Brush Electrical Engineering Co: Railways
Note: This is a sub-section of Brush Electrical Engineering Co
1879 Charles Francis Brush, an American, set up the Anglo-American Brush Electric Light Corporation in Lambeth.
1889. Requiring larger premises the company acquired the assets of Henry Hughes and Co at Falcon Works, Loughborough. A new company was incorporated as Brush Electrical Engineering Co to take over the business of the former company[1].
1904 Shortly after the electrification of the Tyneside passenger lines the NER decided to electrify the Newcastle Quayside branch as well. Two electric locomotives (Nos. 1 & 2) were built to operate the branch. The frames and bodies were constructed by Brush Engineering in Loughborough, who acted as sub-contractors to British Thomson-Houston Co who supplied the electrical equipment.
Up to WWI, about 250 steam locomotives were built in addition to tram engines.
Production of locomotives finished after the 1914-18 War and the company concentrated on transport-related electrical equipment, including tramcars, trolleybuses and battery-operated vehicles.
The coachworks continued with, after World War II, omnibus bodies mounted on Daimler chassis using Gardner five-cylinder diesel engines and Daimler preselector gearboxes.
1947 Close to Derby and its railway workshops, the Brush company retained its contacts with the railway and in 1947 joined with W. G. Bagnall to produce diesel locomotives as Brush Bagnall Traction Ltd. When British Railways began to replace its fleet of steam engines, Brush entered the market for main line diesel-electric locomotives.
1950 Brush Electrical Engineering Co was the parent of the Brush ABOE group.
1954 Name of the Brush ABOE group would be changed to The Brush Group Ltd[2]. New name and group organisation was implemented with effect from 1 January 1956.