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.

In 1910 the state-owned South African Railways and Harbours (SAR&H) organisation was created, after the four colonies of the Cape, Natal, Transvaal and the Orange Free State were amalgamated into the new Union of South Africa. In 1916, SAR&H took over the activities of the Central South African Railways, the Cape Government Railways and the Natal Government Railways. In 1924 the last privately owned railway line in South Africa was taken over by SAR&H; the New Cape Central Railway between Worcester and Voor Bay. In 1920 electrification of South Africa’s railways was completed, and in 1924 the first electric test train ran between Ladysmith and Chieveley in Natal. In 1950 the first portion of the new Johannesburg station was opened and construction was completed on the huge workshops complex at Koedoespoort. In 1960, diesel locomotives were introduced on a large scale to SAR&H. In 1981, SAR&H changed its name to South African Transport Services (SATS) and took on South Africa’s railway, harbour, road transport, and aviation and pipeline operations.

The Westinghouse Brake & Saxby Signal Company Ltd of London, Chippenham and Kingswood (Bristol) was renamed for simplification the Westinghouse Brake & Signal Co Ltd in 1935. The company were manufacturers of power and mechanical signalling equipment, compressed air and vacuum brakes, rectifiers and rectification apparatus, power operated tub handling plants for the mining industry, brakes for road transport, and pneumatic control equipment. From the 1950s to the 1970s overseas subsidiaries were created in Australia, South Africa and Australasia. In 1979 the Westinghouse Group was acquired by the Hawker Siddeley group as a wholly owned subsidiary.

The Vulcan Foundry was originally opened in 1830 at Newton-le-Willows, as Charles Tayleur and Company. It initially produced girders for bridges, switches and crossings, and other ironwork following the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Robert Stephenson became a partner in 1832, and in the same year, the first locomotives ‘Tayleur’ and ‘Stephenson’ were delivered to the North Union Railway. By 1840 locomotives had been delivered to five European countries and to North America. The company became The Vulcan Foundry Company in 1847 and acquired limited liability in 1864. From the beginning of 1898, the name changed again to The Vulcan Foundry Limited, dropping the word 'company.' Vulcan locomotives were exported all over the world, with the first locomotives for Russia and Japan supplied in 1837 and 1871 respectively and a long association with India began in 1852. First World War production included shells, gun mountings and mine sweeping equipment. The first non-steam locomotive, an electric, was produced for India in 1929. The first diesel locomotive design commenced in 1932/33 and an agreement was reached with A/S Frichs in Denmark. The English Electric 6K engine was used from this time. The “Waltzing Matilda” tank was developed in 1938 and produced in large numbers and over five hundred ‘Austerity’ steam locomotives were produced for the War Department. Other wartime production included gun mountings and torpedo parts. In 1944 Vulcan acquired the locomotive business, Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns Ltd, based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. In 1946 the company began working with the English Electric Company producing diesel and electric locomotives and became part of the English Electric Group in 1955. All locomotive building from Preston was transferred to Vulcan Foundry and Robert Stephenson’s in Darlington. Under the new ownership, the works produced many locomotives for both domestic and foreign railways, notably the Deltic. The mid-sixties saw the ‘RK’/’V’ engine production at Preston moved to Vulcan and Ruston & Hornsby Ltd merged with English Electric Diesels in 1966. After the General Electric Company plc (GEC) takeover in 1968 the Ruston name was used for some time inside what became GEC Diesels Ltd in 1975. Engine production and development continued for locomotive, industrial and marine applications until after the GEC-Alsthom merger in 1989. The company took over Mirlees Engines, Stockport in 1997 and was renamed Alstom Engines Ltd.

Richard Bevan is a railway engineering consultant born on 13 March 1953 at Leigh, Lancashire. He was educated at Redruth Grammar School and then studied Physics with Electronics at Manchester University. After graduating in 1974 he worked at UMIST in the Control System Centre designing digital and analogue models for use in teaching post-graduate students the principles of advanced control techniques. In 1978 he moved to GEC Traction at Trafford Park to initiate the design of microprocessor electronic systems. The first application of a microprocessor by GEC was used to replace the conventional relay and contactor logic on two Class 6E1 locomotives for South African Railways (SAR). With the success of these locomotives, he directed a team of engineers in the design of a standard range of microprocessor control electronics for both ac and dc traction systems. These included the Class 90 and 91 locomotives and Class 319 multiple units for British rail, and the Class 10E1 locomotives for SAR. As a consequence of these contracts, GEC Traction was conferred with the Queen's Award for Technological Achievement in the field of electronic railway propulsion equipment in 1989. After the merger of GEC and Alsthom to form GEC Alsthom, he became Assistant Chief Engineer for the Systems Engineering Department in 1990 and embarked on the design of a train control and monitoring system (TCMS) for the 4000 series metro trains for Seoul. In 1995, after becoming the Design Cell Manager for the electronics production area in Trafford Park, he moved to Preston to join the standardisation team to aid production of the latest ac drive traction systems being supplied from the UK. In 1997 he moved into the tender engineering section, being responsible initially for the preliminary design on bidding projects in the USA and then the Far East. This enabled the first of many metro vehicle contracts for the French-Anglo company in China. Another notable success was the design for Melbourne Metro in Australia, which has resulted in many repeat orders. With a further change of company name to Alstom and the moving of the metro business to Belgium, Richard moved to Interfleet Technology in Derby as a Principal Engineer, and is currently working on various projects in the UK and abroad, including some for Alstom. He is still regularly contacted for advice relating to past projects at Alstom.

Construction commenced from Water Street, Freetown in 1896 of the Sierra Leone Government Railway (SLR) with the first section of railway to Wellington, seven miles away opening in March 1897. Later line openings included Waterloo in April 1898; Songo in 1899; Rotifunk in 1900; Bo in 1903 and Baiima in 1905. In 1907 the final destination of Pendembu was reached at 227 from Water Street and there the main line ended. A branch was built between 1914 and 1916 from Bauya Junction to Makeni and Kamabai with a length of 104 miles bring the total route mileage to 331 miles. A further line of 5 ½ miles was built in 1903 known as the Mountain Railway, connected by rail from the docks and Water Street station, this climbed from a station at Cotton tree, Freetown to Hill Station, at 748 feet above sea level. This line allowed people to live in the more rarefied air above Freetown, however the line wass closed in 1929 as surveys in the late 1920s had already shown it to be losing money against road competition. The railways assumed increased importance during the Second World War moving food and resources from inland to the coast and supporting fighting in North Africa with fighter aircraft transported in kit form to Pendembu where they were assembled and flown to Egypt. In the 1950s the equipment of the railway was renewed with the introduction of diesel locomotives and new freight wagons. Increased road traffic and changes in government policy in the 1960s saw a decline in railway traffic, so the railway diversified by opening a new branch to serve a bauxite mine and converting to a wider gauge to fit in with much of the rest of Africa. In 1968 the Makeni branch closed followed by the section between Kenema and Pendembu in 1971 and the line cut back to Bo in 1973. The last official passenger train ran on the line on 17th November 1974. Trains continued to run on a sporadic basis into mid-1975 but the lifting of the track and its sale to a Lebanese scrap merchant in August 1975 put an end to this.

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.