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Birmingham Railway Carriage And Wagon Company




BRC&W made not only carriages and wagons, but a range of Vehicle s, from Aeroplane s and Glider s to Bus es, Trolleybus es and Tank s. Nevertheless, it is as a builder of railway rolling stock that the company is best remembered, exporting to most parts of the new and old worlds. It supplied vehicles to all four of the pre-nationalisation "big four" railway companies ( LMS , SR , LNER and GWR ), British Rail , Pullman (some of which are still in use) and Wagons Lits , plus railways as diverse as those in Egypt , India , South Africa , Iraq , Malaya and Nigeria , to name but a few. The company even built, in 1910 , Argentina 's presidential coach, which still survives, and once carried Eva Perón .

The company built Hospital trains during the Second Boer War , Handley Page Bomber s and De Havilland DH10s in 1914 - 1918 , and Tank s (including the A10 Cruiser, Churchill, Cromwell and Challenger), plus Hamilcar gliders to carry them, in 1939 - 1945 .

Before World War II , the company had built steam-, petrol- and diesel-powered Railcar s for overseas customers, not to mention bus bodies for Midland Red , and afterwards developed more motive power products, including BR's Class 26 , Class 33 (both diesel) and Class 81 (electric) locomotives. Examples of all three types are preserved.


PRODUCTS


Some of the locomotives and multiple units built by the company are listed below:


Diesel Locomotives



Electric Locomotives



Diesel Multiple Units



Electric Multiple Units



BIBLIOGRAHPY

  • ''Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company - A Century of Achievement, 1855 - 1963'', John Hypher, Colin Wheeler and Stephen Wheeler (Runpast, 1996 )