Crofts Engineers Bradford and my love of all things Steam

In my own apprenticeship days the long workshops

seen in the pictures by the GNR Leeds-Ardsley line

contained the fitting and machining shops for the

heavy transmission equipment built by the successors

of Mess'rs Newton Bean & Mitchell, Mess'rs Crofts

Engineers and Co

Above you see the fabrication dept where large gear

box cases were fabricated before going for machining

Above and below the general fitting shop where 

worm wheel and helical gears were built for a 

multitude of purpose

Below can be seen the use of some of the worm 

and wheel gears manufactured on the Dudley 

Hill site

These I believe were powering malting drums at

a distillery in Scotland.

So now you know what went on those works next 

to the GNR line and my own association and 

eventual success, gaining my second and chief

engineers qualifications and when my engineering 

career ended with redundancy I was ideally placed

to study for a degree and taught mathematics 

and physics to would be future engineers. 

I do feel very sad these days that the

opportunities afforded me, albeit with 

great patience and understanding is not readily

available to the young men and women of today where

it seems everything has to be done and achieved between the 

ages of five and eighteen. My path has been one of lifelong learning.