Harbour Road Engineering Workshops
Swansea Docks
The old Harbour Road engineering workshops were located on what is now New Cut Road, roughly between the two road bridges that cross the river today. The fitting shop housed a variety of machines driven by a system of overhead belts and pulleys powered by two powerful electric motors. Three skilled turners worked the lathes, three apprentices carried out tasks such as drilling & screwing, and two labourers assisted with heavy lifting etc. All work was carried out under the supervision of a chargehand. It was not until the mid 1950s that a 'modern' electric milling machine was installed, together with new electric lathes and drilling machines.
Alongside the machine shop was the blacksmiths workshop where a chargehand supervised six blacksmiths, each with his own forge & anvil and each assisted by a mate or “striker” who was also responsible for maintaining the forge and keeping the fire at the required temperature. The workshop was equipped with a large steam-driven hammer with one man working full time just to raise and maintain steam. By hot forging (by hand or steam hammer) or by arc welding, the blacksmiths would fabricate a wide range of items using round bar, tubular steel or flat bar up to 10” wide. Anything wider than 10” was considered “plate” and deemed to be boilermakers’ work.
Adjacent to the blacksmiths' shop was the boilermakers workshop where various items large and small were fabricated from sheet metal or flat bar over 10” in width (i.e. “plate”). In the age of steam, boilermakers' skills were in high demand and, like the blacksmiths, they jealously guarded their own trade, so disputes between the two factions were not uncommon.
Further along the workshop complex was the pattern-makers workshop where moulds for metal castings were designed and fabricated, and finally next door to the pattern-makers was the Timekeeper's office.
Toilet facilities were very basic, Dickensian almost, comprising just four cubicles mounted over a large tube that was periodically flushed into the river. Between these flushes a fair amount of 'used' paper would tend to accumulate, and it was not unknown for some mischievous apprentice to sneak in and set fire to the paper beneath whoever might be sitting in the cubicle next door. A flash in the pan, you might say...
All engineering work at that time was carried out without any form of motorised transport. The foremen, who each covered large areas of the dock estate, pedalled around on bicycles, while shifting heavy materials & equipment required the temporary use of a lorry borrowed from either the Stores or the General Cargo department – inconvenient of course, but a step up from the handcarts that had previously been used. Eventually around 1960 a Thames Trader lorry was acquired together with a Land Rover and a Coles mobile crane.
In 1961 the Harbour Road workshops were demolished in preparation for the construction of the first new road bridge across the river, with all engineering operations being transferred to the former Western power station buildings. The machine shop was moved into the old the pump room and the boilermakers & blacksmiths shared what had been the station's boiler house.