Wolverton Works in 1897

Wolverton Works  was the principal carriage works of the London & North Western Railway (LNWR); from 1865 all the coaching stock and road vehicles were built there. (Before 1865 carriages had been built at Saltley , Birmingham.) The works was situated north of Bletchley on the main line out of London Euston , and by 1897 had expanded to cover nearly sixty acres, so that the main line, originally on a straight alignment directly through the works, had to be re-routed to bypass it to the east.

The Carriage Superintendent in charge of the works was not only responsible for building and repairing the coaching stock across the entire system but also for its cleaning and examination. In support of this there were also repair shops at Carlisle and Willesden and a carriage shop at Crewe. 8,100 vehicles were repaired annually, requiring a workforce of 3,200 (with a further 2,000 at Crewe, Carlisle and Willesden). Road vehicles built and maintained included omnibuses, parcel carts and vans, broughams , gigs , and so on.

The major facilities were:

• Timber yard — where all wood was thoroughly seasoned for three years. Most construction was in mahogany, oak, walnut and teak, with sycamore and deal being used for partitions, roofs and floors.
• Sawmills — complete with square-hole boring machine
• Smith’s shop — 100 forges, 14 steam hammers, chiefly for steel carriage springs
• Wheel shop — steel tyres from Crewe were built up onto teak wooden sections to make Mansell wheels .
• Joiners’ shop — to produce components by skilled carpentry
• Upholstery Dept. — for seats and covers
• Four Paint shops — Sixteen coats of paint were needed, requiring sixteen days in the paint shops
• Brake shop
• Omnibus & Parcels cart repair shop

A steam traverser  delivered coaches to their track for repair.