Adlib Internet Server 5

Title
Mechanical details
Reference
GEC/2/2/2/202
Production date
1956 - 1964

Creator

English Electric Company Limited Biography Biography
The English Electric Company was formed on 14th December 1918 and over the following year acquired Dick, Kerr & Company of Preston, Willans & Robinson of Rugby, the Phoenix Dynamo Manufacturing Company of Bradford, and Coventry Ordnance Works. After the First World War the various German owned Siemens works were distributed to different UK companies and in November 1919 English Electric acquired the Siemens Brothers Dynamo Works at Stafford, which became the company headquarters in 1931. Coventry Ordnance, primary output naval guns, did not feature in the gradual product rationalisation which took place between the First World and Second world Wars. Willans & Robinson’s Rugby works specialised in prime movers, steam, hydro and internal combustion, and their Stafford works on power station and distribution electrics, including transformers and large electric machines for applications such as mining and steel works. Dick Kerr & Company continued building equipment and vehicles for bus, tram and railway applications with the Phoenix Dynamo Manufacturing Company concentrating on medium and small electrical machines. Involvement with aircraft continued a small scale. By 1929 the company was in financial trouble and an American syndicate fronted by Lazard Bros. put in new capital. In 1930 Westinghouse of Pittsburgh entered into an agreement with the company for the exchange of technical information relating to steam turbines and electrical apparatus. This cooperation continued into the 1950s. 1930 saw the closure of Preston West works and the transfer of traction electrical design and manufacture to the Phoenix Dynamo Manufacturing works. The Westinghouse influence included top management changes with Sir H Mensforth becoming chairman and George Nelson managing director. Both had been with British Westinghouse at Trafford Park. The early 1930s saw a remarkable improvement in the company’s finances and domestic appliance manufacture was started at Bradford and Stafford. In 1936 they began production of diesel locomotives at Preston and were later involved in the production of the Deltic locomotive for British Rail, presaging the end of steam traction in the UK. Extensive shadow factory building for war production commenced in the late 1930’s, including at Preston East works and Salmesbury for aircraft production and at East Lancashire Road, Liverpool for D. Napier aero engines. A large variety of military equipment built during the war included thousands of Cromwell tanks from Stafford and over 3000 Handley Page Hampden and Halifax bombers from Preston and Salmesbury. After the war manufacture of smaller products from Bradford and Stafford moved to the large Liverpool works. This included electrical distribution transformers, switchgear, fuse gear, fractional horsepower motors and domestic appliances. Napier’s continued engine manufacture with the development of the ’Deltic’ diesel engine, mainly for marine applications. The nearby Netherton works took over the manufacture of large hydro-electric turbines and generators from Willans and Stafford. In 1942 English Electric acquired D. Napier & Son Ltd and Marconi in 1946. The company went on to extend their railway interests with the acquisition of the Vulcan Foundry and Robert Stephenson and Hawthorn Ltd in 1955. The company tried to take over The General Electric Company (GEC) in 1960 but failed. Traction manufacture, but not the offices, moved back to Preston East works and ‘K’, ‘RK’ and ‘V’ engine design and manufacture moved from Willans to Preston West works which was now also used for locomotive building. Kidsgrove works in Stafford made industrial controls and for a while was a major player in the UK computer industry, merging with Leo Computers and then into ICL. Train performance calculations were an early user of the mid-fifties ‘Deuce’ computer. Preston also became a major player in the aircraft industry taking over the wartime RAF/USAF base at Warton aerodrome - major design and manufacture contracts included Canberra bombers and Lightning fighters. Rationalisation in the 1960s resulted in English Electric Aviation becoming 40% of the new British Aircraft Corporation. In 1961 English Electric took over Dorman Diesels Ltd which in turn had acquired W. G. Bagnall Ltd. In 1966 English Electric Diesels merged with Ruston and Hornsby which already included Paxmans. This company eventually became GEC Diesels. Elliott Automation was acquired in 1967. The following year GEC took over English Electric, ending its independent existence.

Scope and Content
The roll contains c 30 waxed linen and ozalid drawings by British Railways Carriage & Wagon Drawing Offices, Eastleigh and Doncaster; British Railways Locomotive Drawing Offices, Derby, Ashford, Swindon, and Brighton of mechanical details and wiring diagrams. Drawing numbers SC/ES; SC/DN; SL/DE; RWS 111; SC/DE; SC/SW. Mixed steam, diesel and electric stock.
Extent
1 roll
Archival history
This roll of drawings was compiled by the English Electric Company Limited
Level of description
FILE
Repository name
National Railway Museum, York

Associated people and organisations

Phoenix Works, Bradford Biography Biography
The Phoenix Works in Bradford were owned Phoenix Dynamo Manufacturing Company of Hubert Street, Leeds Road in 1895 manufacturing arc lamps and electrical instruments. By 1900 the company works were manufacturing small motors and dynamos for driving machinery and providing lighting specifically for the textile industry. Large motors, turbines, turbo-generators etc. were manufactured for orders from the Admiralty and War Office. During the First World War, the works produced millions of shells, a large quantity of machine tools, sea planes and flying boats. In 1918 these works became the English Electric center for small to medium sized industrial AC and DC motors and generators including fractional horsepower machines and also eventually a specialised unit manufacturing generators and motors for aircraft applications. In 1930, the Dick, Kerr West Works at Preston closed and Traction electrical design and manufacture transferred to Bradford. Some key staff left and joined Crompton Parkinson. Important traction work included motors and generators for early diesel electric applications and continued manufacture of Metrovick designed motors for the Southern Railway. After the Second World War, most of the traction manufacturing transferred to the Preston East works factory but the design and commercial offices remained at Bradford until 1967. Some traction and associated military manufacturing work continued including conventional submarine control gear and pulse generators for mine sweepers. The Aircraft Equipment Division merged with Lucas Aerospace and left Bradford in the 1970’s and industrial machine manufacture ceased in the 90’s with complete closure in 1999. A B&Q store occupies the former Traction part of the site. An office block built in the 1950’s is all that remains of the factory.
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.
British Rail: Southern Region Biography Biography
Railways in Britain were nationalised under the terms of the Transport Act 1947 which came into effect on 1 January 1948. The Act created the British Transport Commission and the Railway Executive. The Act vested the business and assets of the then existing railway companies in the British Transport Commission. The Railway Executive, a corporate body subordinate to the British Transport Commission, was created to manage and operate the railways. It divided them into six geographical regions, largely based on the areas served by the pre-nationalisation railway companies, one of which was Southern Region. It comprised the railway operations in England and Wales of the former Southern Railway Company. Although several lines previously belonging to former railway companies were transferred to it, notably sections of the former Great Western Railway lines to Weymouth, the Midland & South West Junction between Grafton and Burbage, the Didcot Newbury & Southampton between Newbury and Windsor, and the Reading – Basingstoke and Westbury – Salisbury lines, in an attempt to remove “penetrating lines”, Southern Region kept the line from Exeter to Barnstaple and Ilfracombe, which ran through Western Region territory. This line was transferred to Western Region in 1963. Some of its commuter services and lines were transferred to London Underground. Although several branch lines closed during its existence, Southern Region, with its heavy-used passenger services, did not experience closures on the scale of other regions. Southern Region served south London, southern England and the south coast as far west as Exeter. There were three aspects to its services: those in the London commuter areas of Kent, Sussex and Surrey, its long-distance services to the West Country from Waterloo station and its international service by rail ferry jointly with SNCF (French state railways). Much of the commuter network had been electrified by Southern Region’s predecessor companies on the third-rail 660 volt direct current system. Although British Railways’ policy was to electrify on the overhead 25000 volt alternating current system, Southern Region extended its third-rail electrification in the 1960s and 1970s. Between 1948 and 1953 the regional manager was responsible to the Railway Executive for day to day operations in his region. After the Railway Executive was abolished in 1953, he reported to the British Transport Commission. In 1963, the British Transport Commission itself was abolished and replaced by British Railways Board. Between 1963 and 1968 Southern Region was a statutory board in accordance with the provisions of the Transport Act 1962, subordinate to and reporting to British Railways Board. It ceased to be a statutory board in 1968, following reorganisation of the railways’ business along functional lines. The name survived until 1992 when the railways were privatised.
British Railways Board Biography Biography
The British Railways Board was an independent statutory corporation responsible for running the British railway network from 1963. It was established by the Transport Act 1962, which abolished the British Transport Commission and divided its undertakings between five newly-created bodies: the British Railways Board, the British Waterways Board, the British Transport Docks Board, the London Transport Board, and a Transport Holding Company. The British Railways Board was responsible for running the railway network, as well as managing government-owned railway hotels. Members of the British Railways Board were also appointed by the Minister for Transport. The first Chair of the British Railways Board was Dr Richard Beeching. The British Railways Board operated through regional boards, which were responsible for regional sections of the railway network. These regions were Southern, Western, London Midland, London and North Eastern, Eastern, and Scottish. Members of these regional boards were appointed by the British Railways Board, in consultation with the Minister for Transport. The British Railways Board also operated a series of committees to manage every aspect of railway control, including committees for finance, technical, works and property. These committees were frequently reorganised throughout the life of the British Railways Board, under both different Chairs of the Board and different governments. Several changes occurred during the 1960s. The Board had two new Chairs; Stanley Raymond, who replaced Richard Beeching in 1965, and his successor Henry Johnson, who became Chair in 1967. In 1968, the Transport Act transferred the control of the Sundries and Freightliner divisions from the British Railways Board to National Carriers Ltd and Freightliners Ltd. The Board retained a forty-nine per cent stake in Freightliners Ltd. During the 1970s, the British Railways Board created several subsidiary companies which were to manage some of its undertakings. These included British Transport Hotels Ltd, British Rail Engineering Ltd, and British Rail Hovercraft Ltd. Many of these subsidiary companies were sold under the Conservative governments of the 1980s. There were also two new Chairs during this time. Richard Marsh replaced Henry Johnson in 1971, and Peter Parker became chair in 1976. The privatisation of the British rail network during the 1990s radically changed the role of the British Railways Board. The Transport Act 1993 established Railtrack, a publicly-owned company. The Act transferred the ownership of track and railway infrastructure from the British Railways Board to Railtrack, in addition to the control of signals. Railtrack also replaced the British Railways Board as the body responsible for track investment and maintenance. The British Railways Board remained in existence after these changes, but only performed residual functions relating to pensions, liabilities, and non-operational railway land. The Board also continued to operate the British Transport Police service. The British Railways Board was abolished by the Transport Act 2000, which transferred the remaining functions of the Board to the newly-created Strategic Rail Authority.

Subject
Railway engineering
Manufacturing and transport engineering
Industry
Exports
Electrical equipment
electrical equipment manufacturer