3-008-887 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Bray's traction-engine drawing a girder 74 feet long and weighing twenty tons through the streets of London by night - the monster load passing the Bank of England, 1862. 'A wrought-iron girder, of the hog-back construction...had to be removed from...New North-road, to...Dulwich, where it is to form part of a bridge for the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway...Two strong trucks were put underneath it, the one in front being a large four-wheel boiler truck, and the second, which bore the weight behind, a very heavy "trolly" with two wheels. These trucks together formed the carriage, the girder being kept in its position by stout chains...Naptha lamps, to light the workmen and give warning to all passers-by, were fixed along the whole line of the girder; and, thus equipped, with the traction-engine yoked in front, the massive load went upon its journey, multitudes turning out...and crowding the footways to witness the unusual sight...It was daylight when the final destination was attained...It would have required twenty-five horses to draw it by the ordinary method, and the difficulty of getting such a number of animals to pull together, to say nothing of the obstruction they would cause to the regular traffic, may be readily imagined'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.