Electrification work for Overseas Railways : brochure issued by the Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Co. Ltd., Trafford Park, Manchester, UK : c1930
One of two lavish brochures issued in 1930 by the Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Co. Ltd., one of the giants of the UK's electrical manufacturing industry, to promote their works in regard to railway electrification. One brochure considers the company's work on Overseas railways, the other the equipment supplied for UK railway electrification schemes. Both have rather charming pastel sketches for the cover artwork that is sadly unattributed. This for, overseas railways, shows a mighty locomotive under suitably placed palm trees.
The company had its origins in the British Westinghouse Electrical and Manufacturing Company formed in 1899 as a subsidiary of the American Westinghouse concern. The new works on the Trafford Park industrial estate in Manchester were opened in 1902. In 1917, to separate the company from American control, the concern was jointly purchased by the Birmingham based Metropolitan Railway Carriage and Wagon Company (under the control of Dudley Docker) and Vickers Ltd., the armaments and shipbuilding concern. In 1919 further alterations to the company's structure took place and it became the Metropolitan-Vickers Co. Ltd. In 1928 they merged with rival British Thomson-Houston, another large concern with rival American origins to Westinghouse, and in 1929 they formed part of the new Associated Electrical Industries group. The intention of AEI to rationalise their electrical businesses never really occurred and indeed M-V and BT-H carried on much as if before, competing against each other.
Metropolitan-Vickers had quite a footing in export markets, albeit in countries that could be considered under the British sphere of imterest; this was the result of the large international cartels that usually carved up such business. So, M-V feature in supplying equipment to South African Railways, The Bombay, Baroda & Central Indian Railway, the Great Indian Peninsula Railway in India, and in Australia, the New South Wales Government Railways along with the Victorian Government Railways. The latter were busy electrifying the suburban lines in Sydney and Melbourne respectively.
M-V also supplied several European customers including the Czechoslovakian State Railways, the Netherlands Railways, the Italian State Railways, the 'railways of the USSR', and the Spanish Railways. One surprisingly, at first sight, large group of concerns supplied are in South America, notably in Argentina and Brazil. In the former country the Buenos Aires Western Railway and the Central Argentine Railway appear and in the latter, Oeste de Minas Railway and Paulista Railway are described. In the case of Argentina it is worth recalling the importance of British based financing and control of several of the country's railways and so it is not surprising that British companies were chosen to supply materials. The brochure also mentions work for the Japanese Government Railways and the Thamshavn - Lokken Railway in Norway.
Electrification work for Overseas Railways : brochure issued by the Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Co. Ltd., Trafford Park, Manchester, UK : c1930
One of two lavish brochures issued in 1930 by the Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Co. Ltd., one of the giants of the UK's electrical manufacturing industry, to promote their works in regard to railway electrification. One brochure considers the company's work on Overseas railways, the other the equipment supplied for UK railway electrification schemes. Both have rather charming pastel sketches for the cover artwork that is sadly unattributed. This for, overseas railways, shows a mighty locomotive under suitably placed palm trees.
The company had its origins in the British Westinghouse Electrical and Manufacturing Company formed in 1899 as a subsidiary of the American Westinghouse concern. The new works on the Trafford Park industrial estate in Manchester were opened in 1902. In 1917, to separate the company from American control, the concern was jointly purchased by the Birmingham based Metropolitan Railway Carriage and Wagon Company (under the control of Dudley Docker) and Vickers Ltd., the armaments and shipbuilding concern. In 1919 further alterations to the company's structure took place and it became the Metropolitan-Vickers Co. Ltd. In 1928 they merged with rival British Thomson-Houston, another large concern with rival American origins to Westinghouse, and in 1929 they formed part of the new Associated Electrical Industries group. The intention of AEI to rationalise their electrical businesses never really occurred and indeed M-V and BT-H carried on much as if before, competing against each other.
Metropolitan-Vickers had quite a footing in export markets, albeit in countries that could be considered under the British sphere of imterest; this was the result of the large international cartels that usually carved up such business. So, M-V feature in supplying equipment to South African Railways, The Bombay, Baroda & Central Indian Railway, the Great Indian Peninsula Railway in India, and in Australia, the New South Wales Government Railways along with the Victorian Government Railways. The latter were busy electrifying the suburban lines in Sydney and Melbourne respectively.
M-V also supplied several European customers including the Czechoslovakian State Railways, the Netherlands Railways, the Italian State Railways, the 'railways of the USSR', and the Spanish Railways. One surprisingly, at first sight, large group of concerns supplied are in South America, notably in Argentina and Brazil. In the former country the Buenos Aires Western Railway and the Central Argentine Railway appear and in the latter, Oeste de Minas Railway and Paulista Railway are described. In the case of Argentina it is worth recalling the importance of British based financing and control of several of the country's railways and so it is not surprising that British companies were chosen to supply materials. The brochure also mentions work for the Japanese Government Railways and the Thamshavn - Lokken Railway in Norway.