Gilkes Wilson and Company

Gilkes Wilson and Company was a British locomotive manufacturer at Teesside Engine Works in Middlesbrough 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.[1]

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 viaduct (b.1857-1860) on the Stainmore Railway Company to a design of Thomas Bouch and Robert Henry Bow.[2][3]

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, and had their reputation very badly damaged as a result of the Tay Bridge Disaster. The 1870s Long Depression forced several Cleveland iron firms out of business including Hopkin Gilkes.[4]

The company closed in 1880.

Customers

Edgar Gilkes had worked for the Stockton and Darlington Railway and large numbers were built for the line, and for the North Eastern Railway. Other customers were the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway, the Leeds and Thirsk Railway, the Newmarket and Great Chesterford Railway, the Llanelly Railway and the Liskeard and Caradon Railway.

References
  1. Kirby, Maurice W. (1993), The Origins of Railway Enterprise: The Stockton and Darlington Railway 1821-1863, p. 134
  2. "The Stainmore Route Viaducts", www.stainmore150.co.uk, 2010
  3. Panel for Historical Engineering Works for Belah Viaduct, Institute of Civil Engineers, 1980, archived from the original on 12 August 2014
  4. Burn, Duncan Lyall, The Economic History of Steelmaking 1867-1939: A Study in Competition, pp. 28–29

Sources
  • Lowe, J.W. (1989), British Steam Locomotive Builders, Guild Publishing

Further reading
  • Harman, Fred W. (1999), The History and Locomotives of the Tees Engine Works. The Gilkes, Wilson & Hopkins Partnerships, ISBN 0953531341
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