Stoke Works Drawing Office

The North Staffordshire Railway Co (NSR) opened its own works at Stoke on Trent in 1864.

The locomotive stock continued to include both contractor and local built stock, and this mixture is reflected in the surviving collection of engineering drawings from the Stoke Works Drawing Office. The North Staffordshire Railway also worked and maintained the Leek & Manifold Valley Light Railway, a 2’6” narrow gauge line opened in 1904. Among the more unusual drawings produced at the Stoke Works are vehicles for this 9-mile line. In common with many railway works the Stoke drawing office was employed to produce drawings for machinery, buildings and other developments as demanded by the company. During the 1914-1918 war they also produced drawings for shells and fuses as part of the war effort, examples of which have survived into the collection.

The Works were officially closed in 1926, finally running down by 1927 when most of the employees transferred to Crewe Locomotive Works. As a consequence it is also possible to find drawings of locomotives originating with the North Staffordshire Railway and the Stoke Works among the Crewe Works collection. Some have also found their way into the Derby Works collection as a result of subsequent rationalisation by the LMS.