Part 11 (1/2)

A small boy turned on the steam, the machine moved, and Will Garvie pointed out to Mrs Marrot the fact that two sharp edges of steel in a certain part of it crossed each other exactly in the manner of a pair of scissors.

”Well,” remarked Mrs M, after contemplating it for some time, ”it don't look very like scissors, but I'm free to confess that them two bits of iron _do_ act much in the same way.”

”And with the same result, Missus,” observed the machine-man, putting the plate between the clippers, which, closing quietly, snipped off about a foot of iron as if it had been paper. There was, however, a crunching sound which indicated great power, and drew from Mrs Marrot an exclamation of surprise not altogether unmingled with alarm.

The man then seized a bit of iron about as thick as his own wrist--full an inch and a half in diameter--which the scissors cut up into lengths of eighteen inches or so as easily as if it had been a bar of lead or wood.

”Didn't I say it could cut through the poker, mother?” cried Bob with a look of triumph.

”The poker, boy! it could cut poker, tongs, shovel, and fender, all at once!” replied Mrs Marrot--”well, I never! can it do anything else?”

In reply to this the man took up several pieces of hard steel, which it snipped through as easily as it had cut the iron.

But if Mrs Marrot's surprise at the scissors was great, not less great was it at the punching machine, which punched little b.u.t.tons the size of a sixpence out of cold iron full half-an-inch thick. This vicious implement not only punched holes all round boiler-plates so as to permit of their being riveted together, but it cut patterns out of thick iron plates by punching rows of such holes so close to each other that they formed one long cutting, straight or crooked, as might be required. In short, the punching machine acted the part of a saw, and cut the iron plates in any shape that was desired. Here also they saw the testing of engine springs--those springs which to most people appear to have no spring in them whatever--so very powerful are they. One of these was laid on an iron table, with its two ends resting against an iron plate.

A man approached and measured it exactly. Then a hydraulic ram was applied; and there was something quite impressive in the easy quiet way, in which the ram shoved a spring, which the weight of a locomotive can scarcely affect, _quite_ _flat_ against the iron plate, and held it there a moment or two! Being released, the spring resumed its proper form. It was then re-measured; found not to have expanded a hair's-breadth, and, therefore,--as Will Garvie took care to explain,-- was pa.s.sed as a sound well-tempered spring; whereat Bob remarked that it would need to be a good-tempered spring, to suffer such treatment without grumbling.

It seemed to Mrs Marrot now as if her capacity for surprise had reached its limit; but she little knew the wealth of capacity for creating surprise that lay in these amazing ”works” of the Grand National Trunk Railway.

The next place she was ushered into was a vast apartment where iron in every shape, size, and form was being planed and turned and cut. The ceiling of the building, or rather the place where a ceiling ought in ordinary circ.u.mstances to have been, was alive with moving bands and whirling wheels. The first thing she was called on to contemplate was the turning of the tyre or rim of one of the driving-wheels of a locomotive. Often had Mrs Marrot heard her husband talk of tyres and driving-wheels, and many a time had she seen these wheels whirling, half-concealed, in their appropriate places, but never till that day had she seen the iron hoop, eight feet in diameter, elevated in bare simplicity on a turning-lathe, where its size impressed her so much that she declared, ”she never _could_ 'ave imagined engine-wheels was so big,” and asked, ”'ow did they ever manage to get 'em lifted up to w'ere they was?”

To which an overseer kindly replied by pointing out a neat little crane fitted on a tail, which, when required, ran along the apartment like a strong obedient little domestic servant, lifting wheels, etcetera, that a man could scarcely move, and placing them wherever they were wanted.

Mrs Marrot was then directed to observe the rim of the wheel, where she saw a small chisel cutting iron curls off it just as easily, to all appearance, as a turner cuts shavings off wood--and these iron curls were not delicate; they were thick, solid, unpliant ringlets, that would have formed a suitable decoration for the fair brow of a locomotive, or, perhaps, a chignon--supposing that any locomotive could have been prevailed on to adopt such a wild monstrosity!

This same species of chisel, applied in different ways, reduced ma.s.ses of iron in size, planed down flat surfaces, enlarged holes, made cylinders ”true” and smooth inside, besides doing a variety of other things.

After seeing the large tyre turned, Mrs Marrot could not be induced to pay much regard to the various carriage and truck wheels which were being treated in a similar manner in that department, but she was induced to open her ears, and her eyes too, when the overseer informed her that the ”works” turned out complete no fewer than one hundred and thirty pairs of locomotive, carriage, and waggon wheels a week.

”How many did you say?” she asked.

”A hundred and thirty pair of wheels in the week,” repeated the overseer.

”Every week?” asked Mrs Marrot.

”Yes; every week. Sometimes more, sometimes less; but altogether, pretty well on for 6000 pairs of wheels every year.”

”W'y, what _do_ you make of 'em all?”

”Oh, we make good use of 'em,” replied the overseer, laughing. ”We wear them out so fast that it keeps us working at that rate to meet our necessities. But that,” he continued, ”is only a small part of what we do. We turn out of the works 156 first-cla.s.s carriages besides many seconds and thirds, and about 1560 trucks every year; besides three engines, new and complete, every fortnight.”

”Three noo engines every fortnight!” echoed Mrs Marrot; ”how many's that in the year, Bob?”

”Seventy-eight,” replied Bob, promptly. Bob was a swift mental calculator, and rather proud of it.

”Where ever do they all go to?” murmured Mrs Marrot.

”Why,” replied Will Garvie, ”they go to all the stations on the line, of course; some of 'em go to smash at once in cases of accidents, and all of 'em goes to destruction, more or less, in about fifteen or twenty years. We reckon that to be the life of a locomotive. See, there's a drivin' axle, such as you saw forged by the big hammer, being turned now, and cut to shape and size by the same sort of machine that you saw cuttin' the tyres.”

They pa.s.sed on, after looking at the axle for a few minutes, until they came to a part of the building where rails were being forged. This also, although not done by hammer, was a striking process. The place was so hot owing to the quant.i.ty of uncooled metal on the floor, that it was not possible to remain long; they therefore took a rapid survey. In one place several men were in the act of conveying to the steam-hammer a ma.s.s of shapeless white-hot iron, which had just been plucked from a furnace with a pair of grippers. They put it below the hammer for a few minutes, which soon reduced it to a clumsy bar; then they carried it to a pair of iron rollers driven by steam. The end of the bar being presented to these, it was gripped, dragged in between them, and pa.s.sed out at the other side, flat and very much lengthened, as well as thinned. Having been further reduced by this process, it was finally pa.s.sed through a pair of rollers, which gave it shape, and sent it out a complete rail, ready to be laid down on the line.