Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company

BRC&W made not only carriages and wagons, but a range of vehicles, from aeroplanes and military gliders to buses, trolleybuses and tanks. Nevertheless, it is as a builder of railway rolling stock that the company is best remembered, exporting to most parts of the new and old worlds. It supplied vehicles to all four of the pre-nationalisation "big four" railway companies (LMS, SR, LNER and GWR), British Rail, Pullman (some of which are still in use) and Wagons-Lits, plus overseas railways with diverse requirement including Egypt, India, Iraq, Malaya, Mandate Palestine, South Africa and Nigeria. The company even built, in 1910, Argentina's presidential coach, which still survives, and once carried Eva Perón. Before World War II, the company had built steam-, petrol- and diesel-powered railcars for overseas customers, not to mention bus bodies for Midland Red, and afterwards developed more motive power products, including BR's Class 26, Class 33 (both diesel) and Class 81 (electric) locomotives. Examples of all three types are preserved.

Wartime production

The company built hospital trains during the Second Boer War. Handley Page Type O bombers and Airco DH.10 Amiens were built during World War I.

During World War II, the company was one of the many companies building the A10 Cruiser, Valentine, Churchill, Cromwell and Challenger tanks. They led the design and production of the Cromwell tank in liaison with Rolls-Royce and Rover on the Meteor engine.

The company also built Hamilcar gliders in 1939–1945.