Engineering:Metro Cammell
The Metropolitan Cammell Carriage and Wagon Company (MCCW) was an English manufacturer of railway carriages and wagons, based in Saltley and subsequently Washwood Heath in Birmingham. Bought by GEC Alstom in May 1989, the company was closed in 2005.
The company has made trains for railways in the UK and overseas, including the Mass Transit Railway of Hong Kong, Kowloon-Canton Railway (now East Rail Line), the Channel Tunnel, the Tyne and Wear Metro and locomotives for Malaysia's Keretapi Tanah Melayu. Diesel and electric locomotives were manufactured for South African Railways, Nyasaland Railways, Malawi, Nigeria, Trans-Zambezi Railway and Pakistan; DMUs for Jamaica Railway Corporation; and DMUs for National Railways of Mexico. The vast majority of London Underground rolling stock manufactured in mid 20th century was produced by the company. It also designed and built the Blue Pullman for British Railways.
History
Metropolitan Railway Carriage and Wagon Company Ltd
The company was formed in 1863 as the Metropolitan Railway Carriage and Wagon Company Ltd (successors to Messrs. Joseph Wright and Sons) of London. Joseph Wright built coaches for the London and Southampton Railway in 1837 and the London and Birmingham Railway in 1838. In 1845 he moved the carriage works from London to Birmingham, where he purchased 6 acres (2.4 ha) of meadowland in Saltley, adjacent to the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway line.
Metropolitan Amalgamated Railway Carriage and Wagon Company Ltd
In 1902, it merged with four other carriage and wagon builders i.e. Ashbury Railway Carriage and Iron Co Ltd v Riche, Brown, Marshalls and Co. Ltd., Lancaster Railway Carriage and Wagon Co Ltd and Oldbury Railway Carriage and Wagon Co Ltd become Metropolitan Amalgamated Railway Carriage and Wagon Company Ltd.
Metropolitan were contracted as a builder of the new tanks for the British Army during the First World War. They built all 400 of the Mark V tank and 700 improved Mark V* tanks. These were the most developed heavy tank designs to see service in the war.
In 1917, Metropolitan Railway Carriage and Wagon Company and Vickers Limited took joint control of British Westinghouse. In 1919 Vickers bought out the Metropolitan shares and renamed the company Metropolitan-Vickers.
By 1926, they had changed their name again to Metropolitan Carriage, Wagon and Finance Company Ltd.
In 1929, the railway rolling stock business of Cammell Laird and Company was merged as Metropolitan-Cammell Carriage and Wagon Company Ltd, the resulting company being part owned by Vickers and the Cammell Laird group.
MCCW also built bus bodies. In 1932, Metro Cammell Weymann was formed by the MCCW's bus bodybuilding business and Weymann Motor Bodies.
In the Second World War, Metro built tanks again, including the Valentine tank and Light Tank Mk VIII.
Saltley works was closed in 1962 and group administration concentrated at Washwood Heath in 1967.
Closure by Alstom
In May 1989 the railway business was sold to GEC Alsthom (now Alstom) Group. The last trains to be built at the Washwood Heath plant before its closure in 2005 were the Class 390 "Pendolino" tilting trains for the West Coast Main Line modernisation.
Products
Heavy rail
- Southern Railway "Brighton Belle" EMU
- Southern Railway "Crystal Palace" EMU
- Southern Railway "Coulsdon North & Sutton stock" EMU
- LNER Tyneside electric units
- LNER Shenfield line electric units (driving motors and intermediate trailers only)
- LNER Glossop line electric units (driving motors and intermediate trailers only)
- The Blue Pullman
- British Rail Class 101 "Heritage" diesel multiple unit
- British Rail Class 151 diesel multiple unit
- British Rail Class 156 "Super Sprinter" diesel multiple unit
- British Rail Class 175 "Coradia" diesel multiple unit
- British Rail Class 180 "Coradia" diesel multiple unit
- British Rail Class 334 "Juniper" electric multiple unit
- British Rail Class 373 "TGV" electric multiple unit
- British Rail Class 390 "Pendolino" electric multiple unit
- British Rail Class 458 "Juniper" electric multiple unit
- British Rail Class 460 "Juniper" electric multiple unit
- British Rail Class 465/2 "Networker" electric multiple unit[2]
- British Rail Class 466 "Networker" electric multiple unit[3]
- British Rail Class 483 electric multiple unit (Originally constructed as London Underground 1938 Stock)
- British Rail Class 503 electric multiple unit
- British Rail Mark 4 coaching stock
- Arlanda Express (X3) electric multiple unit
- Via Rail Renaissance Fleet
Rapid transit
London Underground
- London Underground Standard Stock (Bakerloo, Central, Piccadilly, Northern lines)
- London Underground 1935 Stock (Central line)
- London Underground 1938 Stock (Northern, Bakerloo, Piccadilly, East London and Central lines)
- London Underground R49 & R59 Stock (District line)[4]
- London Underground 1959 Stock (Piccadilly line, then Bakerloo and Northern line)
- London Underground 1962 Stock (Central line)
- London Underground 1967 Stock (Victoria line)
- London Underground C69 and C77 Stock (Circle, District and Hammersmith & City Lines)
- London Underground 1972 Stock (Bakerloo line)
- London Underground 1973 Stock (Piccadilly line)
- London Underground D78 Stock (District line)
- London Underground 1983 Stock (Jubilee line)
- London Underground 1986 Stock (Central line)
- London Underground 1995 Stock (Northern line)[5]
- London Underground 1996 Stock (Jubilee line)[5]
- London Underground battery-electric locomotives
Other systems
- Glasgow Subway rolling stock (Glasgow Subway, Scotland)
- Tyne and Wear Metro rolling stock (Tyne and Wear Metro, England)
- MTR Metro Cammell EMU (AC) (East Rail Line, Hong Kong – formerly operated by Kowloon-Canton Railway, leased to MTR post-merger)
- MTR Metro Cammell EMU (DC) (Kwun Tong Line, Tsuen Wan Line, Island Line, Tseung Kwan O Line, Disneyland Resort Line, Hong Kong – operated by MTR)
- Birmingham Maglev (Birmingham International Airport – 3 carriages built, in service from 1984–1995)
Bid for (but lost the contract to another company)
- C151 EMU (Mass Rapid Transit, Singapore – lost the contract to Kawasaki Heavy Industries in 1984)
- P86 and P89 stock (Docklands Light Railway, London – lost the contract to Linke-Hofmann-Busch in 1984)[6]
References
- ↑ Pullen 2007, p. 136
- ↑ Pritchard, Fox & Hall 2009, p. 340
- ↑ Pritchard, Fox & Hall 2009, p. 341
- ↑ Connor 1983, p. [page needed]
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Hardy 2002, p. 29
- ↑ David Millin. "A Brief History of the Metropolitan Railway Carriage and Wagon Company Ltd 1845–1945". http://metcam.co.uk.nstempintl.com/history.htm#up2date. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
Bibliography
- Pullen, Richard (2007). The Landships of Lincoln (2nd ed.). Tucann. ISBN 978-1-873257-79-1.
- Pritchard, Robert; Fox, Peter; Hall, Peter (2009). British Railways Locomotives & Coaching Stock 2009. Sheffield: Platform 5 Publishing. ISBN 1-902336-70-4.
- Hardy, Brian (2002) [1976]. London Underground Rolling Stock (15th ed.). Harrow Weald: Capital Transport. ISBN 1-85414-263-1.
- Connor, Piers (1983). The 'R' Stock Story. Hemel Hempstead: London Underground Railway Society. ISBN 0-9508793-0-4.
External links
- MCW archives at the Historical Model Railway Society, at Butterley in Derbyshire
- Metro-Cammell website
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