Brush Traction was a manufacturer and maintainer of railway locomotives in Loughborough, England, whose operations have now been merged into the Wabtec company's Doncaster UK operations.
History
Hughes' Locomotive & Tramway Engine Works Henry Hughes had been operating at the Falcon Works since the 1850s, producing items such as brass and iron cast parts for portable engines and thrashing machines. In 1860 Henry Hughes announced he had entered into a partnership with William March who had extensive experience in the timber trade, and this would be added to the existing business of "engineers and manufacturers of railway plant", with the business to be called Hughes and March.
In March 1863, Hughes announced it was making a steam locomotive designed for contractors and mineral railways. This was an with a 200 psi boiler pressure and cylinders of 10 inch bore and 15 inch stroke.
In 1866, Hughes announced a sale of timber and associated equipment from the "Falcon Railway Plant Works" as he had decided to close down the timber side of his business, also sold was a portable steam engine and thrashing engine.
In 1877, a limited company (Hughes' Locomotive & Tramway Engine Works Ltd) was created with Henry Hughes as managing director, to carry on the business previously under the name of the "Falcon Railway Plant Works". The business included the production of the original small saddle tank locomotives, but was anticipating increased demand for the production of tram engines, lightweight steam engines (usually with condensers) which drew passenger cars, made possible by the Tramways Act 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 78). His original patented tramway engine was reported to have been tested on the Vale of Clyde and other tramways with good results. Tram engines were distinct from those tramcars where the boiler mechanism was an integral part of the passenger car.
Examples of early engines include the tramway locomotive The Pioneer of 1877 for the Swansea and Mumbles Railway, Belmont which ran on the Snailbeach District Railways, and three gauge s for the Corris Railway supplied in 1878 (converted between 1883 and 1900 to s).
In 1881, Hughes' built two gauge for the Liverpool Corporation Waterworks for use in the construction of the waterworks at Lake Vyrnwy in Wales.
The adoption of steam tram engines in the UK was very limited, though the company did make some sales abroad, for example in Paris and Lille. In February 1881, a shareholder and creditor asked that the voluntary winding up of the company should proceed under the supervision of the court, and an order was granted. Hughes departed, soon after, for New Zealand, where in collaboration with local engineer E.W Mills, he built small tramway engines.
Falcon Engine & Car Works Hughes's Locomotive & Tramway Engine Works was sold as a going concern, and continued production as the Falcon Engine and Car Works Ltd. In July 1882, they provided a tram engine (Falcon works number 43) for testing on the Burnley tramways, which during a late night trial suffered a condenser rupture scalding several people. This was just days after a serious fire at the works had caused considerable losses - fortunately the premises were insured.
Business continued with the production of locomotives, carriages, wagons and tramcars. This included three more locomotives of the same design as previously for the railways at Vyrnwy. In 1883, the first tramcar on the Alford and Sutton Tramway, was a horse-drawn 16-seater made by Falcon Engine and Carriage Works.
One of the less conventional products were the carriages and wagons for the Listowel to Ballybunion monorail (using the Lartigue Monorail system), which opened in 1888. The engines for this line were made by Hunslet.
Other products were tank locomotives for Ireland, Spain and the Azores. Some were subcontracts from other firms, such as Kerr, Stuart and Company, at that time, in Glasgow.
Brush Electrical Engineering Company
In 1889, the Anglo-American Brush Electric Light Corporation Ltd was reconstructed, absorbing the Australasian Electric Light, Power, and Storage Company Ltd, and taking over the Falcon Works in Loughborough, with the new company to be called the Brush Electrical Engineering Company Ltd.
From reports of the annual general meetings, the main activities in the 1890s were associated with municipal and ships lighting, however it is evident they were still involved with rail and tramcars and were anticipating a great increase in the market for electric traction particularly on tramways. They expanded the works by 5 acres in 1897 and added another 250 tramcars per year of production capacity. In 1898, they added capacity to make 1,000 electric traction motors per year, their own motors now claimed to be equal to or superior to the American pattern traction motors previously used.
Brush introduced its first automobile in March of 1902, along with three more models with more horsepower later that year, all incorporating Abeille engines. Later, in 1904, Brush also manufactured six Brushmobile vehicles similar to those made by Vauxhall Motors; one of these six vehicles featured in the 1966 film Carry On Screaming. In addition, nearly 100 buses, plus some lorries were built using French engines until 1907.
Brush Electrical Engineering also built some carriages that were used on the Central London Railway and the City and South London Railway in the early 1900s, the respective forerunners of London Underground's Central and Northern lines.
In all, about 250 steam locomotives were built in addition to their tram engines. Production finished after World War I and the company concentrated on transport-related electrical equipment, including tramcars, trolleybuses and battery-operated vehicles.
Brush made 2-foot gauge battery electric narrow-gauge locomotives (at the time referred to as Brush Electric Tractors) during the war, three which were listed as surplus in October 1919. Several examples survive, one at the National Slate Museum, Llanberis, three of them went to Hythe Pier, Railway and Ferry, of which two of these remain. These were reported to have originally worked at the Avonmouth mustard gas factory. One from HM's Explosives Factory at Queensferry has been restored using parts from another from the same factory.
During World War II, Brush Coachworks diversified into aircraft production, building 335 de Havilland Dominies for the Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm. Wing sections were built for Lancaster bombers and Hampden fuselages were overhauled.
The coachworks continued after the war with omnibus bodies mounted on Daimler chassis using Gardner five-cylinder diesel engines and Daimler preselector gearboxes, as well as AEC and BMMO Chassis for Midland Red and 100 Leyland Titans for Birmingham City Transport. They also constructed bodies designed by the British Electric Traction group on Leyland Royal Tigers. In 1952, the coachworks were closed and the goodwill and patents were bought by neighbouring Willowbrook.
Brush Bagnall Traction Close to Derby and its railway workshops, it retained its contacts with the railway. Acquired by Heenan & Froude in 1947, it was merged with W. G. Bagnall to produce diesel locomotives. In 1951, the company Brush Bagnall Traction Limited was formed. When British Railways began to replace its fleet of steam engines, Brush entered the market for main line diesel-electric locomotives.
Brush Traction In 1957, the Brush group were bought up by Hawker Siddeley. In 1967, the rail tractor business of Crompton Parkinson was purchased. As part of Hawker Siddeley Electric Power Group, it then passed to BTR plc and became Brush Traction. Later it became part of FKI Energy Technologies, itself purchased in 2008 by Melrose Industries.
In 2007, Brush Traction acquired Hunslet-Barclay with a facility in Kilmarnock. It was rebranded Brush-Barclay.
In February 2011, Wabtec purchased Brush Traction for US$31 million.
The locomotive works are still occupied by the Brush Traction Company and are in use for the building, overhaul and repair of locomotives.
In April 2021, Wabtec announced the Loughborough factory would close with reduced work volumes making the site unsustainable.
Locomotives
Brush manufactured various diesel and electric locomotives for the British railway network: Class 31 "Brush Type 2" mixed-traffic diesel locomotive Class 47 "Brush Type 4" mixed-traffic diesel locomotive (manufacture shared with Crewe Works) Class 48 "Brush Type 4" mixed-traffic diesel locomotive Class 53 Falcon prototype diesel locomotive HS4000 Kestrel Class 57 re-engineered diesel locomotive (rebuilt from Class 47) Class 60 heavy freight diesel locomotive Class 92 dual-voltage electric locomotive
It also manufactured the Eurotunnel Class 9 electric locomotives operated by Eurotunnel through the Channel Tunnel.
Brush Traction also manufactured locomotives for export: 800 bhp A1A-A1A main line diesel-electric locomotives for Ceylon in 1952 (Sri Lanka Railways M1) 1,000 bhp Bo-Bo diesel-electric locomotives for Sri Lanka in 1981 (the M7 class) Class DE4 1730 bhp Co-Co narrow gauge diesel-electric locomotives for Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 1963 Various Bo-Bo diesel electric freight locomotives to Cuba, Tanzania, Gabon, Morocco Battery electric locomotives to Hong Kong EF class heavy freight electric locomotive (New Zealand Railways Corporation) Class 18 shunter locomotives for Malayan Railways in 1978
They were also a major supplier of traction equipment to rapid transit systems, in particular, London Underground and Docklands Light Railway in the UK, and to Canada and Taiwan.
Traction equipment was supplied to British Rail for various Electric Multiple Unit trains, the Class 43 HST diesel locomotive, with similar equipment being supplied to Comeng in Australia in 1979, and used in the Class 56 and 58 freight locomotives.
Brush repowered most Class 43 HST power cars with MTU engines between 2005 and 2010.
Surviving steam locomotives
No. 3 ‘Sir Haydn’, the third Hughes/Falcon locomotive supplied to the Corris Railway, works number 323 (although incorporating parts from 324 and probably 322 as well) now runs on the neighbouring Talyllyn Railway A standard gauge built by Brush Electrical Engineering for Powesland and Mason & Co., Swansea Docks; is preserved at Mountsorrel & Rothley Community Heritage Centre, Leicestershire A broad gauge (seven-foot) saddle tank loco built at the Falcon Works survives in the Azores gauge Falcon locomotives Nos. 265 and 266 ex-Beria Railway are in the Vale of Rheidol Railway Museum Collection, although not currently on public view. Metre gauge Ex. F.C. Reus - Salou No. 3 Falcon of 1886. Preserved in Salou, Spain, on a plinth adjacent to the former terminus of the F.C. Reus-Salou. A former turntable is also outside the old station. Only some 30 metres from the current RENFE station. Metre gauge Ex. F.C. Reus - Salou No.6 Falcon 153/1888. Preserved in a public park in Cambrils near Salou. Metre gauge Ex. F.C. Reus – Salou No.5 'SALOU' Falcon 118/1886. Preserved at Reus, Spain. Metre gauge Ex. F.C. Olot - Gerona No.4 Builder: Falcon 281/1899. Preserved at Reus. Elfkarleö Bruk No. 1, built in 1873 by Henry Hughes & Co., bought second-hand by Älvkarleö Mill in 1876 and was used as shunter between the mill and Älvkarleö station on the Uppsala Gefle Railway which was then newly opened. The locomotive was in use until 1945 when it was acquired by the museum.
Surviving diesel locomotives Over 75 examples of Brush Traction built engines have been preserved and can be seen at heritage railways across the United Kingdom. Many more examples can still be seen in action today on the mainlines.
Preserved light rail/tramway vehicles
Preserved Auckland, New Zealand, including Museum of Transport and Technology: Auckland Electric Tramways Company, No. 11 (1902) – double-bogie (Brush D1) saloon tram. Restored