Fábricas de locomotoras - Gran Bretaña: libros

A History of British Rail Engineering Limited

En 1970, el British Railways Board creó la filial British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL) para diseñar, construir y mantener el material rodante. Con ello comenzó una nueva etapa tecnológica en el ferrocarril. Este libro narra la historia de BREL desde su fundación hasta su venta en 1992 durante la polémica privatización de los ferrocarriles británicos.

La obra analiza el diseño de trenes modernos e icónicos, la cooperación con subcontratistas y fabricantes privados, y la relación a menudo difícil con el British Railways Board. También se estudia cómo BREL afrontó el problema del material e infraestructuras obsoletos heredados.

Menos conocido, pero significativo, fue el éxito de BREL como exportador internacional de trenes británicos.
En su mejor momento, BREL fue líder en tecnología ferroviaria. Su colaboración con la división de investigación de British Rail produjo no solo trenes famosos, sino también avances técnicos que aún forman parte del sistema ferroviario británico.

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Hunslet Locomotives Preserved

A 64 page softback illustrated album showcasing a selection of the products of this famous Leeds locomotive builder.

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British Diesel and Electric Locomotives Abroad - A Second Life Overseas

This book was originally envisaged as a purely photographic overview of those British main-line diesel and electric locomotives which managed to find further useful employment across Europe after completion of their careers in the United Kingdom.
However, such was the quantity of information collected regarding these exported locomotives and their operational deployment over the past twenty years that the scope of the book was expanded to incorporate both the factual and the pictorial into a detailed history of these locomotives.
The geographical use of the locomotives is surprisingly extensive including France, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Kosovo, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia in the twenty years since 1998.

A significant amount of exclusive factual information and over 200 previously unpublished photographs combine to provide a comprehensive insight into the British locomotives now finding a second life overseas, including coverage of Class 37, 56 and 58 locomotives on high-speed line construction work in France, Class 37 mishaps in Spain, Class 86s on their day of arrival in Bulgaria, and various types of a.c. electric locomotives in their new "natural habitats" across Eastern Europe.

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English Electric Diesel Locomotives

English Electric construyó su primera locomotora diésel en 1936 y, antes de su cierre en 1968, fabricó miles de locomotoras diésel y eléctricas que prestaron servicio en todo el mundo. Fue una de las empresas elegidas por British Rail para construir prototipos de locomotoras diésel para el Plan de Modernización de 1955, que contemplaba la sustitución de la tracción a vapor por locomotoras diésel y eléctricas.
Las locomotoras se construyeron para adaptarse a una amplia variedad de tareas, y algunas siguen en servicio diario cincuenta años después.

Este libro, que contiene fotografías en color en su mayoría inéditas de la colección de George Woods, las muestra en servicio por todo el sistema de British Rail desde 1966 hasta 2019, operando una amplia variedad de trenes, tanto de pasajeros como de mercancías, con la gran variedad de libreas que lucieron tanto durante su servicio en British Rail como en años posteriores bajo propiedad privada.

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Robinson Eight-coupled Locomotives

Commencing in 1902 with three 0-8-0 locomotives for the Great Central Railway, J G Robinson's robust freight locomotive fleet expanded rapidly, a pivotal component of General Manager Sam Fay's initiative to rectify the company's financial struggles. Upon the Grouping, the GCR transferred 241 well-crafted, potent, and efficient eight-coupled locomotives to the newly established London & North Eastern Railway.
Simultaneously, the Robinson 2-8-0 became the standard type for the Railway Operating Division of the Royal Engineers in 1917. Over 500 were manufactured, with 300 deployed to support British forces in France during World War I.

Post-war, these locomotives experienced diverse destinies, including short-term loans to nine railway companies, sales to UK and international operators, notably in China and Australia. In 1941, 92 were requisitioned for military service in the Middle East, with an additional five sent to Egypt in 1952.

This comprehensive study explores the intricate history of the Robinson locomotive family, which served on four continents from 1902 to the early 1970s. Encompassing notable types such as the 2-8-0s, original 0-8-0s, unique 0-8-4Ts, 2-8-2T derivatives, and the 'might-have-been' Garratt, the work details modifications and rebuildings undertaken by Gresley and Thompson.

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Beyer, Peacock & Company

The world-famous Beyer, Peacock works of Gorton, Manchester, is remembered principally for its remarkable Beyer-Garratt articulated locomotives, which ran in forty-eight countries. The firm would also turn out steam lorries and steam tram engines.

Among the company's iconic domestic designs were the 4-4-0T condensing engines for the pre-electrified Metropolitan Railway in London, the narrow-gauge 2-4-0 tank engine that is synonymous with the Isle of Man and the stylish and powerful diesel-hydraulic Hymeks for British Railways' Western Region.

Beyer, Peacock exported many of its 8,000 steam, diesel and electric locomotives all over the world and this book illustrates a variety of these throughout the company's 112-year existence, beginning in 1854.

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Locomotive Builders of Leeds : E.B. Wilson and Manning Wardle

The history of commercial railway locomotive manufacture in the Leeds is a fascinating story, covering a period of nearly two centuries, which commenced during the Napoleonic period and only came to an end in 1995.
The two companies that most epitomised the formative years and period of consolidation of this this part of Britains industrial history were E.B. Wilson & Co (1846-59) and Manning Wardle & Co (1858-1927).

The former manufacturer was well known for the Jenny Lind locomotives and their derivative designs used on several British main lines during the mid-nineteenth century. They proved to have a profound influence upon the work of other manufacturers for main line needs.
The latter company was a builder of contractors and industrial locomotives, used worldwide, whose mainstream designs were likewise highly influential upon the work of neighbouring manufacturers, constituting a sphere of locomotive production that lasted from before the Crimean War until after the end of the Second World War.

In this new work, Mark Smithers draws upon a variety of sources, both documentary and illustrative, to arrive at an up-to date appraisal of the achievements of these companies during their respective periods of production, and their legacy to the greater sphere of British railway locomotive development.

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The North British Locomotive Company

La North British Locomotive Company se fundó en 1903 mediante la fusión de tres fabricantes de locomotoras consolidados de Glasgow: Dubs & Co., Sharp Stewart y Neilson Reid.
Cada una de estas empresas gozaba de una excelente reputación por sus productos tanto a nivel nacional como internacional. La fusión que dio origen a NBL creó el mayor fabricante de locomotoras del Imperio Británico, aprovechando el renombre mundial de sus predecesores y exportando sus productos a todo el mundo, a lugares tan diversos como Palestina, Nueva Zelanda, Sudáfrica y Canadá.
Su producción de locomotoras era tan variada como sus clientes, con locomotoras de vapor de todos los anchos de vía, desde diminutas máquinas tanque hasta enormes Beyer-Garratt.

Adaptándose a los nuevos tiempos, North British entró en el mercado de la tracción diésel y eléctrica después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, pero su falta de éxito en este campo acabó por llevar a la empresa a la quiebra.

En este libro, Colin Alexander y Alon Siton presentan una exploración profusamente ilustrada de una de las compañías de locomotoras más importantes de Gran Bretaña, que incluye los productos de sus tres empresas constituyentes victorianas, fotografías oficiales de fábrica, imágenes de locomotoras en servicio y algunas de las muchas locomotoras Dubs, Sharp Stewart, Neilson y North British que se conservan en ferrocarriles históricos y museos de todo el mundo.

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The Stephenson Railway Legacy

George Stephenson was born in 1781, the son of a Northumberland colliery engineman. Within a hundred years of his birth his railway legacy had opened up vast tracts of the planet, many of those routes engineered by George himself or his son Robert.

Their locomotive factory at Newcastle upon Tyne soon outgrew its premises and a much larger site was founded at Darlington.

The father and son are well known for their pioneering work on the Stockton & Darlington and Liverpool & Manchester railways, but they engineered more than locomotives. Robert is responsible for some of the world's most innovative and impressive bridges and the company the Stephensons founded continued (as Robert Stephenson Hawthorn) to build locomotives for a burgeoning worldwide market for well over a century.
This book will tell its story and show its global influence.

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The Vulcan Foundry - 150 Years of Engineering

Founded by Charles Tayleur in 1830 as a factory to produce locomotives for the Liverpool & Manchester Railway, the Vulcan Foundry at Newton-le-Willows grew rapidly both in reputation and capacity.
From 1832, Tayleur was partnered by the great Robert Stephenson, and over the next 138 years the factory would go on to manufacture steam, diesel, gas-turbine and electric locomotives for railways all over the world. The factory would also turn its hand to producing vital armaments during wartime.

Vulcan's products could be seen all over the British Empire and beyond, in locations as diverse as Argentina, Borneo and Egypt. By the 1950s the company had become English Electric, and manufacture of locomotives ceased in 1970.
Iconic Vulcan Foundry locomotives for Great Britain include the legendary Deltics, Black Fives for the LMSR, and AL6 electrics for the West Coast Main Line.

This book illustrates Vulcan's role in equipping the world's railways, with its astonishingly varied output from narrow gauge to broad gauge, and from humble shunters to express passenger thoroughbreds.

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George and Robert Stephenson - The Railway Revolution

They carried Britain into the modern age with dramatic speed, transforming the pace and style of everyday life. We owe them to two men who, father and son, can lay claim to be the most important engineers of their time, George and Robert Stephenson.

In this excellent biography L. T. C. Rolt, author of Brunel and Thomas Telford, assesses their life and their work.

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Men of Steam - Britain's Locomotive Engineers

In recent years the importance of the personal element in locomotive design and operation has increasingly come to be seen as very important. No author any longer attempts to compile articles which state that: Mr X built a class of 6' 4-4-0s... because, in some cases, Wainwright comes immediately to mind, he had little part in their design. Even the great Stanier relied on a team of engineers and draughtsman who transformed his outline ideas into detailed designs.

This book which was originally conceived as a series of articles for Back Track is intended to be brief but tight profiles of some of Britain's loco engineers, some very well known, some not, examining their work in relation to the points made earlier. Some reassessments, that of Gresley for example will be controversial.

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A Century of Locomotive Building - By Robert Stephenson & Co 1823-1923

Este breve análisis de la compañía de locomotoras Robert Stephenson & Co. desde 1823 hasta 1923, realizado por JG Warren, ofrece una historia única de la industria ferroviaria tal como se llegó a construir.
Incluye detalles como cartas, diagramas, fotos, imágenes y tablas para ofrecer una comprensión completa de ese siglo de progreso.

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British Steam Locomotive Builders

Desde principios del siglo XIX y durante casi 170 años, las locomotoras de vapor se construyeron en Gran Bretaña e Irlanda por diversas empresas, tanto grandes como pequeñas.
James Lowe dedicó muchos años a recopilar un considerable archivo de material sobre la historia de la industria de la construcción de locomotoras, desde sus inicios en los albores del ferrocarril hasta el fin de la construcción de locomotoras de vapor en la década de 1960.

"British Steam Locomotive Builders" se publicó por primera vez en 1975 y lleva varios años descatalogado.

Este libro, útil y bien documentado, es imprescindible para cualquier historiador ferroviario e aficionado a las locomotoras. Consta de 704 páginas con referencias a 350 fabricantes, 541 ilustraciones y 47 diagramas.

El material de este libro ha sido cuidadosamente seleccionado para abarcar a todos los principales fabricantes de locomotoras de vapor de las Islas Británicas.

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Stephensons' Rocket and the Rainhill Trials

George and Robert Stephenson's Rocket is arguably the most enduring silhouette in railway history. But why was Rocket that special? And why does the surviving locomotive look so unlike the striking yellow image that we are familiar with from books, postage stamps and the five pound note?

Rocket was built to take part in The Rainhill Trials, the competition to find a locomotive design to pull trains on the world's first passenger line, the Liverpool and Manchester. The trials caught the public's imagination and its victor, Rocket, became a sensation. It quickly became of symbol of technological progress.

The Stephensons' engine set the pattern for future world steam locomotive development for the next 130 years. But would the steam locomotive have developed differently if Rocket had not won the trials?
All these questions while exploring in words and pictures the machine that became the metaphor for what is seen as Britain's greatest gift to the industrial world: the steam locomotive.

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The Yorkshire Engine Co - Sheffield's Locomotive Manufacturer

Drivers leaving the M1 at the Tinsley viaduct can still pass the buildings where the Yorkshire Engine Company constructed and repaired locomotives for a hundred years. Founded in 1865, the company outlived many of its competitors and dispatched its last locomotives in 1965.

Established by a group of local businessmen, technical expertise was provided by Archibald Sturrock, Locomotive Engineer of the Great Northern Railway, and Charles Sacre, Engineer of the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway. As the initial orders from UK and Indian railways fell away, the company was forced to take orders from Russia, where payment was not always forthcoming.
The company became a leading manufacturer of Fairlie locomotives and undertook financially disastrous experiments with the building of marine engines and tramway locomotives. By 1880, in spite of new orders from Indian railways, the business was put into liquidation and a new company formed.

This book gives a history of the financial fortunes and experiments of the company and the men who ran it.

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