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Pressed Steel, Linwood

Ian Smeeton

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Ian Smeeton

Ian Smeeton

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I have been looking on the web for some info on Paisley St James station, with a view to modelling it.

 

I had thought that the output from Pressed Steel at Lnwood would have gone out through Elderslie and the ex G & SWR line, however it appears that some of the products would have left via the 'Dummy Railway', and Paisley St James Station.

 

Class 303 the original Glasgow 'Blue Trains', class 117 DMUs, and 16 ton merals are obvious candidates, but what else was produced there? (Railway-wise, I mean. Trainloads of Fridges would be of less nterest.

 

Also, reading through some of the info on the web, there were t least one if not more trains every day to and from Rootes Group conveying sub assemblies and body panels in and out.

 

These are listed as being sent in containers, but what sort?

 

Are we talking pre ISO standards Freightliner type, or even older types on Conflats etc

 

Regards, and thanks in Advance

 

Ian

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Legend

Legend

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I think they were ISO containers , but the only reason for thinking this is I saw a train of them on Elderslie model railway layout from Renfrewshire MRC . I think the containers were Blue and were company branded. Not sure if they were branded Rootes or Chrysler. Somewhere I'm sure I have a book with a pic of a container train going down the G&SWR line hauled by a 47 in two gone green.

 

Very interested in your layout as it's local to me. I walked up the dummy railway to school most days (when the line had been lifted)

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russ p

russ p

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Not 100% sure what containers were used but Linwood received bodyshells of some cars like the sunbeam from ryton I believe

 

122s were Gloucester's version of the single car DMU, the driving trailers for the 121 were originally 149 but late 121 DTS likewise the 122 trailers were originally 150

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Ian Smeeton

Ian Smeeton

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Thanks, both for that.

 

I have been hunting through the image files for Linwood, Pressed Steel, etc.

 

I see that some Mk1 coaches were built there, too as well as GUVs and Hoppers

 

http://www.47soton.co.uk/2013_09_01_archive.html

 

http://www.dartmoor-railway-sa.org/sguv

 

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwi1gMSkmYfMAhWLPhQKHcatDNAQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nymr.co.uk%2F2015%2F08%2Fpay-attention-and-concentrate%2F&psig=AFQjCNHqFHFRrCCFOjjWMaLXwd7ADr5_tA&ust=1460484995240103

 

 

 

Cars, obviously, as well. I wonder where this was taken

 

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj506q6mYfMAhWIxRQKHcDLApcQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.imps.me.uk%2Fhistory%2Fhistory.html&psig=AFQjCNHqFHFRrCCFOjjWMaLXwd7ADr5_tA&ust=1460484995240103

 

Looks a bit like Paisley Canal.

 

Looking at Britain from Above website, the photos are quite early, when the Factoryu was Beardmores, and then Pressed Steel, the only rail access was via the 'Dummy Railway'.

 

Although I only have photos from the very late 7o's or early eighties, I think that Railborne car production left via loading banks at Elderslie, which might account for the route.

 

Thanks for the help.

 

Regards

 

Ian

 

Edited to remove copyright images put on in either excitement or fatigue. Links will follow ASAP

 

Ian

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ajwffc

ajwffc

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a quick look on railscot website brings up these pics 

https://www.railscot.co.uk/imageenlarge/imagecomplete.php?id=41604

https://www.railscot.co.uk/imageenlarge/imagecomplete.php?id=48344

https://www.railscot.co.uk/imageenlarge/imagecomplete.php?id=6314

https://www.railscot.co.uk/imageenlarge/imagecomplete.php?id=13346

 

http://rlhf.info/wp-content/uploads/12.8-Linwoods-Lost-Railways-Wilson.pdf

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Legend

Legend

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Thanks for these great links, particularly Linwoods Lost Railways which was fascinating. I did know that there were railways in Linwood but had assumed they came from the G&SWR line to Bridge of Weir , which is the only line I knew of. The Lines described are a revelation and I'm looking forward to going over this article again when I have more time tonight. truly fascinating . Thanks for the link.

 

I'm glad you found the container train pics, I scoured My books lady night looking for that pic and failed!now suspect it may have been an edition of Modern Railways or History of Railways . I'll continue the quest just to satisfy my curiosity.

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Fat Controller

Fat Controller

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I have a vague memory that bodies may have been transferred in open-frame, rather than box, containers.
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russ p

russ p

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I Emailed BMW who took over Rover but did not get any reply at all.

No surprise there then, BMW asset stripped rover.

Asking BMW about rover would be like asking Bruce Reynolds about the history of bank notes!

 

Don't delete this I am a life long Austin rover historian I do not wish to argue the point!

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BrushVeteran

BrushVeteran

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Pressed Steel was also part of the development team responsible for building the Roadrailer prototype train in partnership with British Railways, British Road Services, and I believe Dowty Hydraulics. I once worked for one of the test engineers, who worked at Pressed Steel, Linwood and also knew Ken Gadd, the Chief Engineer of the project.

 

Unfortunately over fifty years ago now and the two gentlemen have passed away. From my recollection Linwood actually produced the Hillman Imp and its variants. I know here in Oxford there were traffic flows between the two sites, both by road and rail and the movement by road was contracted to BRS. I was also told by an ex work colleague of mine that also drove BRS car body transporters that it was bodies in one direction and fridges in the other. 

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Legend

Legend

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I think it built Hillman Imps, Hunters and Avengers. There's a blast from the past eh? Latterly it was the Talbot hatchback thing, whose name I can't remember.

 

My uncle used to work there. Remember cars with vinyl roofs? He told me they put the vinyl roof on the ones with defects to metalwork, paintwork . The only other thing I can remember is they used to strike frequently!

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Fat Controller

Fat Controller

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I think it built Hillman Imps, Hunters and Avengers. There's a blast from the past eh? Latterly it was the Talbot hatchback thing, whose name I can't remember.

 

My uncle used to work there. Remember cars with vinyl roofs? He told me they put the vinyl roof on the ones with defects to metalwork, paintwork . The only other thing I can remember is they used to strike frequently!

Wasn't it the Rootes plant at Linwood that did Imps, whilst the Coventry plants did the Hunters and Avengers, with there being flows of finished cars in both directions? Pressed Steel did the body shells etc, but not complete cars. We had a Pressed Steel plant in Llanelli, which mainly did componenets for BMC; they also were prone to strikes, most notably amongst the tool-makers. Must be something about the noise that drove people to it. The division that did fridges was called 'Prestcold'; they also had a South Wales plant, at Swansea. It closed after some shenanigans involving a company called 'Rolls Razor', and was later incorporated into the nearby Ford Plant.
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russ p

russ p

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I think part of pressed steel is still going in some shape or other, it became pressed steel fisher but was still part of BL.

Prestcold were interesting, they were also briefly part of BL. Nationalised fridges! I love one of those.

The strange thing about all of the pressed steel group was that it was part of BL not rooted who by the seventies were part of the Chrysler group. It's widely believed that Tony Bennett wanted the rooted group to join BL, whether this would have been good or bad can only be speculation now.

Certainly, it could have given the group a state of the art conventional platform in the shape of the avenger to use rather than the parts bin that became the marina.

But all the extra marque's such as hillman, Humber,singer etc on top all the existing BMC ones would have been a bit confused to say the least

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Fat Controller

Fat Controller

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pressed_Steel_Company gives an interesting, and reasonably accurate overview of Pressed Steel's development. There was quite a lot of trading between the different vehicle firms, as each tried to make the maximum use of expensive capacity. Pressed Steel seemed, at one time, to have supplied everyone bar Ford with parts and entire bodies.
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