- Metro Cammell
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Metro-Cammell logo
The Metropolitan Cammell Carriage and Wagon Company (MCCW) was a Birmingham, England based manufacturer of railway carriages and wagons, based in Saltley and subsequently Washwood Heath.
It 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 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 EMUs for National Railways of Mexico. The vast majority of the current and past London Underground rolling stock in mid 20th century was made by the company. It also designed and built the Blue Pullman for British Railways.
Contents
History
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 (24,000 m2) of meadowland in Saltley, adjacent to the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway line.
In 1902, they merged with four other carriage and wagon builders to become Metropolitan Amalgamated Railway Carriage and Wagon Company Ltd. By 1926, they had changed their name again to Metropolitan Carriage, Wagon and Finance 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 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.
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.
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
British Rail Class 156 "Super Sprinter" diesel multiple unit
Glasgow Subway metro train
East Rail Line Metro Cammell EMU (as refurbished 1996-1999)Rolling stock manufactured by the company is listed below:
- Heavy rail rolling stock
- 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[1]
- British Rail Class 466 "Networker" electric multiple unit[2]
- British Rail Class 503 electric multiple unit
- British Rail Mark 4 coaching stock
- Arlanda Express(X3 (train)) electric multiple unit
- Subways
- 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)[3]
- London Underground 1959 Stock (Piccadilly Line, then Bakerloo and Northern Line)
- London Underground 1967 Stock (Victoria Line)
- London Underground C69 and C77 Stock (Circle, District and Hammersmith and 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)[4]
- London Underground 1996 Stock (Jubilee Line)[4]
- London Underground battery-electric locomotives
- Glasgow Subway metro trains
- Other rapid transit
- Tyne and Wear Metro trains
- East Rail Line Metro Cammell EMU (Hong Kong KCR, rent to MTR since KCR merged with MTR)
- M-stock metro cars (Hong Kong MTR)
- Bidded for (but lost the contract to another company)
- Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore) C151 Stock (lost the contract to Kawasaki Heavy Industries in 1984)
- Docklands Light Railway P86 stock (lost the contract to Alstom-LHB in 1984) [5]
Notes
- ^ Pritchard, Robert; Fox, Peter; Hall, Peter (2009). British Railways Locomotives & Coaching Stock 2009. Sheffield: Platform 5 Publishing. p. 340. ISBN 1 902336 70 4.
- ^ Pritchard, Robert; Fox, Peter; Hall, Peter (2009). British Railways Locomotives & Coaching Stock 2009. Sheffield: Platform 5 Publishing. p. 341. ISBN 1 902336 70 4.
- ^ Connor, Piers (1983). The 'R' Stock Story. Hemel Hempstead: London Underground Railway Society. ISBN 0 9508793 0 4.
- ^ a b Hardy, Brian (2002) [1976]. London Underground Rolling Stock (15th ed.). Harrow Weald: Capital Transport. p. 29. ISBN 1 85414 263 1.
- ^ http://metcam.co.uk.nstempintl.com/history.htm#up2date
References
External links
Categories:- Locomotive manufacturers of the United Kingdom
- Defunct manufacturing companies of the United Kingdom
- Bus manufacturers
- Rail vehicle manufacturers of the United Kingdom
- Rolling stock manufacturers
- History of Birmingham, West Midlands
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