Springburn Virtual Museum

Railway industry

Locomotive for Brazilian engine built by Sharp, Stewart and Company, 1898

The process of building a steam locomotive began in the drawing office. A team of designers and draughtsmen would produce a series of accurate drawings of each part of the engine, which would then be used by a senior draughtsman to make a 'general arrangement' like this one. This could take up to three months.

The drawings would be used to make templates and patterns. Templates were used to mark off metal plates which would become the locomotive frame, and patterns were wooden versions of parts which had to be cast. These were pressed into boxes of moist sand, and the impression left behind had molten metal - which later cooled - poured in.

These rough castings then had to be finished off in the machine shop or brass finishing shop. Here they were planed, ground and drilled to the precise measurements given in the drawing.

Source: Glasgow City Archives