Electrification work for British 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 British Railways, shows what looks like a Southern Railway EMU amidst happy suburbia with a businessman clenching his pipe between his teeth, and trendily dressed ladies no doubt out shopping by 'fast electric'.
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.
The brochure covering works in the UK for British railways in general, rather than the later nationalised concern, also includes a fine folding map showing the electrified railways in the London area upon which M-V equipment is in use. This of course includes the Meropolitan Railway, the Underground Electric Railways of London and the Southern Railway. The latter were big customers of both M-V and English Electric and were in the midst of not only extending the former LSWR third rail system but also convering the former LB&SCR 'overhead' electrics to third rail.
Other concerns covered are the London MIdland & Scottish Railway's Liverpool & Southport lines, the Heysham, Morecambe and Lancaster line and the London Suburban or 'Watford DC' lines. For the London & North Eastern Railway the Tyneside suburban system and the isolated Shildon & Newport appears. Sad truth is that the Southern and Underground aside, the main line companies were at the time hard pressed to fund major electrification schemes. It would take Government grant aid to even tentatively start the process of further 1500v DC overhead electrification (the 'chosen' standard') in the late 1930s and with further wartime delays it would be left to British Railways in the 1950s to even complete the schemes in hand. This was then followed by the shift from 1500v DC to 25kv AC.
The products described range from generating and transformer equipment, cabling and traction equipment from motors to entire locomotives or multiple unit sets. They even mention the fact that some of the units are, of course, equipped with M-V's own 'Cosmos' lamps!
Two independent 'railways' bring up the list; the Mersey Railway, that electrified its under-Mersey tunnel in 1903 and the newly electrified Mumbles Railway that had introduced double deck electric trams in 1928.
Electrification work for British 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 British Railways, shows what looks like a Southern Railway EMU amidst happy suburbia with a businessman clenching his pipe between his teeth, and trendily dressed ladies no doubt out shopping by 'fast electric'.
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.
The brochure covering works in the UK for British railways in general, rather than the later nationalised concern, also includes a fine folding map showing the electrified railways in the London area upon which M-V equipment is in use. This of course includes the Meropolitan Railway, the Underground Electric Railways of London and the Southern Railway. The latter were big customers of both M-V and English Electric and were in the midst of not only extending the former LSWR third rail system but also convering the former LB&SCR 'overhead' electrics to third rail.
Other concerns covered are the London MIdland & Scottish Railway's Liverpool & Southport lines, the Heysham, Morecambe and Lancaster line and the London Suburban or 'Watford DC' lines. For the London & North Eastern Railway the Tyneside suburban system and the isolated Shildon & Newport appears. Sad truth is that the Southern and Underground aside, the main line companies were at the time hard pressed to fund major electrification schemes. It would take Government grant aid to even tentatively start the process of further 1500v DC overhead electrification (the 'chosen' standard') in the late 1930s and with further wartime delays it would be left to British Railways in the 1950s to even complete the schemes in hand. This was then followed by the shift from 1500v DC to 25kv AC.
The products described range from generating and transformer equipment, cabling and traction equipment from motors to entire locomotives or multiple unit sets. They even mention the fact that some of the units are, of course, equipped with M-V's own 'Cosmos' lamps!
Two independent 'railways' bring up the list; the Mersey Railway, that electrified its under-Mersey tunnel in 1903 and the newly electrified Mumbles Railway that had introduced double deck electric trams in 1928.