Title
Aldgate, Millwall & Newham ac motor scheme, South Yorkshire - Sheffield Tramway, Pole changing D.E.M.U. and Victorian Railways project files
Reference
GEC/1/3/6
Production date
1977 - 1984
Creator
- GEC Traction LimitedBiographyBiography
GEC Traction (GECT) was formed in 1972 as part of the GEC Power Engineering Group following earlier amalgamations of the traction divisions of the General Electric Company (GEC), the English Electric Company (EE) and Associated Electrical Industries (AEI). A wholly owned subsidiary company of GEC, the company had offices and works, located at Trafford Park in Manchester, at Strand Road in Preston, and at Attercliffe Common, Sheffield.
The headquarters of GEC Traction was Trafford Park, Manchester (previously the headquarters of English Electric-AEI Traction) with design of rotating machines at Preston and Sheffield, and manufacturing activities for control equipment at Manchester and Preston. GEC Traction designed and manufactured a full range of traction machines and control equipment for electric vehicles, including electric locomotives and multiple unit trains for main-line and mass-transit railway systems (dc up to 3,000 volts, and ac up to 50,000 volts), diesel-electric locomotives and trains, mining and industrial locomotives, tramcars and trolleybuses.
GEC Traction was the leading supplier of traction equipment in the UK and had a wide market around the world, particularly in South Africa, Australasia, Hong Kong, South Korea, South America and Pakistan. In 1979 the Industrial Locomotive Division of the former English Electric which was based at Vulcan Works, Newton-le-Willows was merged into GEC Traction, which later became a separate company, GEC Industrial Locomotives Ltd.
During the late 1980s and 1990s the firm underwent major rationalisation, involving closure of several sites including Attercliffe Common in Sheffield in 1985 and the company’s headquarters at Trafford Park in Manchester in 1998. The company name GEC Traction endured until a merger with the French Alsthom group in 1989, which created GEC Alsthom Traction, which was still a branch of the main company GEC Alsthom.
Scope and Content
The box contains 5 project files for Aldgate, Millwall & Newham ac motor scheme, South Yorkshire - Sheffield Tramway, Pole changing D.E.M.U. and Victorian Railways.
Extent
1 box
Level of description
FILE
Repository name
National Railway Museum, York
Associated people and organisations
- Victorian RailwaysBiographyBiography
In 1883 the Victorian Railways Commissioners Act, 47 Vic., No.767, brought the staff of the Department of Railways, founded in 1856, under the jurisdiction of the Railway Commissioners, which became known as Victorian Railways. This act gave Victorian Railways the authority to construct, manage and maintain the railways of the state.
In 1889 Newport replaced Williamstown as the location of the Victorian Railways workshop, and being the largest in Australia. The Victorian Railways Head Office was located in Spencer Street from 1893, and housed the branch’s design and administrative functions. In 1919, the electrification of the Melbourne suburban system commenced and was completed in 1930. In 1922 the Border Railway Act extended some of Victorian Railways lines into New South Wales. In 1961 a standard gauge line connecting to the New South Wales system was constructed to allow travel between Melbourne and Sydney for the first time.
In 1973 the Railways Amendment Act passed the management to a Victorian Railways Board from the Victorian Railways Commissioners. In 1974 Victorian Railways became VicRail.
- British Steel CorporationBiographyBiography
British Steel Corporation (BSC) was a government-owned corporation established by the Iron and Steel Act of March 22, 1967 incorporating the ownership of 14 major steel companies in the United Kingdom: Colvilles Limited; Consett Iron Company Limited; Dorman, Long & Co., Limited; English Steel Corporation Limited; G.K.N. Steel Company Limited; John Summers & Sons Limited; The Lancashire Steel Corporation Limited; The Park Gate Iron and Steel Company, Limited; Richard Thomas & Baldwins Limited; Round Oak Steel Works Limited; South Durham Steel and Iron Company Limited; The Steel Company of Wales Limited; Stewarts and Lloyds, Limited; and The United Steel Companies Limited. The organisation was converted to a limited company, British Steel PLC, and privatised in 1988. It later merged and is now owned by Corus, a Tata Steel company.
Subject
Conditions governing access
Access is given in accordance with NRM access policy. Data Protection form to be filled by researchers.
