Walker Brothers (Wigan)
Walker Brothers of Pagefield Ironworks, Wigan were mining engineers and also produced Pagefield commercial vehicles.
1866 Company founded. See J. Scarisbrick Walker and Brothers
1890s: Engines at Whitburn Colliery, near Sunderland, were photographed by George Watkins: One was a cross compound fan engine made by Walker Bros, and the other was a winding engine believed to be by Walker Bros. Walker’s fitted new HP cylinders when higher pressure boilers were installed. [1]
1898 Compound ventilating engine for Garswood Hall Collieries (see illustration)[2]
1902 Fan engine for Dean and Chapter Colliery at Ferryhill. George Watkins photographed this vertical compound engine in 1953 [3]
1904 Private company.
1908 VertFan engine for Crumlin Navigation Colliery.
1913-1917 For a list of the models and prices of Petrol Motors see the 1917 Red Book under the Pagefield name.
1919 - 1920 A few Pagefields buses were made on a lorry chassis.
1921 One of these was bodied as a bus in Britain.
1923 Ventilating fan engine for The Severn Tunnel.
1927 A low frame PSV chassis was produced. It was very ahead of its time having a six-cylinder Dorman engine, four wheel internally-expanding drum brakes.
The whole engine assembly could be detached and wheeled out; this was an idea later brought about by Morris-Commercial.
Users of Pagefields were Grant's Saloon Services and Wigan Corporation who were local to the company.
The company were known for making the most successful battery-electric trucks.
Bus bought by Liverpool Corporation with a 25 passenger body.
By 1949 was a member of the Walmsleys (Bury) Group[4]
1961 Engineers and makers of mining and paper making machinery. [5]
See Also
Sources of Information
- Ian Allan - British Buses Since 1900 - Aldridge and Morris
- The Steam Engine in Industry by George Watkins in two volumes. Moorland Publishing. 1978. ISBN 0-903485-65-6