Old name new outlook
Rail Express|April 2020
Clayton Equipment has survived where other loco-builders have not. Alistair Grieve pays a visit to the now-independent company’s base in Burton-on-Trent to find out more.
Alistair Grieve
Old name new outlook

THE traditional view of a locomotive works is one of large buildings, high roofs, and acres of land and sidings, so to find that one of Britain’s last standard gauge locomotive manufacturers is operating out of an industrial unit on the edge of Burton-on-Trent will probably come as a surprise to many. More so when they see the name on the side of the building: Clayton Equipment.

Whilst many will associate the company with the ill-fated Class 17s and the final assembly of the Class 47 lookalikes for Cuba in the 1960s, the company is much more than that and – unlike its many competitors that have fallen by the wayside – is still going today and still building locomotives.

90 YEARS OF HISTORY

The company can trace its history back to 1931 when it was founded by Stanley Reid Devlin, manufacturing goods and spare parts for Clayton Carriage and Wagon Equipment. Stanley had been the chief draughtsman at Clayton Carriage and Wagon but, when the firm went into receivership after the Great Depression, he set up Clayton Equipment to provide maintenance for the existing products.

The company grew and diversified, extending into war materials during the Second World War and then afterwards into farm buildings and equipment. A new large site at Hatton in Derbyshire was acquired in 1946 that allowed the company to expand, and it began to build locomotives and industrial equipment for export around the world. Clayton Equipment was acquired by International Combustion Holdings in 1957, but continued to operate as a self-contained unit, and it was during this time that the Class 17s and Cuba ‘47s’ were built.

Esta historia es de la edición April 2020 de Rail Express.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

Esta historia es de la edición April 2020 de Rail Express.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

MÁS HISTORIAS DE RAIL EXPRESSVer todo
LNER puts remaining ‘91s' into warm store
Rail Express

LNER puts remaining ‘91s' into warm store

The ongoing pandemic restrictions and major engineering works have resulted in the complete withdrawal of the last remaining ‘Electras’ from passenger service, although the plan is to resurrect them in the summer.

time-read
3 minutos  |
March 2021
Mk.1 Restaurant-Buffet (RBR) cars
Rail Express

Mk.1 Restaurant-Buffet (RBR) cars

A SURPRISING number of Mk.1catering cars have survived to see service on the privatised railway, in private operator and charter trains. They may turn up on anything from an enthusiast special to higher-end dining trains and have been formed in trains as prestigious as the locomotive-hauledBlue Pullman’ set, the ‘Great Britain’ tours operated by West Coast Railways and the ‘Northern Belle’ tour train.

time-read
2 minutos  |
March 2021
Powerscene
Rail Express

Powerscene

Our authoritative class-by-class review of newsworthy locomotive workings.

time-read
10+ minutos  |
March 2021
End for Freightliner Class 86/6s
Rail Express

End for Freightliner Class 86/6s

The company’s Class 86/6 fleet down to just two examples as seven locos are stored.

time-read
1 min  |
March 2021
Service reductions as Covid cases increase
Rail Express

Service reductions as Covid cases increase

An increase in Covid-19 cases in early January saw the governments in Ireland and Northern Ireland impose stricter lockdown measures that impacted on public transport.

time-read
6 minutos  |
March 2021
East West Rail funding go-ahead
Rail Express

East West Rail funding go-ahead

Although it was expected, £760 million of funding has now been confirmed to build the Western Section of the East West Railway scheme.

time-read
3 minutos  |
March 2021
Travellers-Fare with Hornby's Mk.1 Restaurant-Buffet car
Rail Express

Travellers-Fare with Hornby's Mk.1 Restaurant-Buffet car

Hornby expands its range of retooled ‘OO’ gauge Mk.1 coaches with a brand new tooling for the Diagram 24 Restaurant-Buffet car (RB) and the Diagram 33 refurbished version (RBR). It models the vehicles in both original form, finished in BR maroon and Southern Region green, together with the RBR refurbished coaches. They remained in frontline service well into the 1990s, including Cross-Country workings.

time-read
4 minutos  |
March 2021
Class 92 revolution
Rail Express

Class 92 revolution

Despite its complex shape and high detail ratio compared to other modern six-axle locomotives, Revolution Trains chose the Class 92 to be its first 'N' gauge locomotive model.

time-read
7 minutos  |
March 2021
Bottling it!
Rail Express

Bottling it!

A dig into the Rail Express archive has revealed some rarely-seen photographs of the former rail-connected Express Dairy bottling plant in South West London, which today is the site of a large mosque.

time-read
2 minutos  |
March 2021
1990s ‘N' gauge Class 950
Rail Express

1990s ‘N' gauge Class 950

Work on the ‘N’ gauge Class 950 Track Recording Unit project, a conversion based on a standard Graham Farish Class 150/1 model, is concluded by finishing the model in 1990s condition.

time-read
8 minutos  |
March 2021