Gilkes Wilson and Company was a British

locomotive A locomotive is a rail transport, rail vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. Traditionally, locomotives pulled trains from the front. However, Push–pull train, push–pull operation has become common, and in the pursuit for ...

manufacturer at Teesside Engine Works in

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

which opened in 1843. Initially repairing locomotives, the company built its first engines in 1847.

History

Gilkes and Wilson was formed as a partnership between Quakers Isaac Wilson and Edgar Gilkes. Edgar Gilkes was a Middlesbrough councillor, mayor (1863-64) and alderman. He died in Grange-over-Sands in 1894. In 1865 the company merged with Hopkins and Company (establishers of the Tees Side Iron Works, 1857) to become Hopkins Gilkes and Company. The firm undertook design, construction and manufacture of the ironwork for the Deepdale and

Belah Belah is a suburb of Carlisle in the Cumberland district, in the county of Cumbria, England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of whic ...

viaducts (b.1857-1860) on the

South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway The South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway (SD&LUR) built a railway line linking the Stockton and Darlington Railway near Bishop Auckland with the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway (the West Coast Main Line) at Tebay, via Barnard Castle, Stainm ...

to a design of

Thomas Bouch Sir Thomas Bouch (; 22 February 1822 – 30 October 1880) was a British railway engineer. He was born in Thursby, near Carlisle, Cumbria, Carlisle, Cumberland, and lived in Edinburgh. As manager of the Edinburgh and Northern Railway he introduc ...

and Robert Henry Bow. In 1875, the name changed again to the Tees-side Iron and Engine Works Company Limited, having built 351 locomotives in total. Subsequently the firm worked with Bouch on the

Tay Bridge The Tay Bridge carries rail traffic across the Firth of Tay in Scotland between Dundee and the suburb of Wormit in Fife. Its span is . It is the second bridge to occupy the site. Plans for a bridge over the Tay to replace the train ferry servi ...

, and had their reputation very badly damaged as a result of the Tay Bridge Disaster. The 1870s

Long Depression The Long Depression was a worldwide price and economic recession, beginning in Panic of 1873, 1873 and running either through March 1879, or 1899, depending on the metrics used. It was most severe in Europe and the United States, which had been e ...

forced several Cleveland iron firms out of business including Hopkins Gilkes. The company closed in 1880.

Customers

Edgar Gilkes had worked for the

Stockton and Darlington Railway The Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) was a railway company that operated in north-east England from 1825 to 1863. The world's first public railway to use steam locomotives, its first line connected coal mining, collieries near with ...

and large numbers were built for the line and the North Eastern Railway. Other customers were: *

York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway The York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway (YN&BR) was an English railway company formed in 1847 by the amalgamation of the York and Newcastle Railway as well as the Newcastle and Berwick Railway. Both companies were part of the group of business i ...

* Leeds and Thirsk Railway * Newmarket and Great Chesterford Railway *

Llanelly Railway The Llanelly Railway and Dock Company was an early Welsh railway system. It opened its first short line and a wet dock at Llanelli in 1834, and soon went on to build a longer line from Llanelly to serve pits in the Amman Valley, and then on to Ll ...

Liskeard and Caradon Railway The Liskeard and Caradon Railway () was a mineral railway in Cornwall, in the United Kingdom, which opened in 1844. It was built to carry the ores of copper and tin, and also granite, from their sources on Caradon Hill down to Moorswater for on ...

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Tay Bridge, Dundee
Locomotive manufacturers of the United Kingdom Companies based in Middlesbrough Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1843 Defunct companies based in Yorkshire 1843 establishments in England British companies established in 1843

History

Customers

References

Sources

Further reading

External links