Adlib Internet Server 5

Title
Class 82 locomotive bogie general arrangement
Reference
GEC/2/2/4/1
Production date
1960 - 1960

Creator

Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Co Ltd Biography Biography
Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Co Ltd was the new trading name given to British Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Co on 8 September 1919. The predecessor company had sold its controlling share to the Metropolitan Carriage Wagon Co in 1916 in order to gain membership of the Federation of British Industries. In 1919, Vickers acquired the Metropolitan Carriage Wagon Co, along with its controlling share in British Westinghouse, prompting the change in name to Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Co Ltd. The American owned British Westinghouse had established its English operations at Trafford Park in 1899, and Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Co Ltd continued on the same site from 8 September 1919. The company was initially known for its electricity generators, later diversifying into the manufacture of steam turbines, switchgear, transformers, electronics and railway traction equipment. The passing of the Electricity (Supply) Act in 1926 provided a boost to the company’s post-war fortunes, with the creation of the National Grid generating demand for the company's products. In 1928, Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Co Ltd merged with its rival British Thomson Houston Co Ltd, retaining both names for trading purposes. The following year, on 4 January 1929, Associated Electrical Industries Ltd (AEI) acquired Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Co Ltd and the British Thomson Houston Co Ltd. Again, both trading names were retained, and a fierce rivalry was established between the firms which the parent company was unable to control. In 1931, Sir Felix Pole joined Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Co Ltd as its new chairman. He oversaw a period of expansion for the company leading into the Second World War. In 1939, seeking a more concise name for the company, the Board of Directors decided upon Metrovicks, which became interchangeable with the official company name of Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Co Ltd. Under Sir Felix Pole's chairmanship, Metropolitan-Vickers developed new products for the aviation industry and during the war was one of the sites where Lancaster bombers were built. In 1941, the company developed the first British axial-flow jet engine, the Metrovick F.2. Following the Second World War, the company appointed Oliver Lyttelton as chairman, with the aim of increasing the efficiency and productivity of AEI. Despite his success in achieving this aim, Lyttelton was unable to resolve the commercial rivalry between Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Co Ltd and the British Thomson Houston Co Ltd. During his second period as chairman, from 1954-1963, Lyttelton, now Lord Chandos, oversaw the development by Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Co Ltd of the first commercial transistor computer, the Metrovick 950. Chandos also resolved to extinguish the competition and internal divisions between Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Co Ltd and the British Thomson Houston Co Ltd, and both company names ceased to be used from 1 January 1960, with all subsidiaries going on to trade under the name of Associated Electrical Industries Ltd.

Scope and Content
The roll contains one waxed linen drawing of a bogie general arrangement for a British Railways Class 82 (AL2) locomotive. Drawing number 2249536.
Extent
1 roll
Archival history
This roll of drawings was compiled by Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Company Ltd
Level of description
FILE
Repository name
National Railway Museum, York

Associated people and organisations

British Railways Biography Biography
“British Railways” is the expression commonly used to describe the business run by the following legal entities: • Railway Executive (1948 – 1952) • British Transport Commission (1952 – 1963) • British Railways Board (1963 – 1993) Railways were nationalised on 1st January 1948 when the assets of the railways in Great Britain were vested in the British Transport Commission (BTC), a state-owned corporation created by the Transport Act 1947. Between 1948 and 1952 the business of operating the railways was carried on by the Railway Executive, a state-owned corporation, subsidiary to BTC. The Railway Executive was abolished in 1952 and BTC took over direct responsibility for the railways. Before 1948 there was no brand that was identified with the whole of the railways of Great Britain, only the separate brands of the Group companies, Southern, Great Western, London, Midland and Scottish and London and North Eastern, and London Transport. The railways were run under the corporate identity “British Railways” from 1948 by both the Railway Executive and BTC. The public manifestations of this were the words themselves on vehicles and premises, quasi-heraldic devices on locomotives (the so-called “cycling lion” followed by the “ferret and dartboard”) and the lozenge shape adopted (and clearly inspired by London Transport’s very similar logo) for station names. When the nationalised transport industry was reorganised in 1963, BTC was itself abolished and a new statutory corporation created to run the railways. This was British Railways Board (BRB). The name most closely associated with the national railway system had now become part of the name of the corporate entity, (i.e. the legal person, entitled as a matter of law to own property, to enter into contracts, and to sue (or be sued) in the courts and be prosecuted for breaches of the criminal law) which owned the assets and business of the railways of Great Britain. As a result of the corporate rebranding carried out in 1965 the business name, or brand name (as it was now expressly recognised to be), was shortened to “British Rail”. However, BRB retained the full “British Railways” in its title until its eventual abolition under the provisions of the Transport Act 2000.
Associated Electrical Industries (AEI)Biography Biography
Associated Electrical Industries (AEI) was formed in 1928 as a financial holding company for a number of leading electrical manufacturing and trading companies in the United Kingdom. The two major constituent companies were British Thomson-Houston (BTH) based at Rugby, (Mill Road Works) and Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Company Ltd (Metrovicks) situated at Trafford Park, Manchester. However, fierce rivalry existed between the Metrovick and BTH brands resulting in internal competition and duplicated management. This was highlighted during the Second World War in 1939, when Metrovicks and BTH became the first two firms in the world to construct jet engines (independently from each other). Following the Second World War, in 1954, AEI expanded to consist of BTH, Metrovicks, Edison Swan Electric Co, Ferguson Pailin, Hotpoint Electric Appliance Co, International Refrigerator Co, Newton Victor, Sunvic Controls, Premier Electric Heaters, Siemens Bros (1955) and Birlec (1954). In 1959 AEI decided to remove the familiar brands of BTH and Metrovicks and consolidate both as AEI resulting in internal problems and a fall in sales and market value. However, AEI acquired a variety of companies from 1959 to 1967, these included Associated Insulation Products, W. T. Henley’s Telegraph Works Co (1958), and London Electric Wire Co and Smiths (1958), Submarine Cables, Hackbridge Holdings Ltd., The Lancashire Dynamo and Crypto Ltd., W.T. Avery Ltd., Henley and Schreiber. The General Electric Company bought AEI in 1967.

Subject
Railway engineering
Manufacturing and transport engineering
Electric trains