Getting The Railways Up And Running With Castors

By Author: Mark Farrell
Total Articles: 56
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The railways have long been a major part of transport history in many countries all over the world but none more so than Britain during the height of the industrial revolution. Throughout the 19th Century, railways have been laid down to help the transport of people and goods from city to city but the boom related to rail travel began in 1838 with the opening of the London-Birmingham line. Connecting the two cities for the very first time, the 112 mile rail was designed by Robert Stephenson in 1833 and took four years to get up and running. Even then, only sections opened in 1837 with the entire line opening on 17th September 1838. However, Stephenson and the London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR) could have had the line up and running far quicker if they had access to Castors back then.

Yes, Castors, those small wheels that can be found on trolleys, industrial cages and various other similar items, could have helped to get the railway network booming before it actually did. The London-Birmingham line actually went from Euston to Rugby to Coventry and then finally to Curzon Street Station in Birmingham so imagine all ...
... the work that had to go into it. The land would have had to have been dug and prepped, the excess materials removed and the lines laid, even before the train itself could get onto the track. All of this is a whole lot of work today but imagine how much work it was back then with no heavy machinery, no roads and no way of moving materials other than by hand. This is where those small wheels would have come in handy.

All in all, those working on the railway would have had to have moved a grand total of 25, 000, 000, 000 cubic feet of material, or enough to build a foot high and foot wide wall around the equator three times. The area on which the track would have been laid would have also had to have been drained so equipment for that purpose would also have to have been taken to the work site. Approximately 20,000 men worked on the construction and, according to various documents at the time, moved most of the material by hand. Had they had industrial trolleys, they would have been able to load them up with material and move them much quicker than was possible in that era.

There are numerous series of castors available today that could have got the railway up and running more quickly than was possible in the 19th Century. For example, the 2BZQX/XXH/SZ series are often used in industry to help move heavy objects like stone because they can take weights of between 2800kg and 11500kg. In addition, it would have been possible to move drainage materials to the site and around the individual areas to prepare it for the line much more efficiently. The railway boom would have started much earlier and got industry moving had this been possible. It is really amazing that such little wheels could make such a huge difference. Just look at modern industry if you want proof of that!

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