British United Traction (BUT) was a manufacturer of railway equipment and

trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or trol ...

es. It was established in 1946 as a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

between AEC and Leyland.

History

British United Traction was established in 1946 when AEC and Leyland amalgamated their trolleybus interests. Neither had produced trolleybuses since early years of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. With both forecasting that demand would return to pre-war levels as networks began to close, a joint venture was formed. The new company was organised so that AEC would design and produce vehicles for the UK market while Leyland looked after export markets, although there were some exceptions to this. The only noticeable difference between the manufacturers output was the wheels. Initially vehicles were produced at Leyland's

Ham, London Ham is a suburban district in Richmond, south-west London. It has meadows adjoining the River Thames where the Thames Path National Trail also runs. Most of Ham is in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and, chiefly, within the ward of ...

factory, with the first vehicles completed in 1947 for

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a Megacity#List of megacities, megacity, and is List of urban areas by p ...

. After the factory closed 1948, production moved to AEC's

Southall Southall () is a large suburban county of West London, England, part of the London Borough of Ealing and is one of its seven major towns. It is situated west of Charing Cross and had a population of 69,857 as of 2011. It is generally divided ...

and Leyland's

Leyland, Lancashire Leyland () is a town in South Ribble, Lancashire, England, six miles (10 km) south of Preston. The population was 35,578 at the 2011 Census. The name of the town is Anglo-Saxon, meaning "untilled land". History English Leyland was an a ...

factories. Following AEC's acquisition of Crossley Motors, AEC transferred its production to the latter's

Stockport Stockport is a town and borough in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt and Tame merge to create the River Mersey here. Most of the town is withi ...

factory. Trolleybus production wound down in the late 1950s, however a final batch for

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by ...

was built at Scammell's,

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

factory in 1964.

Trolleybuses

* 9611T * 9612T * 9613T * 9641T * RETB1 / LETB1

Diesel engines for railways

British United Traction was a major supplier of

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-cal ...

s for

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four (British ra ...

's first-generation diesel multiple units. These engines were built in , and versions and were branded AEC, Leyland or Leyland-

Albion Albion is an alternative name for Great Britain. The oldest attestation of the toponym comes from the Greek language. It is sometimes used poetically and generally to refer to the island, but is less common than 'Britain' today. The name for Scot ...

. A version was supplied to the

Ulster Transport Authority The Ulster Transport Authority (UTA) ran rail and bus transport in Northern Ireland from 1948 until 1966. Formation and consolidation The UTA was formed by the Transport Act 1948, which merged the Northern Ireland Road Transport Board (NIRT ...

for its

UTA MPD The Ulster Transport Authority Multi-Purpose Diesel (UTA MPD) was a diesel powered railcar, used in Northern Ireland. It was developed by the Ulster Transport Authority (UTA) as a progression of the earlier Multi-engined Diesel (MED). The MED ...

class railcar.

References

External links

{{British United Traction Associated Equipment Company Defunct bus manufacturers of the United Kingdom Electric vehicle manufacturers of the United Kingdom Leyland Motors Trolleybus manufacturers Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1946 1946 establishments in England