Phoenix Works, BradfordBiographyBiographyThe 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.
Buenos Aires & Pacific Railway Co LtdBiographyBiographyBuenos Aires and Pacific Railway Co. Ltd. (BAPRO) was a British-owned, broad gauge (5’ 6”), private limited company, serving the Cordoba, San Luis and Sante Fe provinces of Argentina. It was considered one of the ‘Big Four’ British-owned, broad gauge railway companies in Argentina, alongside Buenos Aires Western Railway, Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway and Central Argentine Railways. In 1872 John E. Clark secured a concession made by the Argentine government to construct a railway line from Buenos Aires to Chile. In 1882, Buenos Aires and Pacific Railway Co. registered as a joint-stock company in London.
On October 6th 1886 a line between Mercedes in the Buenos Aires province, and Villa Mercedes in the San Luis province was opened, and the company was granted permission to build independent access to Buenos Aires. The construction of the Mercedes - Palermo line, which opened on 20th March 1888, created an independent line to Palermo on the outskirts of Buenos Aires at a cost of £604,800. In 1898, the company took over the British-owned company, Villa Maria and Rufino Railway. In 1899, John Wynford Philips became the chairman of Buenos Aires and Pacific, developing the company into a regional amalgamation of companies and lines reaching from Buenos Aires to the Andes, and extending from San Juan to Bahia Blanca. Philips held this post until 1934. During this time, many of the company's major stations were built to manage the growing population of Buenos Aires, including La Paternal (1887), Villa Devoto (1888), Bella Vista (1891), San Miguel (1896), Santos Lugares (1906), Villa del Parque and Sanez Pena (1907), El Palomar (1908).
In 1900, over £6.3 million was invested in the company, which acquired part of a building in Florida Street in central Buenos Aires in 1908, for offices. In 1909 the Sanez Pena - Villa Luro line opened and construction began on Palermo station. The company continued to function until 1948, when President Juan Peron nationalised the Argentine Railway, creating six state owned railway networks. Buenos Aires and Pacific Railway Co. was incorporated into the Ferrocarril General San Martin network.