Builders - Building Contractors Products

• This volume of Building Steam in the UK considers the independent contractors: companies that were not owned by a railway company but built steam locomotives on contract to them and to others. In some cases, these contractors were equal in size and scale to many of the largest railway works but the majority were small. In the early days of steam railways in the UK almost all locomotives were built by these companies. The variety of locomotive types was very large, from mainline locomotives to small industrial locomotives, across all gauges and not just for the UK market.
• This volume contains a short introduction followed by a set of catalogue tables organised by region and town. For example, Wanning Wardle is located in the North East England table in the section for Leeds, which was a major centre of activity with fifteen companies listed. By following the link, the reader will be taken to the entry for that company. An attempt has been made to organise the works in a historical order so that the reader can follow their evolution through different phases of ownership.
• A section on the works of colliery and steel companies is included at the end of the catalogue. Some of these companies operated quite extensive private lines, usually of narrow gauge, with mostly freight but sometimes passenger services as well.