A.W. Dry and Company

A.W. Dry and Company is a drainage and shipbuilding firm headquartered at Toryreck on the Island of Sodor. The company was influential in the growth of Tidmouth as a major port and constructed the embankments along which the Main Line now runs at Knapford. Sir Topham Hatt I was once a part of the company.

The Railway Series
During the 1880s, the Ulfstead Mining Company called in A.W. Dry and Company to build embankments and install tide gates across the flats north and south of the River Els, due to their experience working with drainage problems in East Anglia. This allowed the Mining Company to extract and transport minerals (mostly lead) waiting to be found in the higher ground east of the marsh near Knapford.

The river was then embanked along its south-eastern side, with the opposite bank being left open to provide a flood-pool for the normal river flow, which could be drained off daily at low tide. The flood plains allowed Elsbridge fenmen to carry on their activities as before and - as this was the side of the river they preferred - they fortunately offered little opposition to the drainage operations east of the river.

Hutments built by A.W. Dry for his workers behind the first reclaimed bank were rebuilt permanently using stone or brick once the ground became stable enough to support them, forming the nucleus of the town at Dryaw. Toryreck had similar origins, however began earlier and - due to its slightly higher position - was chosen as the headquarters for both A.W. Dry and Company and the Ulfstead Mining Company.

The rise and development of Tidmouth as a major town on the Island of Sodor is largely thanks to the enterprises of A.W. Dry and Company. Initially, they faced considerable opposition when they expressed interest in using the harbour at Tidmouth as a base for their operations around Knapford. An amicable arrangement was eventually reached, in part due to a new design of fishing boat produced by the company finding favour with local fishermen. Supplies and equipment for the drainage project could then be brought in by sea and transported to the site via a coastal road built around the headland.

In 1905, dissatisfied with Knapford Harbour due to its prohibitively costly need for constant drainage, the Ulfstead Mining Company adopted A.W. Dry and Company's suggestion of extending their tramway along the coastal road around the headlands to Tidmouth. Mr. Topham Hatt, a young engineer from Swindon who had recently joined the firm in 1901, designed four light steam locomotives for them.

Harnessing the power of the River Tid's falls, A.W. Dry and Company made Tidmouth the first town on the Island to be lit by electricity in 1906.

In 1908, the tramway around the headlands was destroyed by a gale, disrupting trade and leaving many of the miners without work. A.W. Dry had a great interest in the mines, having not yet been paid off for in full for their drainage work. Under the direction of Topham Hatt, the unemployed miners were given work building a new railway tunnel through the ridge south of Tidmouth, to directly connect the towns of Tidmouth and Knapford.

Appearances
Railway Series=

Companion Volumes

 * 1987 - The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways

Trivia

 * The company's name is derived from the surname of the creator of the The Railway Series, Wilbert Awdry.