The United Electric Car Company was a

tramcar A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport a ...

manufacturer from 1905 to 1917 in

Preston, Lancashire Preston () is a city on the north bank of the River Ribble in Lancashire, England. The city is the administrative centre of the county of Lancashire and the wider City of Preston local government district. Preston and its surrounding distri ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

History

The Electric Railway and Tramway Carriage Works was formed in 1897 registered on 25 April 1898 to acquire works at

. It was founded by two Scots, W. B. Dick and John Kerr. They formed a new company, English Electrical Manufacturing based in a new West Works on Strand Road, Preston in 1900, to build the electric motors for their trams. In 1905 the Electric Railway and Tramway Carriage Works took over two other works, including G.F. Milnes & Co. in

Hadley, Shropshire Hadley is a village and part of the new town of Telford in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and the ceremonial county of Shropshire, England. Hadley is about north-west of Telford Town Centre, and is in the civil parishes in England, civil pa ...

, the name being then changed to United Electric Car Co. By 1914, the company employed around 2,000 people. They produced electrical equipment for tramways and railways and built over 8,000 tramcars, for service in the UK and abroad, including to the

Hong Kong Tramways Hong Kong Tramways (HKT) is a narrow-gauge tram system in Hong Kong. Owned and operated by RATP Dev Transdev Asia, the tramway runs on Hong Kong Island between Kennedy Town and Shau Kei Wan, with a branch circulating through Happy Valley. ...

and Buenos Aires tramways operated by the

Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company The Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company (Spanish: ''Compañía de Tranvías Anglo Argentina''), known simply as ''La Anglo'' in Argentina, was a large transportation company which operated the majority of the trams in the Buenos Aires network, wh ...

.Exhibieron la dupla histórica Preston para festejar el Bicentenario
(Spanish) - EnElSubte, 26 May 2010. Tram 49 is operated by the

Black Country Living Museum The Black Country Living Museum (formerly the Black Country Museum) is an open-air museum of rebuilt historic buildings in Dudley, West Midlands, England.

. This double decker tram was originally built in 1909 for

Wolverhampton Corporation Tramways Wolverhampton Corporation Tramways operated a tramway service in Wolverhampton between 1902 and 1928. History On 1 May 1900, for the sum of £26,750, Wolverhampton Corporation bought the Wolverhampton Tramways Company which had operated a st ...

. It is a typical Edwardian tramcar with an ornate lower saloon and open upper deck with traverse seating. Originally equipped with the Lorain system taking its power supply from studs in the road, it was later converted to run from overhead wires. Preserved in 1976, the tram was painstakingly restored by the Black Country Museum Transport Group over many years and completed in 2004.

Merger

In 1917 Dick, Kerr & Co., also in Strand Road, Preston, acquired the United Electric Car Co and in 1918 the Company became a part of English Electric.

Archives and records

United Electric Car Company photographs
at Baker Library Special Collections, Harvard Business School.

References

{{City of Preston culture Rolling stock manufacturers of the United Kingdom Electrical engineering companies of the United Kingdom Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1897 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1917 History of Preston Tram manufacturers 1897 establishments in England 1917 disestablishments in England Electric vehicle manufacturers of the United Kingdom British companies disestablished in 1917 British companies established in 1897

History

Merger

See also

Archives and records

References