane. The 5 ton crane was situated at the eastern end of the bay.
No5 bay had one 40 ton crane.
A section of No5 bay had the Copper Smiths shop included in it at the eastern end, This shop was full width of the bay and 167 feet long, leaving the erecting shop bay 313 feet long.
All 15 'roads' in the erecting shop had pits the full length, except for a short section where the road set at 90 degrees across the shop was situated.
Machine tools in the erecting shop were belt driven in the early days via 'lay' shafts running down the centre of, and between the crane support columns. Later, electric power took over the tools.
The main columns supporting the cranes were cast iron, and were side by side with the next bay columns, after, and above the crane rail level there was a single column and this extended upwards to support the roof.
The extra support columns added in No1 bay were fabricated steel riveted.
Each of the 15 roads leading out of the western end of the erecting shop had its own seperate door. The main ventilation for the shops was via very large round openings high up above the centre door to each bay. These had wooden doors so that they could be closed in winter, and the mechanism to open and close them was by means of the 'butterfly' arrangement, operated by rope cords from inside each bay. Other ventilation was through the opening windows on the north and south walls.
The overhead crane columns can be clearly seen with the additional pillars (square section - steel ) between them. The 'stage' can just be seen at the far end of the shop, with the large door opening out into the machine shops. It was through this door that the boilers came on their way to the erecting shop via the machine shops from the boiler shop. The offices to the right of the doorway were the erecting shop foremens offices. The 40 ton crane is resting over the 'stage', and beyond the shop gable end is the 'birdcage' which ventures from Railway Street on the other side of the main line to the right of the picture and goes full width of the erecting shop and wheel shop and then slopes down to Widnes Street.
Picture: courtesy of Joe Metcalfe - lead hand fitter No1 Bay - Electric Locos.
