Railway Locomotive and Rolling Stock Manufacturing

Railways with steam were surely the pinnacle of our manufacturing success. Were they the cause of our downfall?

At the Festival of Britain, visitors could remember the world speed records made by the Flying Scotsman and the Mallard, they saw locomotives being exported to the Middle East and built for London’s underground. Yet, Britain held on to steam railways, years after other countries, until the mid-fifties when clean air Acts demanded change.

British manufacturers and the British Rail Workshops enabled the switch to diesel electric and the iconic InterCity 125. Yet, the Japanese Bullet was showing the way forward.

Privatisation opened the field to foreign competitors which claimed future railway development as their own notwithstanding assembly work located in the UK but owned by Siemens, Alstom and Hitachi.

The image is of the Mallard at Grantham

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Railway Locomotive and Rolling Stock Manufacturing

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