Show on mapThe 1250 Ton Testing Machine in this building was used by Dorman Long to test the girders for the Sydney Harbour Bridge amongst many others.
The site is now run by Durham Lifting and their website carries the following detail :-
The largest testing house in the UK holds Lloyds approval to undertake tensile and compressive testing up to 1250 tons. Its 50ft long bed can accept specimens 30ft wide and up to 4ft deep. The recent manufacture of a 1.6 mechanical advantage lever assembly for the test machine now allows tensile testing of 2000 Ton to be carried out.
Back in 1963 , I worked on the Sinter Plant at Gjers Mills ( Ayresome Ironworks ) which was next to Britannia . I could see this building lit up on a night shift , and I believe it used to be their boiler house in those days .
Thanks for the comments above, any information regarding the history of the building is welcomed. anyone wishing to look round is more than welcome.
its nice to look back and remember. thanks Amanda Gardiner
I did my apprenticeship (3yrs) on the top floor – Dorman Long drawing school – we knew when a big test was being done because the strip lights used to dim and start flashing – the machine pulled so much electrical power – i believe it was a destruction test on a suspension bridge main cable – we could hear (and feel) as each strand partied, that got faster until the final big fail – brilliant
I am David Crawford, I am 85 years old as an ex-apprentice draughtsman who began work for Dorman Long in 1956 I would love to see photographs of the old Drawing office of that time or even see it as it is now. I wrote the following about my apprentice-ship.
It’s the new year of 1956, I am half way through my year at Stockton Technical Collage, so I am looking for an apprentice ship when I start work. My dad points out an advert for apprentice draughtsmen at Dorman Long Ltd in the local paper & I write off for an application. In the reply I am informed an entrance examination will take place on Friday the 13th April at 6:15 at the Royal Exchange Building in Middlesbrough. Thankfully I pass this examination & I am invited to attend an interview on the 14th May 1956 at 11:30am also at the Royal Exchange. The interview is carried out by a Mr F.L. Smith, Chief Mechanical Engineer & two of his colleges, I attend wearing a Black Blazer, grey trousers & black shoes, well-polished, the interview seems to be going well when one of the interviewers notices the “S,M,A,E” badge on my blazer & inquiries about it. I explain it’s the badge of the Society of Model Aeronautical Engineers which seems to be well received. The 17th May I receive a letter asking me to attend a medical examination at the Brittania Works Ambulance centre on the 23th May at 11:00am. The final piece of the jigsaw is a letter informing me I have been accepted as an apprentice draughtsman.
Its 17th September 1956 & at 8:30am I present myself at the Brittania Works Test House to begin my apprenticeship in the apprentice drawing office on the upper floor. The office is in the charge of a Mr John Durnford with two supervising section leaders one is a Mr John Hollifield & the other Mr George Evison. They are both ex workshop personnel who have opted to upgrade to the drawing office, I am to be one of Georges charges. Our working week is 9:00am to 5:00pm Monday to Friday with an hour lunch break 1:00 to 2:00 pm & Saturday morning 9:00 am to 12:00 noon. We will be allowed every one Saturday in three off (wow), for this I will be paid £3-8s-6p that is £3-42.5p a week in decimal money.
The office layout is rows of benches which accommodates three people per row, at each location there is a sloping A0 drawing board with a draw to store completed work below it & a high stool to sit on. We are then allocated three or four pencils each that will have to last a month, George my section leader advises on what grade of hardness to choose. Our drawing boards are on a slight slope which can be adjusted a little, they are A0 size 33.1” x 46.8” that is (841mm x 1189mm). We are now told we have to learn to print text to Dorman Long standards, we start by taping a sheet of A0 rice paper to our boards. On this we draw horizontal lines 3/8” (9mm) apart filling the full sheet. Now starting at the top left we print A through to Z capital then 1 to 10 filling the whole of the top line, we then repeat this on the next line until the sheet is full. The heartbreaking part of this exercise comes when we ask Mr Durnford to examine our completed sheet. He is very critical of every letter; the H letters have to have vertical legs & the A has to have straight sloping sides all letters have to be perfect. After examining the work, he points out faults that do not reach his standards. He usually finishes his criticism by putting his pencil under the sheet & rips it in two with a final insult he calls “DO IT AGAIN”. You certainly made sure the second sheet was correct, though I remember some had to do a third sheet almost in tears. When I had my sheet signed off by Mr Durnford it was like winning the football pools.
I remember some of my workmates that were located around me there was John Magee, Tom Bainbridge, Jim Seymore, Terry Weatherhead & John Honeyman. There were others but as we were not nearby, they are not remembered. Anyway, talking among apprentices was not encouraged nor was gazing out of the windows. Once your printing had been approved there were drawing exercises to be complete, these included drawing of castings of machine parts including ornate wheel shapes which also had to be dimensioned to Dorman Long standards.
MORE TO FOLLOW
Hello David
Good to hear from someone who I actually worked with in the Royal Exchange .
We spent lunchtimes going through the motorcycle magazines of the day trying to decide which bike to buy, ended up buying a Triumph Tiger Hundred of 1949 vintage to make my journey to work , 27 miles each way from Northallerton.
We went on an evening bike rally I seem to remember , you riding pillion , after your mother kindly fed me tea !
Think you also rode pillion on my Velocette on another rally.
Derek Morgan was another biker in the office .
John Raw was on the next board to me . His mate David Poole also laboured in the R E .
If my brain can remember any more information I will pass it on
Best Regards
Tony Waddington
Hi, Like the previous two ex DL apprentices, David and Tony, I was also in the test house but in 1961. We did all the same activities but our supervisor’s were Danny Ramage and John Benjamin. There were about 40 of us in.the mechanical section. I also acquired a lifelong interest in motorbikes whilst there but we were limited to 250’s by then so I had a RE Crusader Sports. Still have one of the above but now buy Triumph”s, at present a T100. Didn’t realise we could visit the testhouse so may organise a trip, bring back some 64yr old memories. Bill McGregor
Tony, thanks for getting in touch, yes I remember you & that car rally when we stood in a farm gateway in the pouring rain. Then we stood in the pub soaked having a pint. I also remember another pal of ours who owned a Velocette Venom which he modded for clubman racing. His first race was at Thornaby on the old airfield, I remember he started his bike in the pits and rode down to the start line. Sadly, when the race started he pushed his bike halfway down the straight before he realised the petrol switch was in the off position. Another story I remembered was John Ainsworth one of our year coming in to work looking like something from It Ain’t half Hot Mum. He had bought some of that instant tan from Exchange & Mart & he was bright Orange. We had some good times but sadly Middlesbrough is not the place that we knew then.
Hello again David
The person you remember was Reg Hardwick , he lived in the north end of Billingham , he was friendly with Derek Morgan . Reg was knocked off his 250 Velocette MOV ,and was off work for a long time whilst his leg recovered . He spent the compensation money on a MSS Sports , the predecessor of the Venom .I made an adapter casting to fit a 1 1/2” Grand Prix Amal in place of the standard carb . He ended up working in the buying department down Dock Street road near the entrance to the foundry where I did my year in the works before going to the Royal Exchange
Do I remember John Ainsworth leaving to join the police force .
I have spent my working life on the drawing board , even managing to avoid computers , but am still in sight of Dorman Long .!
I live on the western side of the River Severn estuary , looking south onto the old Severn Bridge , about ten miles away . I still have a print of the Barron & Crowther Rotalays which Dormans made to coil the wire for the suspension cables. Sad to say the bridge has been reduced in capacity due to water in the cables , the new bridge is cable stay design .I can see both bridges in the distance when I get up on a morning .
If my brain remembers any more anecdotes I will put them down to posterity !
Regards
Tony Waddingt
Hi.
I am Bill McGregor and your experience in the Testhouse is almost identical to mine but mine was 5 years later in 1961. Our instructors were Danny Ramage and John Benjamin. Our starting instruction was pencil sharpening before we were allowed even to touch any drawing paper. The same apprehension when your work was inspected but Danny’s favourite trick was to tear your drawing in half with a pencil between the Board and paper if he was unhappy. Embarrassing and psychologically damaging for a 16 yr old apprentice. Anyway most of us survived and went to the Royal Exchange DO or engineering department.
I also developed a lifelong love of motorbikes whilst there which continues to this day.
Didn’t realise we can visit the place
Do we have a contact or number to arrange this or can we just turn up at the door.
How do l arrange to visit the Testhouse
In the late 1950’s the Test House also was used as an apprentice draughtsman office – on the top floor. I vividly remember the constant noise generated as the machine built up pressure – and the bang when whatever parted. Although the machine has its own foundation, separate from that of the building, the whole building would shake. Once it caused the lift to stop mid floor with a colleague inside. After a few minutes whoever it was stuck decided to climb out onto the top floor, rather than to wait for someone to make the lift safe. Frightening.
Another time we were playing cards at lunch time when something else was parted. If my memory isn’t playing tricks, everything from the middle of the bench table top jumped up and landed on the floor!
I can’t say I particularly enjoyed working over there!
David, your comments are funny. and yes the building still shakes when we carry our Wire rope Breaks..
I began my working life in August of 1966 in that building. As I approach retirement, seeing it sparks a jolt of nostalgia. Yes, I too remember the “bangs” from the tensile testing downstairs, and the almost Dickensian working atmosphere – learning to print at an angle of 70 degrees, toiling away doing development drawings of blast furnace dust-catchers, making the morning tea for about 50 apprentices in the antiquated kitchen etc.
When I was working in this building the other day a man came in and said he served his time upstairs in the drawing school 50 years ago and it was his first time back he could not believe it was still a test house and how the area around had changed
And yes the building does still shake lol
I was taken on by Dorman Long as a Technical Apprentice in september 1961 located in the drawing office, on the top floor of this building. The apprentice intake consisted of mechanical, electrical and fuel catagories on day release, at local colleges.
The educators were a Mr. Danny Ramage (strict disciplinarian) and Mr. John Benjamin.
When the building shook we were uncertain as to the cause being the testing, or Danny blowing his top. I was thankfully relocated to the Royal Exchange in the december of that year. It was an excellent apprenticeship scheme!!!
Hi-Stan
I worked there as apprentice around the same time.
I remember having to do drawing tests of intersecting lines and Danny Ramage would come and tear the drawing up if it was inaccurate.
John Benjamin was a bit softer and used to question Danny’s approach. I played football for the office one day and one of our players had his leg broken.Danny didn’t know what to do and John took over.
Tom Osborne
In 1952 I was an apprentice in the main office opposite the test house, copies of old drawings were kept on the ground floor. I do remember hunting among the parcels to fine old factories that were being extended.
David Strachan
Long time ago !!!
Hello
started my working life in the drawing school on Aug 1st 1957 , as it was a
bank holiday ( early August in those days ! ) I had my first working day off . Like all the other 16 year olds at DL&Co , I was paid £3-41p a week .
As mentioned , when something down below broke ,the whole building shook ,
which usually resulted in a shower of rust coming down off the roof trusses above onto the drawing boards
.
Danny Ramage had only just taken over the drawing school quite recently then , his predecessor was Johnny Durnford , I still have his Dorman Long handbook of
company products and safe load tables, dated 1938 .
As an aside does anybody have any photographs of the 16,000 HP Davy steam engine which powered the rolling mill ( No 1 , I think ) used to roll the sections for the Sydney Harbor Bridge ?
Tony Waddington
I’m curious about what types of drawings you were making at the school. Can anyone fill me in? And does anyone have images of those drawings?
Proudly powere by Word press ? Have tried three times now to reply only to have my episcal dumped ? Is there a max length of reply on here ?
hello
the first few weeks were spent learning to print in a clear and legible manner , drawings with bad printing cannot convey adequate information , followed by the basics of drawing lines , joining at 90 degrees , tangential to curves etc . only when that was mastered did we progress to actual details of items , usually from a Tech Drawing instruction book , again only when this was acceptable did we progress to copying actual working drawings from the companies drawing archives , which were for practice only , not used for production purposes . This meant that there was various streams of apprentices at different levels of progress , but by the year end all were of adequate skill to work in the main drawing office in the Royal Exchange building near Middlesbrough railway station or in the smaller drawing offices attached to each of Dormans many different woks or ironstone mines .
Regarding “images” or prints of these drawings , there was no print machine in the drawing school , but most draughtsmen kept copies of some of their work to use as samples for prospective employers to see , confirming ability .
I still have a stack of prints of my work from 35 years on the drawing board , not entirerly
legal but as most are now defunct who is going to object . An example of the sad decline in British manufacturing industry !
The worst thing is that there are now very few people coming forward with such skills , the computer has destroyed this valuable thinking skill .
Best regards
Tony Waddington
Tony,
Fascinating! Thanks for explaining all of this. Where are you based? I’d be curious to see these drawings at some point—or a digital photo of them, based on what’s easier. Email me at tyler.coburn@gmail.com
Best,
Tyler
I was a trained in Draughtsmanship by Danny Ramage in 1966/67 in this building. What tyrant.
Looking at the photograph of the test house, and from Google Maps, opposite the test house is a warehouse. That was the site of Dorman Long (B&E) North and South drawing offices. It was where I spent most of my time as an apprentice draughtsman. One of the duties, every now and again, was to take complete files of projects up to the attic which housed the archives: a musty dusty old place even then.
But – along with others one couldn’t resist looking around to see how far back the archives went. Astonishing! There they were – the original drawings for the fabrication of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Many of these, if not all, were drawn with pen and ink, a skill that was still being taught in the 1950’s.
Does anyone know what happened to the archive and these drawings when the building was demolished? Hopefully they will have been saved as a valuable historical record either in the Dorman Museum or a similar place in Sydney!
And by the way, the test of the beams for the Sydney Harbour Bridge used beams fabricated at one fifth scale – not full size.
Yes, they were part of the British Steel Collection that is kept at the Tees Archives.
I saw some of them Sydney Harbour Bridge drawings when I was involved in the project.
Ref my note of the 21st Oct 2017 – between the Test House and the Drawing Offices was a car park with a railway line running parallel and in front of the drawing offfices. It was not unusual for an old steam powered shunter to be parked outside belching steam and smoke. This occured one pay day. Pay in those days came as cash in a small brown envelope. It was brought to the offices by one man carrying all the wages in a good sized brief case across the car park from the wages office – maybe a 5 minutes walk.
This particular day a few of us apprentices were looking out for the wages to arrive when we realised that, thanks to the shunter belching out more smoke than normal combined with the wind direction, the wages chap disappeared for a couple of minutes. Long enough for someone to grab the wages, jump in a car and drive sedately away. Of couse, it never happened but ………
Well well, the wages kept on coming !!!
Brilliant memories . I also trained with Danny Ramage. We called it the stooge house in those days. Great training and great friends made , some of which I still see ( John Martin ). I went onward to the Royal Exchange in the Blast Furnace squad. Again great memories. I am 77 years old now. Wish I could remember all of my fellow trainees. Geoff Race
Hello Geoff
I was in the Royal Exchange from late 1957 until early 1962 , except for my year in the works at Dock Street Foundry .
Started with Billy Lamb with the architect section and after Dock Street ended up with Russell Corke in the Mechanical Section .
The Blast Furnace Section was under Albert Peplow , at this time Clay Lane number 2 was under construction .
I came across a Utube clip recently showing the demolition of Clay Lane , made me very sad .
I am 80 now and still have my D&L handbooks which have been been useful reference books all my working life , which I have only just left behind to concentrate on trout fishing .
Regards
Tony Waddington
Hi Tony, just looked up my starting letter. My commencement date was 5th sept 1960 with a starting wage of £4.2.3d per week, delivered in brown envelopes on Fridays.
On my first day Danny Ramage placed a £5 note on the wall and challenged us to draw vertical and horizontal corners, using t and set squares. Later in the day he came round with his red pencil and circled all our errors( corners not joining, lines too thick or thin etc) No one succeeded and i recall he placed a ruler under the paper and tore upwards with the words “rubbish.” Next day we got a little better, and the following day a bit better again and so on. Eventually the red circles stopped.
I too remember Russell Corke and Albert Peplow at the royal exchange. Incidently i still have my set square and slide rule just in case i get called back. Great days all starting with the stooge house ,
.Best wishes
Geoff Race
I was in the test house apprentice intake of September 1961. I have just found this site and recognise the names including Danny Ramage and John Benjamin and also the apprentices. Remember having to work Saturday mornings allegedly because the steelworkers had to work weekends. Used to go by motorbike in my second 6 month spell and remember falling off on the forty foot road a couple of times. I also went to the exchange and on to Lackenby and Steel House.
Bill McGregor
Well this is a surprise I thought this would have been long gone in a housing estate by now.
I used to work as a shunter for British Rail at Middlesbrough Goods yard and whenever we travelled to Thornaby goods yard we used to see this building and one of the drivers told me about it. After finishing an early shift I visited it on my way home and got to see all the machinery even though it was not being used at the time, I have since been across the Tyne bridge and the Sydney Harbour bridge on a motorcycle and this building is a historic connection with them.
So much history of the area has been lost by short sighted councils especially Redcar and Cleveland.