Summer 2006 - National Rifle Association

A photograph has recently been discovered showing“Wharncliffe” pulling a train of six small passenger carsat Wimbledon. No date is given but the picture isstamped ‘Merryweather and Sons Engineers London’and is therefore likely to have been an official one issuedafter the locomotive had been named, probably in 1879.The appearance of “Wharncliffe” is similar to thatfollowing its transfer to Bisley.The Wimbledon site, taken not earlier than the 1878 Meeting whenthe tramway was extendedThe tramway, complete with Tram Locomotive andpassenger cars, can be seen in the middle distance whereit terminated near the clock tower. The prefabricatedNRA Office Building, dominating the centre right of thepicture, was transferred to Bisley in 1890 and is still usedby Messrs FultonThe Gazette, in its Wimbledon Meeting Report of 27 July1878, also provided a glimpse of how the NRA wasexploiting the latest contemporary technology.Friday July 19 thThe telephone has worked, we believe, very well; and thenoiseless steam locomotive of Messrs Merryweather hasperformed its task of drawing the tramcars in the most perfectmanner.The locomotive, a 4 ton Merryweather Type 1 tramengine constructed in 1877, carried the Works Number32 and was named “Wharncliffe” after Lord Wharncliffe,the Chairman of the NRA at that time. Merryweathertendered each year for the contract to transport andoperate “Wharncliffe” during the annual meeting. Theyused a horse and trolley for transportation between thestorage area and the tramway and also supplied twoengineers and assistants to prepare the engine andoperate it. At the end of the Meeting they greased theengine and returned it to store. This contract wasmaintained up until 1892, after the NRA had moved toBisley.As “Wharncliffe” was only used during the annualMeetings in July little maintenance was required,however it is recorded that Merryweather supplied newbrake blocks in 1885 and 1886. They also carried out £11worth of repairs in 1888.Perhaps this was largely due to the efforts of MajorEdmond St John-Mildmay, Secretary of the NRA, thesame gentleman who had recommended the introductionof the original tramway in 1864. He had already issuedthe following statement after the 1877 Meeting.The experiment made with the little traction engine was mostsuccessful and the Executive Committee have much pleasurein testifying to the zeal with which the persons in chargeworked, and to their courtesy towards the numerous visitorswho were all day crowding around the engine.The NRA Report for 1878 contained the following item:Messrs Merryweather and Sons supplied one of their noiselesstramway engines made to suit the exceptional gauge of theNRA tramway, and as the firm offered it on very favourableterms to the Council, and it was found to work admirably andin some respects to have great advantages over the formerexpensive system of employing horse power, the Councilpurchased it.The Accounts for that year showed the cost of purchasingthe tram engine as £331-2s-0d.In 1879 The Gazette, in its notes for Saturday 12 July,commented:. . . The Tramway locomotive which performed so well lastyear, has, we believe, been purchased by the Association, andis now christened “The Wharncliffe”.Merryweather Tender documentDuring 1878, as noted in the Gazette, the NRA Councilhad agreed to extend the tramway by 150 yards in aminute dated 2 April, ‘as the starting station isinconveniently situated’. The work was carried out by Airdfor £120. This increased the length of the tramway toabout three quarters of a mile.33