Robert Hudson (company)
 |
|
|
Formerly called
|
Robert Hudson Ltd |
|---|---|
| Industry | Manufacturing |
| Fate | Liquidation |
| Founded | 1865 in Gildersome, England |
| Founder | Robert Hudson |
| Defunct | 1984 |
| Headquarters | Leeds, England |
|
Area served
|
England, South Africa, India |
| Products |
|
Robert Hudson Ltd was a major international supplier of light railway materials, based in Gildersome, near Leeds, England. The name was later changed to Robert Hudson (Raletrux) Ltd.
The business was founded in 1865 by Robert Hudson at Gildersome, near Leeds. The Hudson family owned the local Victoria Colliery in Bruntcliffe, Morley. To improve access to the works a connection with the Great Northern Railway main line from Wakefield to Bradford was established in 1890 thus allowing raw materials and finished goods to be transported by rail. A head office was established in Meadow Lane, in the centre of Leeds, which was ideal for customers arriving by rail. This was principally the sales and design office. Substantial Robert Hudson subsidiaries traded in South Africa from 1906 and India in 1907.
The Gildersome works occupied a 38-acre (150,000 m2) site, and included an iron and steel foundry with two Bessemer furnaces, machine shops, erecting shops, pattern making and a detail drawing office. To transport material around the site a hand worked 2-foot (0.61 m) gauge tramway was used.
A wagon load of narrow gauge track points, loaded at Hudson's on 14 December 1953, caused a spectacular derailment at Longniddry Junction near Edinburgh at 00.41 on 17 December. The top set of points came loose when the rope broke and fouled the up line just as an express parcels train approached. The parcels locomotive and vans destroyed much of the station platform and its fireman was killed.
In 1906 offices and stores were opened in Johannesburg, South Africa, for the supply of light railway materials to the diamond and gold mining industries. In 1907 an Agency was opened in Calcutta for the development of the Indian trade. Subsequently a works and offices were built at Kidderpore, near Calcutta. There was also an office in Cairo to serve Egypt and North Africa.
...
Wikipedia