British United Traction (BUT) was a manufacturer of railway equipment and trolleybuses. It was established in 1946 as a joint venture between AEC and Leyland.

History

British United Traction was established in 1946 when AEC and Leyland amalgamated their trolleybus interests. Neither had produced trolleybuses since early years of World War II. With both forecasting that demand would return to pre-war levels as networks began to close, a joint venture was formed. The new company was organised so that AEC would design and produce vehicles for the UK market while Leyland looked after export markets, although there were some exceptions to this. The only noticeable difference between the manufacturers output was the wheels. Initially vehicles were produced at Leyland's

Ham, London Ham is a suburban district in Richmond, south-west London. It has meadows adjoining the River Thames where the Thames Path National Trail also runs. Most of Ham is in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and, chiefly, within the ward of ...

factory, with the first vehicles completed in 1947 for Johannesburg. After the factory closed 1948, production moved to AEC's Southall and Leyland's Leyland, Lancashire factories. Following AEC's acquisition of Crossley Motors, AEC transferred its production to the latter's

Stockport Stockport is a town and borough in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt and Tame merge to create the River Mersey here. Most of the town is within ...

factory. Trolleybus production wound down in the late 1950s, however a final batch for Wellington was built at Scammell's, Watford factory in 1964.

Trolleybuses

* 9611T * 9612T * 9613T * 9641T * RETB1 / LETB1

Diesel engines for railways

British United Traction was a major supplier of diesel engines for

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

's first-generation diesel multiple units. These engines were built in , and versions and were branded AEC, Leyland or Leyland-

Albion Albion is an alternative name for Great Britain. The oldest attestation of the toponym comes from the Greek language. It is sometimes used poetically and generally to refer to the island, but is less common than 'Britain' today. The name for Scot ...

. A version was supplied to the Ulster Transport Authority for its

UTA MPD The Ulster Transport Authority Multi-Purpose Diesel (UTA MPD) was a diesel powered railcar, used in Northern Ireland. It was developed by the Ulster Transport Authority (UTA) as a progression of the earlier Multi-engined Diesel (MED). The MED ...

class railcar.

References

External links

{{British United Traction Associated Equipment Company Defunct bus manufacturers of the United Kingdom Electric vehicle manufacturers of the United Kingdom Leyland Motors Trolleybus manufacturers Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1946 1946 establishments in England