Metro-Cammell, formally the Metropolitan Cammell Carriage and Wagon Company (MCCW), was an English manufacturer of railway carriages,

locomotive A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, motor coach, railcar or power car; the ...

s and

railway wagon 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, based 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 ...

, and subsequently

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, Stechfo ...

, in

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 ...

. Purchased by

GEC Alsthom GEC or Gec may refer to: Education * Gedo Education Committee, in Somalia * Glen Eira College, in Caulfield East, Victoria, Australia * Goa Engineering College, India * Government Engineering College (disambiguation) * Guild for Exceptional Ch ...

in May 1989, the Washwood Heath factory was closed in 2005. The company designed and built trains for the railways in the United Kingdom and overseas, including the Mass Transit Railway of Hong Kong,

Kowloon–Canton Railway The Kowloon–Canton Railway (KCR; ) was a railway network in Hong Kong.Legislative Council information paper CB(1)357/07-08(0 THB(T) CR 8/986/00, CB(1)1749/07-08(0/ref> It was owned and operated by the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCR ...

(now

East Rail line The East Rail line () is one of ten lines of the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) system in Hong Kong. It used to be one of the three lines of the Kowloon–Canton Railway (KCR) network. It was known as the KCR British Section () from 1910 to 199 ...

), the

Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel (french: Tunnel sous la Manche), also known as the Chunnel, is a railway tunnel that connects Folkestone (Kent, England, UK) with Coquelles ( Hauts-de-France, France) beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover ...

, and the

Tyne and Wear Metro The Tyne and Wear Metro is an overground and underground light rail rapid transit system serving Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, and the City of Sunderland (together forming Tyne and Wear). The network opened in ...

, and locomotives for Malaysia's

Keretapi Tanah Melayu Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) (Jawi: كريتاڤي تانه ملايو برحد) or Malayan Railways Limited is the main rail operator in Peninsular Malaysia. The railway system dates back to the British colonial era, when it was firs ...

. Diesel and electric locomotives were manufactured for

South African Railways Transnet Freight Rail is a South African rail transport company, formerly known as Spoornet. It was part of the South African Railways and Harbours Administration, a state-controlled organisation that employed hundreds of thousands of people ...

, Nyasaland Railways, Malawi, Nigeria, Trans-Zambezi Railway and Pakistan. DMUs were supplied to

Jamaica Railway Corporation Kingston railway station, closed since 1992, as seen in 2007 The Railways of Jamaica, constructed from 1845, were the second British Colony after Canada's Champlain and St Lawrence Railroad of 1836 to receive a railway system.National Railways of Mexico National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

. The vast majority of

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 counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The ...

rolling stock manufactured in mid-20th century was produced by the company. It also designed and built the Blue Pullman for

British Railways 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 ...

History

Metropolitan Railway Carriage and Wagon Company Ltd

Metropolitan Railway Carriage & Wagon Co

Powerhouse Museum, Sydney - 2016-02-13 - Andy Mabbett - 35

The company was formed in 1863 as the Metropolitan Railway Carriage and Wagon Company Ltd, successors to Messrs. Joseph Wright and Sons. Joseph Wright built coaches for the

London and Southampton Railway The London and Southampton Railway was an early railway company between London and Southampton, in England. It opened in stages from 1838 to 1840 after a difficult construction period, but was commercially successful. On preparing to serve Por ...

in 1837 and the

London and Birmingham Railway The London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom, in operation from 1833 to 1846, when it became part of the London and North Western Railway (L&NWR). The railway line which the company opened in 1838, betw ...

in 1838. In 1845, he moved the carriage works from London to Birmingham, where he purchased of meadowland in Saltley, adjacent to the

Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway The Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway was a British railway company. From Birmingham it connected at Derby with the North Midland Railway and the Midland Counties Railway at what became known as the Tri Junct Station. It now forms part ...

line. In 1854, the company built the first 12 carriages for the Sydney to Parramatta line, New South Wales, the first public railway in Australia, which opened in 1855. Several of those are now in the

Powerhouse Museum The Powerhouse Museum is the major branch of the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences (MAAS) in Sydney, the others being the historic Sydney Observatory at Observatory Hill, and the newer Museums Discovery Centre at Castle Hill. Although often de ...

in Sydney.

Metropolitan Amalgamated Railway Carriage and Wagon Company Ltd

In 1902, it merged with four other carriage and wagon builders:

Ashbury Railway Carriage and Iron Company Ltd The Ashbury Carriage and Iron Company Limited was a manufacturer of railway rolling stock founded by John Ashbury in 1837 in Commercial Street, Knott Mill in Manchester, England, near the original terminus of the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne a ...

., Brown, Marshalls and Company Ltd., Lancaster Railway Carriage and Wagon Company Ltd., and Oldbury Railway Carriage and Wagon Company Ltd., and became the Metropolitan Amalgamated Railway Carriage and Wagon Company Ltd. Water carrier for Mesopotamia

Metropolitan were contracted as a builder of the new tanks for the British Army during the First World War. They built all 400 of the

Mark V tank The British Mark V tank was an upgraded version of the Mark IV tank. The tank was improved in several aspects over the Mark IV, chiefly the new steering system, transmission and 150 bhp engine, but it fell short in other areas, particularl ...

and 700 improved Mark V* tanks. They were the most developed heavy tank designs to see service in the war. In 1917, Metropolitan Railway Carriage and Wagon Company and

Vickers Limited Vickers Limited was a British engineering conglomerate. The business began in Sheffield in 1828 as a steel foundry and became known for its church bells, going on to make shafts and propellers for ships, armour plate and then artillery. Entir ...

took joint control of

British Westinghouse British Westinghouse Electrical and Manufacturing Company was a subsidiary of the Pittsburgh, USA based Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company. British Westinghouse would become a subsidiary of Metropolitan-Vickers in 1919; and after Me ...

. In 1919, Vickers bought out the Metropolitan shares and renamed the company

Metropolitan-Vickers Metropolitan-Vickers, Metrovick, or Metrovicks, was a British heavy electrical engineering company of the early-to-mid 20th century formerly known as British Westinghouse. Highly diversified, it was particularly well known for its industrial el ...

. By 1926, they had changed their name again to Metropolitan Carriage, Wagon and Finance Company Ltd. In 1929, the railway rolling stock business of

Cammell Laird and Company 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, ...

was merged as Metropolitan-Cammell Carriage and Wagon Company Ltd, the resulting company being part owned by Vickers and the Cammell Laird group. MCCW also built bus bodies. In 1932,

Metro Cammell Weymann Metro Cammell Weymann Ltd. (MCW) was once a major contributor in transportation manufacturing in the UK and Europe. It was established in 1932 by Metro-Cammell's bus bodybuilding division and Weymann Motor Bodies to produce bus bodies. ...

was formed by the MCCW's bus bodybuilding business and Weymann Motor Bodies. In the

Second World War 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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, Metro again built tanks, including the

Valentine tank The Tank, Infantry, Mk III, Valentine was an infantry tank produced in the United Kingdom during World War II. More than 8,000 of the type were produced in eleven marks, plus various specialised variants, accounting for approximately a quarter ...

and

Light Tank Mk VIII The Tank, Light, Mk VIII (A25), also known as the Harry Hopkins, after American President Roosevelt's chief diplomatic advisor, was a British light tank produced by Vickers-Armstrong during the Second World War. The Mk VIII was the last in the l ...

. The Saltley works was closed in 1962 and group administration concentrated at Washwood Heath in 1967.

Closure by Alstom

In May 1989, the railway business was sold to

(now

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

). The last trains to be built at the

plant before its closure in 2005 were the

Class 390 The British Rail Class 390 ''Pendolino'' is a type of electric high-speed passenger train operated by Avanti West Coast in the United Kingdom, leased from Angel Trains. They are electric multiple units using Fiat Ferroviaria's tilting train Pe ...

"Pendolino"

tilting train A tilting train is a train that has a mechanism enabling increased speed on regular rail tracks. As a train (or other vehicle) rounds a curve at speed, objects inside the train experience centrifugal force. This can cause packages to slide ab ...

s for the

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

modernisation.

Products

Heavy rail

* Southern Railway "Brighton Belle" EMU * Southern Railway "Crystal Palace" EMU * Southern Railway "Coulsdon North & Sutton stock" EMU *

LNER Tyneside electric units The LNER electric units were electric multiple units that ran on the Tyneside Electrics, a suburban system based on the English city of Newcastle upon Tyne. In 1937 the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) received articulated twin passenger ...

* LNER Shenfield line electric units (driving motors and intermediate trailers only) * LNER Glossop line electric units (driving motors and intermediate trailers only) * The Blue Pullman * Metro-Cammell Lightweight "Heritage" diesel multiple unit *

British Rail Class 101 The British Rail Classes 101 and 102 diesel mechanical multiple units were built by Metro-Cammell at Washwood Heath in Birmingham, England from 1956 to 1959, following construction of a series of prototype units. These classes proved to be som ...

"Heritage" diesel multiple unit *

British Rail Class 111 The Class 111 DMUs were based on Class 101/2s, but with different engines. The only external body difference was on the final batch of cars where a four character headcode box was fitted above the front cab windows, with the destination indica ...

"Heritage" diesel multiple unit * British Rail Class 151 diesel multiple unit *

British Rail Class 156 The British Rail Class 156 ''Super Sprinter'' is a diesel multiple unit passenger train. A total of 114 sets were built between 1987 and 1989 for British Rail by Metro-Cammell's Washwood Heath works. They were built to replace elderly first-gen ...

"Super Sprinter" diesel multiple unit *

British Rail Class 373 The British Rail Class 373 or TGV TMST, sometimes referred to as Eurostar e300, is a French designed and Anglo-French built electric multiple unit train that is used for Eurostar international high-speed rail services from the United Kingdom to ...

"TGV" electric multiple unit *

British Rail Class 465 The British Rail Class 465 '' Networker'' is a class of 147 electric multiple units built by Metro-Cammell, British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL) and ABB Rail between 1991 and 1994. Originally operated by Network South East, these units are ...

/2 "Networker" electric multiple unit *

British Rail Class 466 The British Rail Class 466 '' Networker'' are a fleet of 43 electric multiple units that were built by Metro-Cammell in 1993 and 1994. The units are currently operated by Southeastern. Description The Class 466 EMUs were built between 1993 and ...

"Networker" electric multiple unit * British Rail Class 483 electric multiple unit (Originally constructed as

London Underground 1938 Stock The London Underground 1938 Stock was a London Underground tube stock design. A total of 1,121 cars were built by Metro-Cammell and Birmingham RC&W. An additional 173 cars were added to the fleet by the end of 1953, comprising 91 new bui ...

) *

British Rail Class 503 British Rail Class 503 trains were electric multiple units. They were introduced in two batches. The first were in 1938, by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) with a further batch (built to a similar design) in 1956 by the then nat ...

electric multiple unit *

British Rail Mark 4 The British Rail Mark 4 is a class of passenger carriages built for use in InterCity 225 sets on the East Coast Main Line between King's Cross, Leeds and Edinburgh. Withdrawals began in 2019, with some being sold for further use with Tra ...

coaching stock * Arlanda Express ( X3) electric multiple unit *

Via Rail Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via, is a Canadian Crown corporation that is mandated to operate intercity passenger rail service in Canada. It receives an annual subsidy from Transport Canada to offset the cost of operating ...

Renaissance Fleet * MTR Metro Cammell EMU (AC) (

, Hong Kong – formerly operated by

, leased to MTR post-merger)

Rapid transit

London Underground

London Underground Standard Stock The Standard Stock title was applied to a variety of Tube stock built between 1923 and 1934, all of which shared the same basic characteristics, but with some detailed differences. This design is sometimes referred to as 1923 Tube Stock, 1923 St ...

(Bakerloo, Central, Piccadilly, Northern lines) * London Underground 1935 Stock (Central line) *

(Northern, Bakerloo, Piccadilly, East London and Central lines) * London Underground R49 & R59 Stock (District line) *

London Underground 1959 Stock The 1959 Tube Stock was a type of London Underground tube train constructed in the late 1950s. They were intended for use on the Piccadilly line, but also saw use on several other tube lines. It was the first production tube stock to have unpai ...

(Piccadilly line, then Bakerloo and Northern line) * London Underground 1962 Stock (Central line) * London Underground 1967 Stock (Victoria line) * London Underground C69 and C77 Stock (Circle, District and Hammersmith & City Lines) *

London Underground 1972 Stock The London Underground 1972 Stock is a type of rolling stock used on the London Underground. The 1972 Stock was originally ordered to make up the shortfall in trains on the Northern line's 1959 Tube Stock fleet, but is nowadays used on the B ...

(Bakerloo line) *

London Underground 1973 Stock The London Underground 1973 Stock is a type of rolling stock used on the Piccadilly line of the London Underground. It was introduced into service in 1975 with the extension of the line to Hatton Cross, followed by a further extension to Hea ...

(Piccadilly line) * London Underground D78 Stock (District line) *

London Underground 1983 Stock The London Underground 1983 Stock was a class of electric multiple unit built by Metro-Cammell for use on London Underground's Jubilee line. The 1983 Stock could be considered the last train to be designed by London Underground; it was the las ...

(Jubilee line) *

London Underground 1986 Stock The London Underground 1986 Tube Stock consisted of three prototype electric multiple units built for the London Underground in 1986/87 that led to the development of the 1992 Stock. History In 1984, London Transport ordered three different ...

(Central line) * London Underground 1995 Stock (Northern line) *

London Underground 1996 Stock The London Underground 1996 Stock is a type of rolling stock used on the Jubilee line of the London Underground. The trains were built by GEC Alsthom-Metro-Cammell and entered service in 1997. They are similar to the 1995 Stock used on the Nor ...

(Jubilee line) *

London Underground battery-electric locomotives London Underground battery-electric locomotives are battery locomotives used for hauling engineers' trains on the London Underground network where they can operate when the electric traction current is switched off. The first two locomotives were ...

Other systems

* Glasgow Subway rolling stock (

Glasgow Subway The Glasgow Subway is an underground light metro system in Glasgow, Scotland. Opened on 14 December 1896, it is the fourth-oldest underground rail transit system in Europe after the London Underground, Liverpool's Mersey Railway and the Budap ...

, Scotland) * Tyne and Wear Metrocars (

Tyne & Wear Metro The Tyne and Wear Metro is an overground and underground light rail rapid transit system serving Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, and the City of Sunderland (together forming Tyne and Wear). The network opened in ...

, England) *

MTR Metro Cammell EMU (DC) The Metro Cammell EMU (also known as M-Train or Modernisation Train) () is the oldest variation of electric multiple unit that operates on the MTR rapid transit railway system in Hong Kong. A total of 768 cars were built by Metro-Cammell in ...

(

Kwun Tong line The Kwun Tong line is a heavy-rail rapid transit line of the MTR network in Hong Kong, coloured green on the MTR map. Starting at Whampoa station, Whampoa in Hung Hom and ending at Tiu Keng Leng station, Tiu Keng Leng in Tseung Kwan O, S ...

Tsuen Wan line The Tsuen Wan line is one of the eleven lines of the metro network in Hong Kong's MTR. It is indicated in red on the MTR map. There are 16 stations on the line. The southern terminus is Central station on Hong Kong Island and the no ...

Island line Island Line or Island line may refer to: * Island line (MTR), one of the lines of the MTR metro system in Hong Kong * Island Line, Isle of Wight, a railway line on the Isle of Wight, England ** Island Line (brand) Island Line is a brand of the ...

Tseung Kwan O line The Tseung Kwan O line is one of the eleven lines of the MTR system in Hong Kong, indicated by the colour purple. It is currently long, taking 15 minutes to travel throughout the entire line. The line runs from North Point on the Hong Kong Is ...

Disneyland Resort line The Disneyland Resort line is a heavy rail MTR line connecting Sunny Bay to the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, coloured pink on the network diagram. It is the seventh line of the former MTR network before the merger of MTR and KCR, and the w ...

, Hong Kong – operated by

MTR The Mass Transit Railway (MTR) is a major public transport network serving :Hong Kong. Operated by the MTR Corporation Limited (MTRCL), it consists of heavy rail, light rail, and feeder bus service centred on a 10-line rapid transit network ...

) * Birmingham Maglev ( Birmingham International Airport – 3 carriages built, in service from 1984–1995)

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{Cite book , title=The 'R' Stock Story , last=Connor , first=Piers , year=1983 , publisher=London Underground Railway Society , location=Hemel Hempstead , isbn=0-9508793-0-4

External links

MCW archives at the Historical Model Railway Society, at Butterley in Derbyshire

Metro-Cammell website
Locomotive manufacturers of the United Kingdom Defunct manufacturing companies of the United Kingdom Former defence companies of the United Kingdom Defunct bus manufacturers of the United Kingdom Rolling stock manufacturers of the United Kingdom 1925 establishments in England 2005 disestablishments in England Manufacturing companies based in Birmingham, West Midlands Defunct companies based in Birmingham, West Midlands United Kingdom in World War I History of the tank United Kingdom in World War II British companies disestablished in 2005 British companies established in 1925 1989 mergers and acquisitions