Grant, Ritchie and Company was a Scottish engineering firm based in

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. The company's products included

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...

s and

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

History

In 1876, there was a disastrous fire at Andrew Barclay’s Caledonia works in

. At this point, two employees of Andrew Barclay, Thomas Grant and William Ritchie, set up ''Grant, Ritchie and Company'' at Townholme Engine Works, Kilmarnock to manufacture steam locomotives. They took over an existing business called Grant Brothers but it is not known whether there was a family connection to Thomas Grant. Grant, Ritchie also built colliery winding engines and one of these is preserved at the National Mining Museum; a 2400 hp engine built for the Victoria Colliery in the 1890s. A Grant, Ritchie locomotive is preserved at the

Ribble Steam Railway The Ribble Steam Railway is a standard gauge Heritage railway, preserved railway in Lancashire, in the United Kingdom. It was opened to the public on 17 September 2005, running along Preston, Lancashire, Preston Docks. The railway began by h ...

, currently on loan at York until April 2017.

References

External links

*{{citation, url=http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Grant,_Ritchie_and_Co, title= Grant, Ritchie and Co, work = www.gracesguide.co.uk Locomotive manufacturers of the United Kingdom Engineering companies of Scotland Kilmarnock 1876 establishments in Scotland Manufacturing companies established in 1876 British companies established in 1876