david weston Posted May 30, 2013 Share Posted May 30, 2013 Any Sheffielder, or 'ex', visiting Lisbon will be proud to see the that the tram points have the name 'Edgar Allen Foundry, Sheffield' cast into the side plates. These, along with the track supplied, must be pre-WW2 and still doing their job. During all those years Sheffield has seen its system and contemporary track abandoned and then re-laid ( so, along with Blackpool, who's saved a packet for the rate-payers ?!) Unfortunately from my perspective, that old Lisbon track now conveys not just the (re-chassied)ancient tramcars, but the super-modern ones which look incongruous in that largely well-worn but beautiful city. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texas Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 Any Sheffielder, or 'ex', visiting Lisbon will be proud to see the that the tram points have the name 'Edgar Allen Foundry, Sheffield' cast into the side plates. These, along with the track supplied, must be pre-WW2 and still doing their job. During all those years Sheffield has seen its system and contemporary track abandoned and then re-laid ( so, along with Blackpool, who's saved a packet for the rate-payers ?!) Unfortunately from my perspective, that old Lisbon track now conveys not just the (re-chassied)ancient tramcars, but the super-modern ones which look incongruous in that largely well-worn but beautiful city. And I thought I was the only one to notice that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Library Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 I remember seeing some Edgar Allen pointwork in Lisbon when I visited far too many years ago. Meanwhile, a little closer to home, there is some Hadfields pointwork visible on Broad Street in Portsmouth. This must have been in place since before 1936 when the Portsmouth tramways were abandoned. I would not be surprised if it was the original pointwork installed in 1900 or 1901. http://madannie.smugmug.com/photos/i-qNC96FH/0/M/i-qNC96FH-M.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleetwood Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 When I got out of the forces in '53 I worked for a short time where I'd originally started out but decided to move on and found myself at Laycocks at Millhouses,not only were they experimenting with an automobile overdrive system at that time, they also manufactured garage equipment ie hoists and stuff you might need if you were running a garage to repair cars. I noticed in another department they were making railway car connecting system, these were huge forgings which I believe were not made there but were assembled with all the disconnect mechanism. Why I mention these is because to my way of thinking they were not designed for any British railway system that I saw but looked more like the mechanisms used on North American Railroads which I eventually had the good fortune to see. Another observation on the rail system here in Canada and the US, they seemed to build large grand halls in the downtown area which were originally used for everything railway ie booking tickets,waiting rooms, stores and dining, cafeteria etc. but seemed to be independent of the rail platforms most of these are 'listed' buildings now, due to their design and the artistic attributes, the Vancouver one and New York's Grand Central station are two that come to mind, I'm sure there are many more. I could be totally wrong but what I have ever seen on stations in UK, they were not built as separate 'halls' but more like open facades running parallel and with more interconnection to the rail lines and platforms. I have never been a railway buff as such but do recall waiting to collect a few 'namers' at Brightside station in my childhood years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hillsbro Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 ... they were making railway car connecting system....It seems that Laycocks was not the only Sheffield firm making these. Some years ago I was visiting a museum in South Africa's Northern Cape, where one of the outside exhibits is an old steam locomotive, built by Kitsons of Leeds in 1891 and fondly named "Clara". I noticed that the hydraulic buffers were made by Cammell Laird of Sheffield - here is a photo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diksey Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 It all goes back to the days when we actually made things in this country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleetwood Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 The Vancouver Railway Station (Hall) that I had outlined is now used for Light/Rapid/Transit also known as Sky-train and as the building is situated next to the harbor it also facilitates sea-bus and city transport. There's still a rail passenger service but don't know if it is serviced from there these days, the irony is that, it was it's sole function in yesteryear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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