The Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company (BRC&W) was a railway locomotive and carriage builder, founded in Birmingham, England and, for most of its existence, located at nearby Smethwick, with the factory was divided by the boundary between the two places. The company was established in 1854.[1]
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BRC&W made not only carriages and wagons, but a range of vehicles, from aeroplanes and military gliders to buses, trolleybuses and tanks. Nevertheless, it is as a builder of railway rolling stock that the company is best remembered, exporting to most parts of the new and old worlds. It supplied vehicles to all four of the pre-nationalisation "big four" railway companies (LMS, SR, LNER and GWR), British Rail, Pullman (some of which are still in use) and Wagons-Lits, plus overseas railways with diverse requirement including Egypt, India, Iraq, Malaya, Mandate Palestine, South Africa and Nigeria. The company even built, in 1910, Argentina's presidential coach, which still survives, and once carried Eva Perón. Before World War II, the company had built steam-, petrol- and diesel-powered railcars for overseas customers, not to mention bus bodies for Midland Red, and afterwards developed more motive power products, including BR's Class 26, Class 33 (both diesel) and Class 81 (electric) locomotives. Examples of all three types are preserved.
The company built hospital trains during the Second Boer War, Handley Page bombers and Airco DH10s in World War I, and tanks (including the A10 Cruiser, Churchill tank, Cromwell tank and Challenger),[2] plus Hamilcar gliders in 1939-1945.
Some of the locomotives and multiple units built by the company are listed below:
In the years running up to 1963 the company had built an extensive number of locomotives, multiple units, and Underground cars, but then rapidly got into financial difficulties, and the business closed down. The self-funded prototype Lion main line locomotive was a particular disappointment, powered by a Sulzer 2,750 hp diesel engine, it was pitted against another self-funded prototype, Falcon, built by Brush at Loughborough which had twin 1,400 hp Maybach engines; after trials British Railways preferred the BRCW approach, but ordered them to be built by the Brush company.
Country/Railway | Class | Wheel arrangement | Built in | Number | now located at |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ireland/Córas Iompair Éireann | 101 class | A1A-A1A | 1956 | 103 | Irish Traction Group at Carrick-on-Slik |
UK/BR | Class 26 | Bo-Bo | 1958 | D5300 / 26007 | Barrow Hill Engine Shed |
UK/BR | Class 26 | Bo-Bo | 1958 | D5301 / 26001 - Eastfield | Caledonian Railway |
UK/BR | Class 26 | Bo-Bo | 1958 | D5302 / 26002 | Strathspey Railway |
UK/BR | Class 26 | Bo-Bo | 1958 | D5304 / 26004 | Bo'ness & Kinneil Railway |
UK/BR | Class 26 | Bo-Bo | 1958 | D5310 / 26010 | Llangollen Railway |
UK/BR | Class 26 | Bo-Bo | 1958 | D5311 / 26011 | Barrow Hill Engine Shed |
UK/BR | Class 26 | Bo-Bo | 1958 | D5314 / 26014 | Caledonian Railway |
UK/BR | Class 26 | Bo-Bo | 1958 | D5324 / 26024 | Bo'ness & Kinneil Railway |
UK/BR | Class 26 | Bo-Bo | 1958 | D5325 / 26025 | Strathspey Railway |
UK/BR | Class 26 | Bo-Bo | 1958 | D5335 / 26035 | Caledonian Railway |
UK/BR | Class 26 | Bo-Bo | 1958 | D5338 / 26038 | private owned at Cardiff Canton |
UK/BR | Class 26 | Bo-Bo | 1958 | D5340 / 26040 | private owned at Methil |
UK/BR | Class 26 | Bo-Bo | 1958 | D5343 / 26043 | Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway |
UK/BR | Class 27 | Bo-Bo | 1960 | D5347 / 27001 | Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway |
UK/BR | Class 27 | Bo-Bo | 1960 | D5351 / 27005 | Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway |
UK/BR | Class 27 | Bo-Bo | 1960 | D5353 / 27007 | Mid-Hants Railway |
UK/BR | Class 27 | Bo-Bo | 1960 | D5370 / 27024 | Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway |
UK/BR | Class 27 | Bo-Bo | 1960 | D5394 / 27050 | Strathspey Railway |
UK/BR | Class 27 | Bo-Bo | 1960 | D5401 / 27056 | Great Central Railway |
UK/BR | Class 27 | Bo-Bo | 1960 | D5410 / 27059 | Severn Valley Railway |
UK/BR | Class 27 | Bo-Bo | 1960 | D5386 / 27066 | Dean Forest Railway |
UK/BR | Class 33 | Bo-Bo | 1960 | D6501 / 33002 - Sea King | South Devon Railway |
UK/BR | Class 33 | Bo-Bo | 1960 | D6508 / 33008 - Eastleigh | Battlefield Line |
UK/BR | Class 33 | Bo-Bo | 1960 | D6515 / 33012 | Swanage Railway |
UK/BR | Class 33 | Bo-Bo | 1960 | D6518 / 33018 | Midland Railway |
UK/BR | Class 33 | Bo-Bo | 1960 | D6534 / 33019 - Griffon | Battlefield Line Railway |
UK/BR | Class 33 | Bo-Bo | 1960 | D6552 / 33034 | Swanage Railway |
UK/BR | Class 33 | Bo-Bo | 1960 | D6553 / 33035 | Barrow Hill Engine Shed |
UK/BR | Class 33 | Bo-Bo | 1960 | D6564 / 33046 - Merlin | Midland Railway |
UK/BR | Class 33 | Bo-Bo | 1960 | D6566 / 33047 | West Somerset Railway |
UK/BR | Class 33 | Bo-Bo | 1960 | D6570 / 33052 - Ashford | Kent and East Sussex Railway |
UK/BR | Class 33 | Bo-Bo | 1960 | D6571 / 33053 | Mid-Hants Railway |
UK/BR | Class 33 | Bo-Bo | 1960 | D6575 / 33057 - Seagull | West Somerset Railway |
UK/BR | Class 33 | Bo-Bo | 1960 | D6583 / 33063 - RJ Mitchell | Spa Valley Railway |
UK/BR | Class 33 | Bo-Bo | 1960 | D6585 / 33065 - Sealion | Spa Valley Railway |
UK/BR | Class 33 | Bo-Bo | 1960 | D6513 / 33102 | Churnet Valley Railway |
UK/BR | Class 33 | Bo-Bo | 1960 | D6514 / 33103 Swordfish | Swanage Railway |
UK/BR | Class 33 | Bo-Bo | 1960 | D6521 / 33108 | Barrow Hill Engine Shed |
UK/BR | Class 33 | Bo-Bo | 1960 | D6525 / 33109 Captain Bill Smith RNR | East Lancshire Railway |
UK/BR | Class 33 | Bo-Bo | 1960 | D6527 / 33110 | Bodmin and Wenford Railway |
UK/BR | Class 33 | Bo-Bo | 1960 | D6528 / 33111 | Swanage Railway |
UK/BR | Class 33 | Bo-Bo | 1960 | D6535 / 33116 Hertfordshire Rail Tours | Great Central Railway |
UK/BR | Class 33 | Bo-Bo | 1960 | D6536 / 33117 | East Lancashire Railway |
UK/BR | Class 33 | Bo-Bo | 1960 | D6586 / 33201 | Midland Railway |
UK/BR | Class 33 | Bo-Bo | 1960 | D6587 / 33202 The Burma Star | Mangapps Railway Museum |
UK/BR | Class 33 | Bo-Bo | 1960 | D6593 / 33208 | Battlefield Line Railway |
UK/BR | Class 81 | Bo-Bo | 1959 | E3003 / 81002 | Barrow Hill Engine Shed |