Punching Machine – Ashton Under Lyne, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 28.973 W 002° 05.971
30U E 559755 N 5926366
This punching machine is on display outside the Portland Basin History Museum on the banks of the Ashton Canal.
Waymark Code: WMGW9D
Location: North West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 04/15/2013
Views: 3
The canal was originally built in 1796 to transport coal to Manchester. The canal was very successful in the early days, but competition from railways and roads led to the decline in commercial use of the canal. By the 1960s there was talk of closing the canal and covering it over but leisure boating had become popular and this canal forms a vital link with other canals in a large network.
After campaigning by canal boat enthusiasts and using volunteers the canal was renovated and opened to leisure boaters in 1974. Around the same time this old mill on the canal bank was converted into a local history museum.
Outside the museum on an old canal wharf are pieces of machinery that were built at nearby factories.
This piece of machinery is a hole puncher that was used in the construction of bridges. Britannia and Conway Tubular bridges on the Manchester to Holyhead railway company, and was manufactured in the nearby town of Dukinfield.
The machine has the following metal faceplate on the front of it.
On loan from J. Brown & Company Ltd. Duckinfield Ironworks
This Punching Machine was used circa 1850 in the
Construction of the Britannia and Conway Tubular Bridges
On the Manchester to Holyhead Railway Line
Designed by the famed railway engineer
Robert Stephenson
The bridge consisted of wrought iron rectangular box-section spans, or tubes, for carrying rail traffic.
this
Wikipedia page has details of the bridge and construction.