erection of the Crystal Palace, are situated at Smethwick, about
four miles from Birmingham on the Dudley Road. They were established after
the commencement of the London and Birmingham Railway, for the manufacture of
iron and machinery required in the construction of railways.

The shops, which are of large dimensions, are built in a quadrangle,
enclosing a large area or open space, which is employed as a yard for
material or finished goods as may be accidentally required. The first place
into which the stranger is shown is called the Truck shop, and will
accommodate three hundred carriage builders and carpenters. Adjoining it is
the Boiler Makers' shop, or, more properly, a shop for workers in plate-iron,
for boilers are not made in the establishment, but iron doors, navy casks,
and wrought iron railway carriages are produced in this department. These
shops form one side of the quadrangle.

The forges, which are very numerous, occupy the first department of another
side of the range of buildings. The forges, as is now usual, are supplied
with air by the motion of a fan worked by the engine, and by the side of them
many strong and stalwart arms are wielded with as much skill and ingenuity as
distinguished some of the smiths of the middle ages. The Mechanical
Engineering shops join the forges, and in them will be found many of those
beautiful self-acting tools for which this age is so remarkable. There are
drilling, planing, screwing, and slotting machines of various designs and
adapted to different purposes, as well as numerous expensive and very perfect
lathes. Here the switches used for conducting trains from one line to
another are made, as well as all kinds of machine work. Connected with this
is the Turntable shop, which is, to a stranger, as interesting as any part of
the establishment, from the magnitude of the machinery and the ease with
which gigantic masses of iron are carried about by the traveller to and from
the planing and other machines. The Wheel shop, which is next visited, is
chiefly used for the manufacture of railway carriage wheels, of which, as
must be well known, there are many varieties. The Foundry and Anchor
manufactory must not be omitted in an enumeration of the departments.

The other two sides of the quadrangle are occupied by saw-pits, painters'
shops, stores, offices, and all the conveniences required for carrying on a
business which frequently gives employment to eleven or twe