Drewry Car Co.
The Drewry Car Co was a railway
History
Charles Stewart Drewry (c. 1843 - 1929) ran a motor and cycle repair business called Drewry & Sons at Herne Hill Motor Works, Railway Arches, Herne Hill, London. His son, James Sidney Drewry (1882-1952), formed the Drewry Car Co on 27 November 1906 and opened a small works in Teddington where he started building Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA) engined rail trolleys and inspection railcars. The products of this works were sold by A.G. Evans & Co of London.[1] A ready market was found in South America, Africa and India.
In 1908, BSA (of motor-cycle fame) took over building the railcars in
In 1923, Baguley changed its name from Baguley Cars Ltd to Baguley (Engineers) Ltd, but in the late 1920s Drewry had ambitions for standard gauge railcars, which were on a scale not readily accommodated in the Baguley works, and from 1930 many Drewry locomotives were built instead by the English Electric company.[1] Baguley (Engineers) Ltd failed in 1931.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/97/Drewry_patagonico.jpg/220px-Drewry_patagonico.jpg)
In 1931, Drewry had a very successful demonstration of its new petrol engined railcar (made by English Electric) on the 7 mile line from Preston to Longridge. This comprised one powered carriage, and one trailed carriage. The powered car had two 155 hp Parsons M8 engines, and the transmission was 5-speed self-changing. The powered coach had 16 first class seats and 26 second class, the trailed coach was all first class. The demonstration train was one built for service on the Bermuda Railway, and the passengers were VIPs of the railway world from many countries and companies.[2] In Bermuda they gave good service until the railway closed in 1948, and then the railway locomotives and rolling stock were shipped to British Guiana - where they were used until that line closed in 1972. Drewry went on to export its railcars to many countries, including 35 to New Zealand.
In 1933, the
While Baguley (Engineers) Ltd had failed in 1931,
Drewry continued as a successful locomotive and railcar company in the post-war years, though it had no production facilities. It continued to rely on contracting out the manufacture, using companies such as
In 1962, Drewry acquired a controlling interest in E E Baguley Ltd, and formed Baguley-Drewry Ltd, thus once again building its own locomotives, in Burton upon Trent. The company closed in 1984.
Output
Shunting locomotives
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/Diema_and_The_Wasp.jpg/220px-Diema_and_The_Wasp.jpg)
- 29 TR class for the New Zealand Railways Department
- 1 LMS diesel shunter 7050
- 142 British Rail Class 04s
- 16 DS class for the New Zealand Railways Department
- 19 DSA class for the New Zealand Railways Department
- 25 DSB class for the New Zealand Railways Department
- 1 0-6-0 shunter for the Mount Lyell Mining & Railway Company[4]
- 18 Western Australian Government Railways Y class[5]
- 6 Western Australian Government Railways Z class[6]
Railcars
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/97/Drewry_patagonico.jpg/220px-Drewry_patagonico.jpg)
- 1 for the Weston, Clevedon and Portishead Light Railway (WC&PR) in 1921, with a matching trailer supplied in 1923. Both were broken up in 1940.[7]
- 1 for the
- 35 RM class for the New Zealand Railways Department from 1955
- 1 for the Christmas Island Phosphate Co.'s Railway[10]
- Tasmanian Government Railways DP class[11][12]
- Railcars for the Ryde Pier tramway[13]
References
- ^ ISBN 0715361155.
- Yorkshire Post & Leeds Intelligencer16 September 1931 page 4
- ^ £45,000 Contracts - Lancashire Firm to Share in Work Liverpool Echo 13 May 1938 page 7
- ^ Here & There Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin issue 307 May 1963 page 4
- ^ WAGR Takes Delivery of First Diesels for Shunting: Road Engines to Come Railway Transportation January 1954 page 16
- ^ Here & There Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin issue 701 March 1996 page 96
- ^ ISBN 0-905466-42-X.
- ^ Locomotives of the Southern Railway. Part 1, Railway Correspondence and Travel Society, 1975.
- ^ Clark, P.R. (1976). "Southern Railway petrol railcar No. 5". Model Railway Constructor. Vol. 43, no. 505. pp. 176–177.
- ^ Christmas Island Light Railways issue 29 Spring 1969 pages 6
- ^ Tasmanian Government Railways 75HP Bogie Rail Motor Locomotive, Railway Carriage & Wagon Review issue 410 October 1926 page 326
- Port Pirie Recorder26 September 1939 page 2
- ^ "Drewry Railcar No 2".
Sources
- "The Drewry Car Company:1906-1970". Industrial Railway Record(40). Industrial Railway Society. 1972.
- Marsden, Colin J., (2003) The Diesel Shunter, Oxford Publishing, ISBN 0-86093-579-5
- The Railway Products of Baguley-Drewry Ltd and Its Predecessors, Civil, A, and Etherington, R, (2008), The Industrial Railway Society, ISBN 978-1-901556-44-5
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)