Two of the surviving original Hurst Nelson tramcars on theGreat Orme Tramway, north Wales.
Hurst, Nelson and Company Ltd was a railway rolling stock manufacturer based inMotherwell,Scotland. The company also built many railway wagons, as well as trams and trolleybus carosseries for several local authorities.
The company built the original trailer carriages for theGlasgow Subway. A batch of 24 four-wheeled vehicles were supplied in 1898. The wheels were of teak, with Bessemer steel tyres, and each had 24 seats, twelve along each side of the carriage. They were similar in style, although shorter than the gripper cars supplied by the Oldbury Railway Carriage and Wagon Company for the opening of the cable-hauled railway in 1896. They were not fitted with a mechanism for gripping the cable, nor did they have automatic brakes, and so relied on the brakes of the gripper cars in operation. Manual hand brakes were provided, and shackles were provided at each corner, so that they could be lowered down onto the tracks at the car sheds pits. Electric lighting was supplied by a jumper cable running from the adjacent gripper car, and the vehicles weighed 4.65 tons. Hurst Nelson displayed one of them at the Earl's Court exhibition centre inLondon.[1]
The company also supplied vehicles for theLondon Underground. In August 1905, they delivered twobattery-electric locomotives, which were used for the construction of theGreat Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway, and subsequently for theCharing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway. They were 50.5 feet (15.4 m) long, with a cab at both ends and a compartment behind one of the cabs, which housed braking and traction control equipment. 80 batteries, arranged as two rows of 40, occupied the central section of the vehicle, which was lower than the cabs.Chloride Electrical Storage Company supplied the batteries, which had to be charged at charging stations. The vehicles weighed 55 tons, and were not fitted with current collector shoes, since none of the rails were electrified during construction.[2]
Extensions and improvements to theDistrict Railway (later theDistrict line of the London Underground) in the early 1900s required additional rolling stock, and in 1910 Hurst Nelson received an order for 32 motor cars and 20 trailers, which were similar in both construction and appearance, and were known asC Stock. Traction control used a non-automatic electro-magnetic controller supplied byBritish Thomson-Houston Co., but the motors were to a new design, which included interpoles. They were the first use of such motors on the Underground, and probably in England. The cars were 49.5 feet (15.1 m) long, with double doors in the centre, and single doors at either end. Much of the bodywork was made of wood. There were some problems with the motor bogies, and 60 new bogies were provided between 1910 and 1922, although not all were for the Hurst Nelson vehicles, as the problem also affected theD Stock andE Stock, which had been supplied by other manufacturers in 1912 and 1914. The C stock trailer cars were subsequently modified at Acton Works to become motor cars in the 1928 Reconstruction Programme.[3]
The most notable example of Hurst Nelson rail vehicles still in service are the tramcars of theGreat Orme Tramway. Seven tramcars were built for the Great Orme in 1902,[4] of which four remain in service today.[5] These vehicles are not preserved, as they have never ceased to be in revenue-earning service. With well over a century of use, they are the longest serving Hurst Nelson products.
A small number of trams built by Hurst Nelson, and subsequently withdrawn from service, are now in heritage preservation.
Newcastle 102 - Built 1901, and now preserved at theNational Tramway Museum, Crich Derbyshire. Non-operational, it is hoped to bring it into working order in the near future.
Hull 96 / Leeds 6 - Built 1901, and now preserved atHeaton Park Tramway. Originally Hull passenger tram 96, it later became Leeds departmental tram 6 for use by engineers.[6]
Southampton 45 - Built 1903, and the first British tram to enter into preservation. Now part of the National Tramway Museum, Crich.
Paisley/Glasgow Corporation 68/1068 - Built 1919, and now preserved at the National Tramway Museum, Crich Derbyshire. Operational condition, as it would have been shortly after Paisley Corporation was absorbed by Glasgow Corporation.
A number of Hurst Nelson railway wagons have been preserved on heritage railways, particularly from their tank wagon range. These include the following, listed in order of construction date, starting with the oldest.
Three-plank coal wagon, built 1912 for coal mines near Radstock, now being restored by the Hurst Nelson Wagon Project, Williton, on theWest Somerset Railway.[8]
Oil tank wagon 4497 (Shell), Class A, built 1930, registered with the LNER as No 27287, now at theBluebell Railway.[11]
Oil tank wagon 1921 (Esso) 14T Class B, built 1941, originallyAir Ministry No 812, thenLMS No 162376, thenEsso No 1921, now in Esso livery on theBluebell Railway.[12]
Oil tank wagon A4513 (Shell-BP) 14T Class B, built 1941, now at theGreat Central Railway, Leicestershire.[13]
Tar tank wagon 95 (South West Tar Distilleries), built 1941, now at theWatercress Line.[14]
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