Walker Brothers (Wigan)
Walker Brothers of Pagefield Ironworks, Wigan; of Pleck Road, Walsall (1938); of Victoria Ironworks (1949) were mining engineers and also produced Pagefield commercial vehicles.
1866 Company founded. See J. Scarisbrick Walker and Brothers
1890s: Engines at Whitburn Colliery, near Sunderland, were photographed by George Watkins: One was a cross compound fan engine made by Walker Bros, and the other was a winding engine believed to be by Walker Bros. Walker’s fitted new HP cylinders when higher pressure boilers were installed. [1]
On the completion of his practical training in 1896 Joseph Griffin Walker was quickly given responsibility as he was appointed in the same year chief engineer with the charge of the design and execution of the entire constructional work of the company.
1898 Compound ventilating engine for Garswood Hall Collieries (see illustration)[2]
1902 Fan engine for Dean and Chapter Colliery at Ferryhill. George Watkins photographed this vertical compound engine in 1953 [3]
1904 Private company.
c.1905 The company issued a catalogue containing hundreds of high quality photographs of the works and its products. Some of the photos are reproduced in Walker Brothers: Works Photographs c.1905.
1908 Ventilating fan engine for Crumlin Navigation Colliery.
1913-1917 For a list of the models and prices of Petrol Motor Commercial Vehicles see the 1917 Red Book under the Pagefield name.
1919 - 1920 A few Pagefields buses were made on a lorry chassis.
1921 One of these was bodied as a bus in Britain.
1923 Ventilating fan engine for The Severn Tunnel.
1927 A low frame PSV chassis was produced. It was very ahead of its time having a six-cylinder Dorman engine, four wheel internally-expanding drum brakes.
The whole engine assembly could be detached and wheeled out; this was an idea later brought about by Morris-Commercial.
Users of Pagefields were Grant's Saloon Services and Wigan Corporation who were local to the company.
The company were known for making the most successful battery-electric trucks.
Bus bought by Liverpool Corporation with a 25 passenger body.
By 1949 was a member of the Walmsleys (Bury) Group[4]
1961 Engineers and makers of mining and paper making machinery. [5]
See Also
Sources of Information
- Ian Allan - British Buses Since 1900 - Aldridge and Morris
- The Steam Engine in Industry by George Watkins in two volumes. Moorland Publishing. 1978. ISBN 0-903485-65-6