North British Locomotive Company
The North British Locomotive Company of Scotland (NBL or North British) was founded in 1903 through the merger of the three Glasgow companies, Sharp, Stewart & Co. , Neilson & Company and Dübs and Company and became the largest locomotive manufacturer in Europe. The main factories were in Springburn . In 1918 the factory produced the first prototype of the Anglo-American Mark VIII tank for the Allied armies, which however did not go into series production due to the armistice. The two other railroad factories in Springburn were the St. Rollox Railway Works and Cowlairs Railway Works .
Steam locomotives
NBL built steam locomotives for countries with extensive areas such as South Africa , Malaysia , Burma and New Zealand . The British colony of New South Wales bought numerous NBL locomotives, as did the Australian state of Victoria in 1951. NBL sold its steam locomotives very successfully.
Diesel locomotives
While NBL was successful in the design and construction of steam locomotives, it failed to make the leap into diesel locomotive production . In the 1950s, she signed an agreement with the German company MAN to build diesel engines under license. These engines were used in the diesel locomotives for British Railways (BR) in the late 1950s . None of these locomotives were particularly successful. Because of structural flaws, they were far less reliable than diesel locomotives made in Germany.
Electric locomotives
NBL was involved in the design of the electric locomotives for the West Coast Main Line (WCML) electrification project in the early 1960s: General Electric won an order for ten locomotives and commissioned the NBL with the mechanical design and assembly of the locomotives, which came into use for the first time from 1960 to 1961. Like the diesel locomotives, the electric locomotives from NBL had insufficient reliability and were therefore sometimes not used for a long time.
End of operation
NBL delivered many diesel and electric locomotives at a loss to British Railways, hoping to make up for them with large follow-up orders, which never came. In addition, North British Locomotive Company had to pay numerous warranty claims from railway companies for their unreliable diesel and electric locomotives. For these reasons, NBL had to declare bankruptcy on April 19, 1962 .
