THE INDUSTRIAL RAILWAY RECORD

No. 55 - p293

© AUGUST 1974

HECTOR

    The above is 'a perspective view of one of four neat little tank locomotives recently built by Messrs. Hudswell, Clarke, & Co., of Leeds, for the 18 in. gauge railway at Woolwich Arsenal. The engine has outside frames and outside cylinders, the latter, which are 7in. diameter by 12in. stroke, being connected by a strong casting bolted between their valve chests so as to insure a thoroughly firm fixing. The four wheels, which are coupled, are 2ft.in diameter, and are of cast iron with steel tyres. The axles are also of steel, with, of course, outside bearings only. The boiler has a barrel 2ft.3in. in diameter by 5ft.10½in. long, and is provided with a copper firebox and thirty-six brass tubes 2in. in diameter. On the boiler is placed a saddle tank containing 200 gallons of water, while the coal-box on the footplate has a capacity of 5% cubic feet. The boiler is fed by one pump and one injector. The general design of the engine is very neat, and the fittings are complete and well arranged. The weight of the engine is 6% tons empty, and 8 tons in working order.'
("Engineering," issue dated 24th April 1885, a copy of which has been kindly provided by Ralph Martin. According to the maker's Engine Book, HECTOR was actually Hudswell Clarke 273 of 1885, and not 274 as shown on the engraving The three other similar locomotives mentioned above were CARRONADE (works number 268) and CULVERIN (269), both ex-works on 30th June 1884; and ACHILLES (274), ex-works on 7th February 1885, together with HECTOR. TJL)

    'Mr. Albert Borsig, the well-known locomotive engineer of Berlin, died on the 10th of April, at the early age of forty-nine. The works were founded by his father in 1837, and since the beginning have turned out over 3600 locomotives for Germany, Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Holland and Austria, and for the Dutch Colonies. Mr. Borsig was one of the largest employers of labour, the number of his workmen at his Berlin works and at his iron and steel works and coal mines in Silesia exceeding 10,000. How successfully the works have been carried on is shown by the fact that Mr. Borsig's father began work with a capital of £1500, lent to him by a German tradesman, and that the son died one of the wealthiest men in Germany, having left property worth about three million sterling. Under the will of the late Mr. Borsig, the works will be conducted by a board of trustees, until his children (the eldest boy being only eleven years) become of age.'   ("Iron," 11th May 1878. KPP)