Robert Hudson Ltd
Encyclopedia
Light railway
Light railway refers to a railway built at lower costs and to lower standards than typical "heavy rail". This usually means the railway uses lighter weight track, and is more steeply graded and tightly curved to avoid civil engineering costs...
materials, based in Gildersome
Gildersome
Gildersome is a village and civil parish in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough 5 miles south west of Leeds city centre in West Yorkshire, England....
, near Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The name was later changed to Robert Hudson (Raletrux) Ltd.
The business
The business was founded in 1865 by Robert Hudson at Gildersome, near Leeds. The Hudson family owned the local Victoria Colliery in Bruntcliffe, MorleyMorley, West Yorkshire
Morley is a market town and civil parish within the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England. It lies approximately south-west of Leeds city centre. Together with Drighlington, Gildersome, Churwell, Tingley and East/West Ardsley, the town had a population of 47,579 in...
. To improve access to the works a connection with the Great Northern Railway
Great Northern Railway (Great Britain)
The Great Northern Railway was a British railway company established by the Great Northern Railway Act of 1846. On 1 January 1923 the company lost its identity as a constituent of the newly formed London and North Eastern Railway....
main line from Wakefield
Wakefield
Wakefield is the main settlement and administrative centre of the City of Wakefield, a metropolitan district of West Yorkshire, England. Located by the River Calder on the eastern edge of the Pennines, the urban area is and had a population of 76,886 in 2001....
to Bradford
Bradford
Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
was established in 1890 thus allowing raw materials
Material
Material is anything made of matter, constituted of one or more substances. Wood, cement, hydrogen, air and water are all examples of materials. Sometimes the term "material" is used more narrowly to refer to substances or components with certain physical properties that are used as inputs to...
and finished good
Finished good
Finished goods are goods that have completed the manufacturing process but have not yet been sold or distributed to the end user.-Manufacturing:Manufacturing has three classes of inventory:#Raw material#Work in process#Finished goods...
s to be transported by rail. A head office was established in Meadow Lane, in the centre of Leeds, which was ideal for customers arriving by rail. This was principally the sales and design office.
The Gildersome works occupied a 38 acres (153,780.7 m²) site, and included an iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
and steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
foundry
Foundry
A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal in a mold, and removing the mold material or casting after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals processed are aluminum and cast iron...
with two Bessemer furnaces
Bessemer process
The Bessemer process was the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass-production of steel from molten pig iron. The process is named after its inventor, Henry Bessemer, who took out a patent on the process in 1855. The process was independently discovered in 1851 by William Kelly...
, machine shops
Machining
Conventional machining is a form of subtractive manufacturing, in which a collection of material-working processes utilizing power-driven machine tools, such as saws, lathes, milling machines, and drill presses, are used with a sharp cutting tool to physical remove material to achieve a desired...
, erecting shops, pattern making
Pattern (casting)
In casting, a pattern is a replica of the object to be cast, used to prepare the cavity into which molten material will be poured during the casting process.Patterns used in sand casting may be made of wood, metal, plastics or other materials...
and a detail drawing office. To transport material around the site a hand worked 2 foot (0.6096 m) gauge tramway was used.
A wagon load of narrow gauge track points, loaded at Hudson's on 14 December 1953, caused a spectacular derailment at Longniddry Junction near Edinburgh at 00.41 on 17 December. The top set of points came loose when the rope broke and fouled the up line just as an express parcels train approached. The parcels locomotive and vans destroyed much of the station platform and its fireman was killed.
Overseas branches
In 1906 offices and stores were opened in JohannesburgJohannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, for the supply of light railway materials to the diamond
Diamond
In mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions...
and gold mining
Gold mining
Gold mining is the removal of gold from the ground. There are several techniques and processes by which gold may be extracted from the earth.-History:...
industries. In 1907 an Agency was opened in Calcutta for the development of the India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n trade. Subsequently a works and offices were built at Kidderpore
Kidderpore
Khidirpur or Kidderpore is a neighbourhood of metropolitan Kolkata . Located in the central-west part of the city, it is bounded by the districts of Alipore in the east, Ekbalpore in the south, Hastings in the north, Metiabruz in the south-west and the Hooghly River in the west.-History:One of the...
, near Calcutta. There was also an office in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
to serve Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
and North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
.
In 1927 the first South African works was built in Durban
Durban
Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...
. This was followed later by a works near Johannesburg, which was replaced in 1948 when a large new works was erected at Benoni
Benoni, Gauteng
Benoni is a city with 654,509 inhabitants on the East Rand in the South African province of Gauteng. Since 2000, it has been part of the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality.- History :...
, near Johannesburg.
Between World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
the largest project Hudson were involved in was the supply of the complete equipment required for the Luanda
Luanda
Luanda, formerly named São Paulo da Assunção de Loanda, is the capital and largest city of Angola. Located on Angola's coast with the Atlantic Ocean, Luanda is both Angola's chief seaport and its administrative center. It has a population of at least 5 million...
railway in Portuguese West Africa
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
. The permanent way
Permanent way
The permanent way is the elements of railway lines: generally the pairs of rails typically laid on the sleepers embedded in ballast, intended to carry the ordinary trains of a railway...
alone cost over £900,000 sterling and consumed 80,000 tons of British steel.
The Products
The company’s primary products were vehicles and trackwork for narrow gauge railways but also included aerial ropewayRopeway conveyor
A ropeway conveyor or material ropeway is essentially a subtype of gondola lift, from which containers for goods rather than passenger cars are suspended....
systems. The range of items supplied was very extensive and included supporting equipment such as platelayer
Platelayer
A platelayer or trackman is a railway employee whose job is to inspect and maintain the permanent way of a railway installation.The term derives from the plates used to build plateways, an early form of railway....
s' tools.
To support the main business and provide a complete service to the customer, Robert Hudson supplied almost any related equipment. To achieve this range of products, many of the items were bought in. A typical example of this is weighbridges that were supplied by Denison’s Foundry in Leeds.
Wagons
Hydraulic press
A hydraulic is a machine using a hydraulic cylinder to generate a compressive force. It uses the hydraulic equivalenta mechanical lever, and was also known as a Bramah press after the inventor, Joseph Bramah, of England. He invented and was issued a patent on this press in 1795...
to form pressed steel components. The use of corrugation
Corrugated galvanised iron
Corrugated galvanised iron is a building material composed of sheets of hot-dip galvanised mild steel, cold-rolled to produce a linear corrugated pattern in them...
as part of the pressing process also helped to provide a strong body with thinner gauge steel. This combination provided a competitive advantage that contributed to Hudson’s success.
Steam locomotives
In 1911 Robert Hudson entered into an agreement with Hudswell ClarkeHudswell Clarke
Hudswell, Clarke and Company Limited was an engineering and locomotive building company in Jack Lane, Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.-History:...
for the manufacture of narrow gauge locomotive
Locomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
s. This arrangement produced 16 standardised designs, designated A to Q, which ranged from four coupled (0-4-0
0-4-0
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 0-4-0 represents one of the simplest possible types, that with two axles and four coupled wheels, all of which are driven...
) 5 hp engines to six coupled (0-6-0
0-6-0
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 0-6-0 represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and no trailing wheels...
) 55 hp models. The designs were sufficiently flexible to allow for the various track gauges in use. Over the years, 188 locomotives were supplied to these designs.
Petrol and diesel locomotives
Hudsons also realised the advantages of the internal combustionInternal combustion engine
The internal combustion engine is an engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer in a combustion chamber. In an internal combustion engine, the expansion of the high-temperature and high -pressure gases produced by combustion apply direct force to some component of the engine...
locomotive and the 1915 catalogue offered a range of five petrol (gasoline
Gasoline
Gasoline , or petrol , is a toxic, translucent, petroleum-derived liquid that is primarily used as a fuel in internal combustion engines. It consists mostly of organic compounds obtained by the fractional distillation of petroleum, enhanced with a variety of additives. Some gasolines also contain...
) locomotive supplied by Avonside Engine Company
Avonside Engine Company
The Avonside Engine Company was a locomotive manufacturer in Avon Street, St. Philip's, Bristol, England between 1864 and 1934. However the business originated with an earlier enterprise Henry Stothert and Company.-Origins:...
of Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
.
When the Fordson petrol tractor
Fordson tractor
Fordson was a brand name used on a range of mass produced general-purpose tractors manufactured by Henry Ford & Son, Inc, from 1917 until 1920 when it was merged into the Ford Motor Company, which used the name until 1964...
became widely available in the 1920’s Hudsons adapted this unit to make a simple locomotive. The locomotive used a four wheeled cast chassis to which a roller chain
Roller chain
Roller chain or bush roller chain is the type of chain drive most commonly used for transmission of mechanical power on many kinds of domestic, industrial and agricultural machinery, including conveyors, wire and tube drawing machines, printing presses, cars, motorcycles, and simple machines like...
drive connected to the tractor axle. The tractor gearbox
Transmission (mechanics)
A machine consists of a power source and a power transmission system, which provides controlled application of the power. Merriam-Webster defines transmission as: an assembly of parts including the speed-changing gears and the propeller shaft by which the power is transmitted from an engine to a...
had three forward speeds but only one reverse gear, which clearly was a limitation for a locomotive that has to operate bi-directionally. Only a few of these machines were constructed but fortunately a gauge, 1928 model is preserved at the Armley Mills Industrial Museum
Armley Mills Industrial Museum
The Armley Mills Leeds Industrial Museum is a museum of industrial heritage located in Armley, west Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It includes collections of textile machinery, railway equipment and heavy engineering amongst others....
, Leeds. The oldest working Hudson Hunslet engine '1944', (built in 1939) has just been restored, complete with her original Ailsa Craig 20 hp engine, and is preserved at the Old Kiln Light Railway, Tilford, Surrey.
The manufacture of internal combustion locomotives was not pursued and Hudsons often supplied Avonside Engine Company
Avonside Engine Company
The Avonside Engine Company was a locomotive manufacturer in Avon Street, St. Philip's, Bristol, England between 1864 and 1934. However the business originated with an earlier enterprise Henry Stothert and Company.-Origins:...
or Kerr Stuart
Kerr Stuart
Kerr, Stuart and Company Ltd was a locomotive manufacturer from Stoke-on-Trent, England.-History:It was founded in 1881 by James Kerr as James Kerr & Company, and became Kerr, Stuart & Company from 1883 when John Stuart was taken on as a partner...
units to their customers. When the Hunslet Engine Company
Hunslet Engine Company
The Hunslet Engine Company is a British locomotive-building company founded in 1864 at Jack Lane, Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England by John Towlerton Leather, a civil engineering contractor, who appointed James Campbell as his Works Manager.In 1871, James Campbell bought the company for...
took over these designs it was only logical that Hudsons would form a partnership with Hunslet. The first locomotive to carry the Hudson Hunslet plate was in March 1937. The locomotive frame was a one piece casting and the power was delivered by a chain drive and friction clutch
Clutch
A clutch is a mechanical device which provides for the transmission of power from one component to another...
from a 20 hp Ailsa Craig CF2 diesel engine
Diesel engine
A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...
. Subsequently 25 hp, 30 hp, 40 hp and 50 hp versions were built. A 1944 version is also preserved at the Armley Mills Industrial Museum
Armley Mills Industrial Museum
The Armley Mills Leeds Industrial Museum is a museum of industrial heritage located in Armley, west Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It includes collections of textile machinery, railway equipment and heavy engineering amongst others....
in Leeds. In the 1950’s these designs were refined and the 20 hp unit relabelled 21 hp. In practice differences were small, the driver was given a seated position, the height was lower and the bonnet or hood
Hood (vehicle)
The hood or bonnet is the hinged cover over the engine of motor vehicles that allows access to the engine compartment for maintenance and repair. In British terminology, hood refers to a fabric cover over the passenger compartment of the car...
was fitted with sloping sides and removable engine covers.
In 1968 Hudson ventured into locomotive manufacture again and produced two experimental locomotives using Gardner engines and hydraulic transmission. One of these, LX002/1968 is preserved by the Moseley Railway Trust
Moseley Railway Trust
The Moseley Railway Trust is a major British collection of industrial narrow gauge locomotives and other equipment. It originally had its base in south Manchester, but has completely relocated to the Apedale Country Park near Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire where a passenger railway is now open...
.
Mining equipment
Hudson was a major player in setting the standards for coalCoal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
haulage. In the 1930s the introduction of practical locomotive haulage in coal mines
Coal mining
The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...
demanded better wagons than the traditional plain bearing designs. Hudson introduced new designs with pressed steel corrugated bodies with roller bearing
Rolling-element bearing
A rolling-element bearing, also known as a rolling bearing, is a bearing which carries a load by placing round elements between the two pieces...
wheels. This style of vehicle was ultimately adopted by the National Coal Board
National Coal Board
The National Coal Board was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the mines on "vesting day", 1 January 1947...
as its standard coal haulage vehicle.
Catalogue
The catalogue issued in 1957 illustrates the vast range of products and consisted of nine separate books:-- Section A - Track and Track Accessories. Turnouts and Switches and Crossings. Turntables and Easy Turnouts. Platelayers tools.
- Section B - Contractors’ and Quarry type Tipping Wagons and Miscellaneous Light Tipping Wagons.
- Section C - Double Side Tipping Wagons, Double End Tipping Wagons, Tippler Trucks, and Box Cars for Mining and Tunnelling.
- Section D - Mine Cars, Colliery Tubs, Man Riding Cars.
- Section E - Granby and Special Side Dump Cars. Anode and Cathode Cars. Side and Bottom Discharge Hopper Wagons. Box Cars. Containers and Skips. Goods Wagons and Brake Cars.
- Section F - Sugar Cane, Sisal and Fruit Cars. Trailers. Platform and Tank Wagons. Brick Cars and Industrial Trucks. Logging Bogies and Estate Cars.
- Section G - Wheels, Axles, and Axleboxes. Springs. Lubrication. Brakes and Braking. Buffers and Coupling. Parts and Attachments for Wagons. Special Steels.
- Section L - HUDSON/HUNSLET Steam and Light Diesel Locos.
Road vehicles
In 1950’s Hudsons recognised the threat to their business in the construction industry from rubber tyred road vehicles. To meet this challenge they introduced their own range of road vehicles starting in 1960 with the LEEDSALL dumper truckDumper
A dumper is a vehicle designed for carrying bulk material, often on building sites. Dumpers are distinguished from dump trucks by configuration: a dumper is usually an open 4-wheeled vehicle with the load skip in front of the driver, while a dump truck has its cab in front of the load. The skip can...
. This was followed by the KIWI crane
Crane (machine)
A crane is a type of machine, generally equipped with a hoist, wire ropes or chains, and sheaves, that can be used both to lift and lower materials and to move them horizontally. It uses one or more simple machines to create mechanical advantage and thus move loads beyond the normal capability of...
,the TIMISER low loading trailer and the FRONTOMATIC concrete mixer. These developments initially provided replacement work for the declining orders for railway equipment and to consolidate this, a Contractor’s Equipment division was formed in 1964. In 1968 a separate building was opened on the main Wakefield-Bradford Road with showrooms and land for demonstration purposes. With the demise of the Gildersome works the company became a sales and service organisation for construction plant and machinery e.g. Ford
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
, Barford
Aveling and Porter
Aveling and Porter was a British agricultural engine and steam roller manufacturer. Thomas Aveling and Richard Thomas Porter entered into partnership in 1862, developed a steam engine three years later in 1865 and produced more steam rollers than all the other British manufacturers combined.-The...
, Kubota
Kubota
, is a tractor and heavy equipment manufacturer based in Osaka, Japan. One of its notable contributions was to the construction of the Solar Ark. The company was established in 1890.The company produces many products including:...
.
In 1981 the much reduced Raletrux business relocated to Mill Green in the Wortley
Wortley, West Yorkshire
Wortley is a district of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It begins one mile to the west of the city centre.In the 1086 Domesday Book it is mentioned as Wirtlei, also Wirtleie and Wrleia. Later it was known as Wirkelay until about 1700...
district of Leeds, however, the declining railway business finally took its toll in 1984 when the company was liquidated
Liquidation
In law, liquidation is the process by which a company is brought to an end, and the assets and property of the company redistributed. Liquidation is also sometimes referred to as winding-up or dissolution, although dissolution technically refers to the last stage of liquidation...
. The remaining plant, machinery, stores and equipment were auctioned on 31 January 1985 at the Mill Green works. The goodwill passed to NEI Becorit and ultimately to Clayton Equipment, based in Derby
Derby
Derby , is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407...
, who are still very active in the narrow gauge railway industry and using the Robert Hudson name in their marketing.