Wolverton railway works

Railway carriage construction and maintenance facility in Wolverton, Milton Keynes in England

Wolverton railway works, known locally as Wolverton Works or just The Works, was established in Wolverton, Buckinghamshire, by the London and Birmingham Railway Company in 1838 at the midpoint of the 112 mile (180 km) route from London to Birmingham. The line was developed by Robert Stephenson following the great success of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway line. The Victorian era new towns of Wolverton and New Bradwell were built to house the workers and service the works. The older towns of Stony Stratford and Newport Pagnell grew substantially too, being joined to it by the Wolverton and Stony Stratford Tramway and the Wolverton to Newport Pagnell Line (a branch line), respectively. The trams were also hauled by steam locomotives: the tram cars were certainly the largest ever in the UK and possibly the world. In modern times, Wolverton railway works remains notable as the home of the British Royal Train but otherwise is very much reduced from its heyday. as of 2013, the facility is much reduced: a full scale train maintenance, repairs and refurbishment works is operated at the western end of the site, the central area is derelict but slated for redevelopment, the eastern end is a Tesco store with canal side housing development at the extreme eastern end.

The 1833 Act of Parliament approving the London and Birmingham Railway included a clause that specified that a railway works be built around the mid point, as it was considered scientifically unsafe at the time for railway locomotives to move more than 50 mile (80 km) without further inspection. After surveying all possible sites, Wolverton was chosen due to its co location alongside the wharfing facilities of the Grand Union Canal, thereby also enabling the railway company to gain an easy agreement to build a viaduct over the canal company's land at this point.

At first, the works was used for the maintenance and repair of locomotives purchased from outside firms. Two locomotives were built there in 1845 and 1846, and another in 1848, but following enlargement of the buildings and increased facilities, they were turned out in quantity. In total, 166 locomotives were built at Wolverton. These included three varieties of the 2 2 2 LNWR Bloomer Class, 86 of the Wolverton Express Goods 0 6 0 and four varieties of 0 4 2.

Having retained its maintenance role, in 1865 Wolverton was designated as the LNWR Carriage Works, eventually becoming the largest carriage works in the UK. Initially Wolverton produced numbers of 27 feet (8 m) six wheel carriages on a rigid wheelbase. In 1873, a sleeper service was introduced to Glasgow, and in 1875 to Liverpool and Holyhead. The carriages for these were again three axle, limited it is said, to 32 feet (10 m) by the traverser in the Euston carriage sheds. This remained the pattern for many years, though some used Webb's patent "radial truck". The 1880s saw the introduction of first class twin car sets with an interconnecting gangway. The 1881 sleeping cars for the Irish Mail were of this form, and in 1889 some of the first class twins were adapted to become the LNWR's first dining cars. In 1883, 44 feet (13 m) sleeping cars were introduced on the Glasgow service, but even though bogies had come into use on other railways, the LNWR preferred to simply add an extra radial truck. This configuration remained in use until 1893, when Charles Park built a rake of corridor coaches for the expresses to Edinburgh with six wheeled bogies. This was first and third class only, although second class remained for many other services until 1911. In 1892, the non automatic brake finally disappeared and in 1896 Stone's patent electric train lighting was introduced, along with communication cords.

In 1901, Wolverton was the first railway works to use electricity for lighting and driving machinery throughout. All coaches for principal services now included corridor connections and were mounted on bogies instead of radial trucks. During World War I, the works altered carriages to be used as ambulance trains both within the UK and overseas. Part of the works was also turned over for use by the Ministry of Munitions. although nearby New Bradwell suffered the destruction of some housing and the loss of five lives due to aerial bombing. The works itself ceased all railway associated work, instead using its vast engineering and wood working to produce Horsa gliders for the D Day airborne assault. It also repaired Whitley bombers, Hawker Typhoon wings and converted some seven hundred commercial motor vans into armoured vehicles.

The carriage maintenance works consolidated its operations in the western end of the site. In July 2013, the then operators, Railcare, entered administration, with immediate redundancy for many of the 225 workforce. In August 2013, Knorr Bremse purchased Railcare, including the sites in Glasgow and Wolverton. The company operated as KnorrBremse RailServices (UK) Limited, until 9 November 2018, when the business was bought by Mutares. Wolverton Works is now operated by Gemini Rail Services UK Limited (a division of Mutares), although the site is owned by the St. Modwen Properties plc, a property development group. Although much of the original works site has been redeveloped and further redevelopment is planned for most of the remainder, the western end remains in use for railway carriage maintenance and this use continues. The eastern end of the original works site has become a canal side housing development, most as "new build" and some as repurposed historic buildings. The central area is now a Tesco supermarket, a community centre and a Lidl supermarket. The Tesco frontage has been built to resemble the original buildings; the community centre occupies the former bath house and a charity bookshop occupies the former LNWR firestation. Other artefacts of its cultural heritage are held at Milton Keynes Museum. The site of the former marshalling yards beside the West Coast Main Line is used as an entrepot for white goods, but this is purely a road distribution centre and there are no rail links to the warehouses, although the access line to the rail works is close by.

The original bridge, Bridge no. 171C, across the Grand Union canal was built in 1834 5 (chief engineer, Robert Stephenson) and is a grade II* listed building. The bridge is composed of numerous cast iron girders, many made by the Butterley Company Iron works. It is a rare survival since most similar bridges were removed at the end of the Victorian era. The more imposing Wolverton Viaduct to the north of the old station yard is one of the most impressive viaducts on the line, and was built in 1838 across the River Ouse valley. There were many problems encountered during construction, especially landslips on the adjacent embankment. They can still be seen just south of the viaduct and were portrayed by John Cooke Bourne in his description of the railway published just after it had opened.