Henry Brown, Son and Pickles. Engineers - Part 13

End Of An Era

Johnny Pickles never really retired, he just quietly withdrew from the business and left it to Newton and Walt Fisher who were perfectly capable of carrying on.  Johnny did his engineering in the back yard, kept an eye on the shop and in 1969 he died aged 84 years.  The description that Newton had cut on his gravestone in Kelbrook churchyard sums it all up, 'John Albert Pickles, engineer and master craftsman.'

Henry Brown Sons and Pickles carried on and was a successful business but the glory days of the steam mills were over.  One by one the mills closed and engines were scrapped.  Newton once said to me "I was mother and father to that engine at Victoria Mill", and he really meant it.  In fact he ran it on the housewive's shift the last time it drove the mill.  Walt Fisher said "When they did away with steam engines they did away with a lot of hard work."  He was right too!

In the later years Newton was much in demand running engines while the regular engineer was off sick or had finished because they were weaving out.  In the old days you could generally find an old engine tenter about who could help you out of a tight corner but as they died off there was only Newton left.  

Mind you, HBSP never actually got to the point where they hadn't a single engine left.  Up to 1978 they had Bancroft, Queen Street, Wiseman Street at Burnley and one over at Holmfirth.  Then there was the heritage market.  Newton bored cylinders on locos at the Keighley and Worth Valley and the Haverthwaite Railway in the Lake District.  He refurbished the engine at Stott Park and put it back in steam.  They dismantled the Finsley Gate engine in Burnley and were going to re-erect it in the Science Museum at South Kensington until Newton found out it wasn't going to run in steam.  He said he didn't want anything to do with clockwork engines and a firm called Riley's from Heywood got the job.

Funnily enough, years later they did put the Finsley Gate engine in steam in the Science Museum.  I had been asked to go down and look at the installation when Riley's had put it in and had warned them in writing that they had their condensing arrangements wrong.  Sure enough when they ran it it split the air pump and I was asked to go down again.  I said I'd only come if Newton came with me and we had a glorious day out playing hell with the museum management about the mistakes they had made.  They took our advice and got a new pump fabricated and asked if we wanted to be invited for the grand opening where it was to be steamed for Prince William.  We both refused because we didn't like the set-up.

During 1978 I was asked to advise Quarry Bank at Styal on the removal of a large water wheel from Glass Houses near Pately Bridge.  I recommended HBSP for the job and they did it.  Newton told me later that this was the job that persuaded them it was time to retire gracefully.  When they hit trouble dismantling the old wheel they were refused any extra payments and lost money on the job.  This wasn't a financial disaster but it knocked the heart out of Walt and Newton.  I always felt bad about having landed them in that one.

On the 10th of May 1981 Newton and Walt Fisher sold out to Gissing and Lonsdale who have kept the name of the firm alive.  The Riley Street clock flit across the road to Gissing and Lonsdale's offices on Wellhouse road and N&R Demolition from Portsmouth mill moved in and demolished the Wellhouse Machine Shop.  It was very sad to see the old buildings come down.  So much wonderful work had been done in that old building.  

I watched the machines working on it and remembered tales that Newton had told me about milling gears for his dad when he was fourteen years old with snow blowing under the shop door and collecting round his feet.  Him and Jim Fort having competitions to see whose swarf would go furthest down the yard without breaking.  The lads waiting until the engine had been running for a while before going out to the tippler toilets in the yard in winter because the exhaust from the engine drains warmed them up.  All that skill accumulated over the years, blown away by progress.

I never met Johnny, I was too busy driving all over the world and parts of Gateshead in the ten years from 1959 to 1969 when I had the chance.  I first met Newton when I took over Bancroft engine in 1973 and he taught me all I know about engines and turning.  I visited him the day he died to wish him and Beryl a happy new year in 2001. I've always said that there are two sorts of men in this world, the ones who know but won't help you and the ones that know and will share their knowledge with you.  Newton spent hours in the engine house and workshop with me answering questions and showing me what to do.  That sort of skill can't be found in books because nobody ever wrote it down.  That's one of the reasons why I have enjoyed writing this series of articles so much.  It lets me share some of Newton with you.

Walt Fisher is still alive and well and when I have a query about the old days I just pick  the 'phone up and get the answer off him, long may it continue.  Thanks for putting up with me over the last three months, I hope it hasn't been too technical for you.  Henry Brown Sons and Pickles were an integral part of the history of the steam driven textile industry in the district.  The echoes of those early starts in the trade are still with us.  Ouzledale Foundry was a large part of the story I have told and they are still a thriving business in the town so we still have a direct link back to 1890 when Henry Watts was making castings on Longfield Lane for Henry Brown.  That pleases me.

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© Stanley Challenger Graham 2003

Page updated: 13 OCT 2003