OLD NAME, NEW OUTLOOK
Clayton Equipment has survived where other loco-builders have not. Alistair Grieve pays a visit to the now-independent company’s base in Burton-on-Trent to find out more.
Loco building activity at Clayton Engineering's manufacturing plant in Burton-on-Trent.
THE traditional view of a locomotive works is one of large buildings, high roofs and acres of land and sidings, so to find that one of Britain’s last standard gauge locomotive manufacturers is operating out of an industrial unit on the edge of Burton-on-Trent will probably come as a surprise to many. More so when they see the name on the side of the building: Clayton Equipment.
Whilst many will associate the company with the ill-fated Class 17s and the final assembly of the Class 47 lookalikes for Cuba in the 1960s, the company is much more than that and – unlike its many competitors that have fallen by the wayside – is still going today and still building locomotives.
90 YEARS OF HISTORY
The company can trace its history back to 1931 when it was founded by Stanley Reid Devlin, manufacturing goods and spare parts for Clayton Carriage and Wagon Equipment. Stanley had been the chief draughtsman at Clayton Carriage and Wagon but, when the firm went into receivership after the Great Depression, he set up Clayton Equipment to provide maintenance for the existing products.
The company grew and diversified, extending into war materials during the Second World War and then afterwards into farm buildings and equipment. A new large site at Hatton in Derbyshire was acquired in 1946 that allowed the company to expand, and it began to build locomotives and industrial equipment for export around the world. Clayton Equipment was acquired by International Combustion Holdings in 1957, but continued to operate as a self-contained unit, and it was during this time that the Class 17s and Cuba ‘47s’ were built.
Clayton had also moved into mining and tunnelling equipment, which would provide the bulk of its business for some time. The company began to supply locomotives to the National Coal Board and, when asked to develop a locomotive that could handle steeper gradients, it rose to the challenge. The solution was a rubber-tyred locomotive that was so successful it became the defacto standard for the mines. Soon Clayton expanded its workforce as it designed and built a wide range of flameproof locomotives for British coal mines. As the demand from British coal mines decreased, Clayton was able to turn its gaze abroad and focus more on the export market, becoming successful in the tunnelling and construction fields.
In the background there were changes of ownership, with Clayton eventually becoming part of Rolls-Royce Industrial, but the business remained basically the same. In 2005, it became independent again, and in 2006 moved to a new site at Burtonon-Trent, the Hatton site no longer fit for the business needs.
TODAY’S SET-UP
No fabrication actually takes place on site, that is all outsourced to a variety of suppliers (locally where possible), but assembly of all the parts takes place at Burton. There is a short section of mixed-gauge track inside (500-1676mm), but testing of the first of a new line will take place off-site to work out the bugs – standard gauge locomotives being tested on the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway in Derbyshire. Also onsite are the design team and sales and marketing teams, allowing everything to be tightly controlled and enabling a quick response to any queries.
Locomotives can be designed from scratch and delivered in as little as nine months. Waiting for parts to be fabricated and delivered is usually where delays
arise, not the actual design or build. Clayton has settled on Deutz or Scania diesel engines with Tier 5 emission compliance, but can also build hybrid and full battery or overhead electric locomotives.
The company offers a range of locomotives from 1¾ tonnes at the lower end to a meaty 150 tonnes at the other. The biggest UK build so far has been the 90 tonne battery-hybrid CBD90 locomotive for Tata Steel, Port Talbot, which was featured in the June 2019 issue of Rail Express.
Currently on order are new rack-and-pinion locomotives for the Snowdon Mountain Railway.
These are a battery/diesel hybrid that will utilise both heading up hill, but only the battery going down, which will be recharged due to the use of regenerative braking. This allows the locomotive to make five full round trips on one battery charge. These locomotives also include a 12-seat passenger ‘pod’ and split-height seating in the cab to cope with the gradient change on the line.
Rather less complex were the seven CD40 diesel shunters (with stage 4 compliant engines) which were built in 2017 for the Crossrail project.
The company also take on other non-locomotive contracts that may come along. A recent job was the overhaul of the rope-hauled ‘man rider’ for the Llechwedd slate mine tours. Upon arrival at Burton, it was found that the bodywork was beyond repair and so a new one had to be designed and built from scratch.
FUTURE FLEET
It is shunters that make up a lot of the queries from UK-based companies these days as they look to replace their aging fleets of engines. A big driver could be the replacement of the Class 08/09s that work up and down the country. At more than 60 years old, with spare parts at a premium, tighter environmental regulations, and a move to heavier trains, time is running out for them. In fact the main restriction on fulfilling orders will be the capacity of the Burton site, as currently it can build one locomotive a month with three at various stages side-by-side. A bigger site would put in extra cost and increase overheads, so it is a delicate balancing act.
The variety of work that Clayton undertake was highlighted by a visit on January 28. The shop floor had the next two Port Talbot CBD90 locomotives
Nos. 931 and 932 under construction, with No. 931 almost complete and ready to go. Next to these
were the frames of the first Snowdon locomotive, whilst only the previous week a CB4 (Clayton battery 4-tonne) narrow gauge locomotive had left for Morocco. As soon as No. 931 is out the way, five Lithium-ion battery mining locomotives for a Canadian customer are next. In fact the current pipeline alone could reach into 2023.
As many have found, locomotive building is a boom and bust cycle, which has seen the majority fall by the wayside. But with the UK market for shunters looking up, we could be seeing a lot more Clayton Equipment locomotives on the lineside, more above ground than below.