Boyne Engine Works
Boyne Engine Works of Manning, Wardle and Company was set up in 1858 around the time of the demise of E.B. Wilson and Co., one of the most notable of early steam locomotive manufacturers in the area. Manning Wardle was established by former employees at the Railway Foundry, including Works Manager Alexander Campbell with the financial backing of J. Manning and C.W. Wardle. They purchased the designs, the goodwill and many of the personnel of E.B. Wilson and set up their business on adjacent land bought from Viscount Boyne. In contrast to the Hunslet Engine Co. and Hudswell Clarke & Co., who built a wide variety of engine types, Manning Wardle concentrated on specialised locomotives for contractors' use, but as time went by their failure to adopt to new construction methods made them uncompetitive and they wound up in 1927, after producing more than 2,000 steam locomotives.
After the firm closed in 1927, their assets were acquired by Kitsons and Hunslet Engine Co. The buildings were partially used by their neighbours the Hunslet Engine Company (at one time owned by Alexander Campbell's son James), whose works office, also now listed, is the next building along to the right.
The former offices and cast-iron gates are all that remain. Both are Grade II Listed.
After the firm closed in 1927, their assets were acquired by Kitsons and Hunslet Engine Co. The buildings were partially used by their neighbours the Hunslet Engine Company (at one time owned by Alexander Campbell's son James), whose works office, also now listed, is the next building along to the right.
The former offices and cast-iron gates are all that remain. Both are Grade II Listed.
The Hunslet Engine Company
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Founded in by John Leathley 1864 on Jack Lane, on part of the former Railway Foundry land. The first engine it built was "Linden" in 1865, a saddle tank. In 1871 James Campbell, who was manager at Manning Wardle, bought the company. In the early years the company specialised in shunting and short-haul engines, especially for use in quarries and coal mining. It built many for the slate quarries of North Wales between 1870 and 1932. Some of these now work tourist lines there and in North America. By the start of the 20th century it was exporting to over 30 countries. In the Second World War it made munitions, employing many women. By the 1930s it was developing diesel locos. It built the last industrial steam engine in Britain in 1971. Over 2,200 steam locomotives were built on this site. It supplied the locos for Channel Tunnel operations and its last contract was to supply locos for tunnelling the Jubilee Line extension. The decline of coal mining hastened the end of locomotive building on this site in 1995, but the firm's name lives since it was bought by the LH Group of Burton on Trent, who overhaul and build locos.
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