British Carriage & Wagon Builders & Repairers 1830-2018, by Chris Sambrook

British Carriage & Wagon Builders & Repairers 1830-2018, by Chris Sambrook

Published by Lightmoor Press in 2019, 296 pages. Large Hardback - c.28cm by 22cm (N7234)

Brand New Book

From the rear side cover: Originally published in 2007 in a fairly small print run, this book has long been out of print but the opportunity has now been taken to produce this considerably enlarged edition.

This book is the result of many years diligent research by the author. It details the many railway carriage and wagon building firms for which Great Britain was once noted. Not only are the big players, such as Charles Roberts, the Gloucester Railway Carriage & Wagon, the Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon and Hurst, Nelson, covered but so are many dozen of the smaller businesses, some almost one-man bands.

Since the original publication date a large amount of new material has come to light adding greatly to the known number of wagon builders. In the main this is due to the huge number of searchable nineteenth century newspaper pages that have become available digitally. It is fair to say that these have been interrogated by a number of people and it is likely that very few references to wagon building have escaped attention.

The companies have been listed out alphabetically with the links between firms highlighted for ease of cross reference. This was necessary as many of the firms followed on one from another or had members of wagon building family dynasties connected with them – something which only became apparent when actually compiling the volume.

This book makes a wonderful contribution to British industrial and railway history forming an invaluable source both for historians and for those with an interest in carriage and wagon production.