Metro Cammell Carriage and Wagon Works Main Office Block - geograph

The Midland Railway Carriage and Wagon Company was a

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

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 ...

, based manufacturer of

railway carriage A railroad car, railcar (American and Canadian English), railway wagon, railway carriage, railway truck, railwagon, railcarriage or railtruck (British English and UIC), also called a train car, train wagon, train carriage or train truck, is a ...

s and

wagon A wagon or waggon is a heavy four-wheeled vehicle pulled by draught animals or on occasion by humans, used for transporting goods, commodities, agricultural materials, supplies and sometimes people. Wagons are immediately distinguished from ...

s. It was not part of the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It ama ...

. Its products also included

tram 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 ...

s and even military

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engin ...

s. It has made trains for railways in the UK and overseas, including the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...

. After a series of takeovers, its works at

Washwood Heath Washwood Heath is a ward in Birmingham, within the formal district of Hodge Hill, roughly two miles north-east of Birmingham city centre, England. Washwood Heath covers the areas of Birmingham that lie between Nechells, Bordesley Green, Stechf ...

in Birmingham became part of

Metro Cammell Metro-Cammell, formally the Metropolitan Cammell Carriage and Wagon Company (MCCW), was an English manufacturer of railway carriages, locomotives and railway wagons, based in Saltley, and subsequently Washwood Heath, in Birmingham. Purchased ...

and are now part of the

Alstom Alstom SA is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the AGV, TGV, Eurostar, Avelia ...

group.

History

In 1845,

Joseph Wright Joseph Wright may refer to: *Joseph Wright of Derby (1734–1797), English painter *Joseph Wright (American painter) (1756–1793), American portraitist *Joseph Wright (fl. 1837/1845), whose company, Messrs. Joseph Wright and Sons, became the Metro ...

, a London coach builder, leased land in

Saltley Saltley is an inner-city area of Birmingham, east of the city centre. The area is part of the Washwood Heath ward, and was previously part of the Nechells ward. It is part of the Ladywood constituency in the city. History Saltley was originally ...

, Birmingham with the intention of building a factory for the production of

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

rolling stock The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, freight and passenger cars (or coaches), and non-revenue cars. Passenger vehicles can b ...

. Wright, realising that the future lay in the development of the railways devoted his energies, together with those of his sons to building rolling stock and by the 1850s his Saltley site had massively expanded and he was employing a work force of about 800 people. In addition to building stock for practically all the British railways, the firm completed contracts for many countries world-wide. They also had premises in Shrewsbury. In 1902 rationalisation of the rolling stock industry began when the Metropolitan Amalgamated Railway Carriage and Wagon Co. Ltd. was formed, incorporating Joseph Wright's old firm with other well known companies such as Ashbury, Brown and Marshalls, Oldbury and Lancaster railway carriage companies. In 1929

Vickers Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public in 18 ...

, after acquiring the shares of the Metropolitan Company, came together with

Cammell Laird Cammell Laird is a British shipbuilding company. It was formed from the merger of Laird Brothers of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century. The company also built railway rolling stock until 1929, ...

and each merged their rolling stock interests to form the great undertaking of Metropolitan-Cammell Ltd.

External links

{{Commons category
Metro Cammell archives at Birmingham Central Library
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120707154424/http://www.hmrs.org.uk/drawings/index.php The Metropolitan Cammell Drawings Archive (paper originals) has been deposited with the Historical Model Railway Society. Cataloguing is ongoing, but current listings are available on this page] Defunct manufacturing companies of the United Kingdom History of Birmingham, West Midlands Defunct companies based in Birmingham, West Midlands Rail transport in the West Midlands (county)