34-491: (Redirected from A-class ) A class or A-class may refer to: Locomotives [ edit ] CIÉ A class or CIE 001 Class , a 1955 class of Co-Co diesel locomotives used by Córas Iompair Éireann (The Irish Transport Company) NZR A class (1873) , a class of steam tank locomotives operated by the New Zealand Railways Department NZR A class (1906) ,
68-470: A turboprop design developed at the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) under the direction of Hayne Constant . It is somewhat ironic that BTH, its erstwhile partners, were at the same time working with Frank Whittle on his pioneering jet designs. In mid-1938, MV was awarded a contract to build Avro Manchester twin-engined heavy bombers under licence from A.V. Roe . As this type of work
102-632: A class of steam tender locomotives operated by the New Zealand Railways Department V/Line A class , a class of diesel locomotives that operates in Victoria, Australia Victorian Railways N A class , a class of narrow-gauge (hence "N") steam tank locomotives WAGR A class (diesel) , locomotives of the Western Australian Government Railways Trams [ edit ] A-class Melbourne tram ,
136-589: A hindrance to gaining government contracts during the First World War . In 1917 a holding company was formed to try to find financing to buy the company's properties. In May 1917, control of the holding company was obtained jointly by the Metropolitan Carriage, Wagon and Finance Company , of Birmingham , chaired by Dudley Docker , and Vickers Limited , of Barrow-in-Furness . On 15 March 1919, Docker agreed terms with Vickers, for Vickers to purchase all
170-720: A massive expansion of electrical distribution, installations, and appliance purchases. Sales shot up, and 1927 marked the company's best year to date. On 15 November 1922 the BBC was registered and the BBC's Manchester station, 2ZY , was officially opened on 375 metres transmitting from the Metropolitan Vickers Electricity works in Old Trafford. In 1921, they bought a 9-acre (3.6 ha) site at Attercliffe Common in Sheffield , which
204-579: A number of turbines built by the company in and for the Soviet Union proved to be faulty. The British government intervened; the engineers were released and trade with Russia was resumed after a brief embargo. During the 1930s Metropolitan Vickers produced two dozen very large diameter (3m/10 ft) three-phase AC traction motors for the Hungarian railway's V40 and V60 electric locomotives. The 1640 kW rated power machinery, designed by Kálmán Kandó ,
238-748: A place in history as the builders of the first commercial transistor computer , the Metrovick 950 , and the first British axial-flow jet engine , the Metropolitan-Vickers F.2 . Its factory in Trafford Park , Manchester , was for most of the 20th century one of the biggest and most important heavy engineering facilities in Britain and the world. Metrovick started as a way to separate the existing British Westinghouse Electrical and Manufacturing Company factories from United States control, which had proven to be
272-487: A single-unit bogie tram that operates in Melbourne, Australia Boats [ edit ] A-class destroyer (1913) , heterogeneous group of British torpedo boat destroyers built in the mid-1890s A-class destroyer (1929) , British destroyers of World War II A-class torpedo boat , German torpedo boats of World War I A-class submarine (disambiguation) , several classes of submarines A-class minehunter , ships of
306-513: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages CIE 001 Class The Córas Iompair Éireann 001 Class locomotive was manufactured by Metropolitan-Vickers at their Dukinfield Works in Manchester . The 001 Class locomotive was the backbone of mainline passenger and freight train services on the Irish railway network for forty years from 1955 until
340-635: The British Rail Class 303 electric multiple units . In the 1950s, the company built a large power transformer works at Wythenshawe , Manchester. The factory opened in 1957, and was closed by GEC in 1971, after which it was sold to the American compressor manufacturer Ingersoll Rand . In 1961, the Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was invited to the company's factory at Trafford Park as part of his tour of Manchester. The rivalry between Metrovick and BTH
374-454: The Metrovick F.2 and eventually flew in 1943 on a Gloster Meteor . Considered to be too complex to bother with, Metrovick then re-engineered the design once again to produce roughly double the power, while at the same time starting work on a much larger design, the Metrovick F.9 Sapphire . Although the F.9 proved to be a winner, the Ministry of Supply nevertheless forced the company to sell
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#1732844737918408-621: The Western Australian Government Railways X class 2-Do-2 locomotive and in 1958 the type 2 Co-Bo, later re-classified under the TOPS system as the British Rail Class 28 . This diesel-electric locomotive was unusual on two counts; its Co-Bo wheel arrangement and its Crossley 2-Stroke diesel engine (evolved from a World War II marine engine). Intended as part the British Railways Modernisation Plan ,
442-591: The electrification of the Woodhead Line in the early 1950s. Larger but broadly similar locomotives were also supplied to the New South Wales Government Railways as its 46 class . The company also designed the British Rail Class 82 , 25 kV AC locomotives built by Beyer, Peacock & Company in Manchester using Metrovick electrical equipment. The company also supplied electrical equipment for
476-673: The shares of the Metropolitan Carriage, Wagon and Finance Company for almost £13 million. On 8 September 1919, Vickers changed the name of the British Westinghouse Electrical and Manufacturing Company to Metropolitan Vickers Electrical Company . The immediate post-war era was marked by low investment and continued labour unrest. Fortunes changed in 1926 with the formation of the Central Electricity Board which standardized electrical supply and led to
510-739: The Turkish Navy International A-class catamaran , a development class sailing catamaran for singlehanded racing International A Class , a class of radio-controlled sailing yacht Other uses [ edit ] A Class (album) , studio album by South Korean girl group miss A A-segment , a European vehicle size class Mercedes-Benz A-Class , a range of subcompact hatchbacks and sedans A class (schools) , system of categorizing school for sport competitions See also [ edit ] Class A (disambiguation) A type (disambiguation) A series (disambiguation) Class (disambiguation) Topics referred to by
544-523: The firm went on to complete 43 examples. With the design of the much improved four-engined derivative, the Avro Lancaster , MV switched production to that famous type, supplied with Rolls-Royce Merlin engines from the Ford Trafford Park shadow factory . Three hangars were erected on the southside of Manchester's Ringway Airport for assembly and testing of its Lancasters, before a policy switch
578-480: The jet division to Armstrong Siddeley in 1947 to reduce the number of companies in the business. In addition to building aircraft, other wartime work included the manufacture of both Dowty and Messier undercarriages, automatic pilot units, searchlights and radar equipment. They also produced electric vans and lorries . The post-war era led to massive demand for electrical systems, leading to additional rivalries between Metrovick and BTH as each attempted to one-up
612-555: The merger was marked by poor communication and intense rivalry, and the two companies generally worked at cross purposes. The next year the combined company was purchased by the Associated Electrical Industries (AEI) holding group, who also owned Edison Swan (Ediswan); and Ferguson, Pailin & Co , manufacturers of electrical switchgear in Openshaw, Manchester. The rivalry between Metrovick and BTH continued, and AEI
646-495: The mid-1990s when they were replaced by the new 201 Class . Initially they were fitted with eight-cylinder two-stroke , port-controlled Crossley engines. These were a loop scavenge type, which utilised a patented principle that recycled the normally wasted exhaust-pressure pulse to boost charge air in the cylinder. They produced 890 kW (1,200 hp ) at 625 rpm and could do 120 km/h (75 mph). The original sandboxes , which were used to improve traction with
680-426: The other in delivering ever-larger turbogenerator contracts. Metrovick also expanded its appliance division during this time, becoming a well known supplier of refrigerators and stoves. The design and manufacture of sophisticated scientific instruments, such as electron microscopes , and mass spectrometers , became an important area of scientific research for the company. In 1947, a Metrovick G.1 Gatric gas turbine
714-505: The past it has been made as a 00 gauge kit by Silver Fox Models. Metropolitan-Vickers Metropolitan-Vickers , Metrovick , or Metrovicks , was a British heavy electrical engineering company of the early-to-mid 20th century formerly known as British Westinghouse . Highly diversified, it was particularly well known for its industrial electrical equipment such as generators , steam turbines , switchgear , transformers , electronics and railway traction equipment. Metrovick holds
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#1732844737918748-485: The progressive re-engining of the entire class with a 1,650 horsepower (1,230 kW) 12-cylinder EMD 645 E engine (a similar process was implemented for the original 201 Class ). However, this power output stressed the ability of the original cooling and transmission systems and the engine output was reduced to 1,325 horsepower (988 kW) for improved reliability. When built, these locomotives were originally numbered A1 to A60, and as locomotives were re-engined, they had
782-534: The rail, were removed after a few years. Their Crossley engines proved to be notoriously unreliable from the start. Amongst a plethora of problems were: There were also problems with generator and motor flashovers . Similar problems were also encountered on the Crossley-engined Western Australian Government Railways X Class and British Rail Class 28 locomotives. These problems were tackled between 1968 and 1971 through
816-444: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title A class . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=A_class&oldid=1239880611 " Categories : Disambiguation pages Ship disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
850-478: The suffix 'R' added to their number. From 1972, the prefix letters were dropped and the locomotives were renumbered 001 to 060. Four A class locomotives survived into preservation, the details of which are outlined in the table below: (Low bands) (High bands) The A Class is available as a 4mm scale (OO) ready-to-run (RTR) model from Irish Railway Models. Announced in October 2018, it was released in October 2021. In
884-538: The twenty-strong fleet saw service between Scotland and England before being deemed unsuccessful and withdrawn in the late 1960s. Metrovick also produced the CIE 001 Class (originally 'A' Class) from 1955, the first production mainline diesels in Ireland . Metropolitan Vickers also produced electrical equipment for the British Rail Class 76 (EM1), and British Rail Class 77 (EM2), 1.5 kV DC locomotives, built at Gorton Works for
918-465: Was eventually ended in an unconvincing fashion when the AEI management eventually decided to rid themselves of both brands and be known as AEI universally, a change they made on 1 January 1960. This move was almost universally resented within both companies. Worse, the new brand name was utterly unknown to its customers, leading to a noticeable fall-off in sales and AEI's stock price. When AEI attempted to remove
952-548: Was fitted to the Motor Gun Boat MGB 2009 , making it the world's first gas turbine powered naval vessel. A subsequent marine gas turbine engine was the G.2 of 4,500 shp fitted to the Royal Navy Bold-class fast patrol boats Bold Pioneer and Bold Pathfinder , which were built in 1953. The Bluebird K7 jet-propelled 3-point hydroplane in which Donald Campbell broke the 200 mph water speed barrier
986-458: Was made to assembling them in a hangar at Avro's Woodford airfield. By the end of the war, MV had built 1,080 Lancasters. These were followed by 79 Avro Lincoln derivatives before remaining orders were cancelled and MV's aircraft production ceased in December 1945. In 1940 the turboprop effort was re-engineered as a pure jet engine after the successful run of Whittle's designs. The new design became
1020-619: Was never able to exert effective control over the two competing subsidiary companies. Problems worsened in 1929 with the start of the Great Depression , but Metrovick's overseas sales were able to pick up some of the slack, notably a major railway electrification project in Brazil . By 1933 world trade was growing again, but growth was nearly upset when six Metrovick engineers were arrested and found guilty of espionage and " wrecking " in Moscow after
1054-633: Was paid for by British government economic aid. In 1935 the company built a 105 MW steam turbogenerator , the largest in Europe at that time, for the Battersea Power Station . In 1936 Metrovick started work with the Air Ministry on automatic pilot systems, eventually branching out to gunlaying systems and building radars the next year. In 1938 they reached an agreement with the Ministry to build
A class - Misplaced Pages Continue
1088-519: Was powered with a Metropolitan-Vickers Beryl jet engine producing 3,500 lbf (16 kN) of thrust. The K7 was unveiled in late 1954. Campbell succeeded on Ullswater on 23 July 1955, where he set a record of 202.15 mph (325.33 km/h), beating the previous record by some 24 mph (39 km/h) held by Stanley Sayres. Another major area of expansion was in the diesel locomotive market, where they combined their own generators and traction motors with third-party diesel engines to develop in 1950
1122-411: Was used to manufacture traction motors. By 1923, it had its own engineering department, and was making complete locomotives and electric delivery vehicles . In 1928 Metrovick merged with the rival British Thomson-Houston (BTH), a company of similar size and product lineup. Combined, they would be one of the few companies able to compete with Marconi or English Electric on an equal footing. In fact
1156-492: Was very different from its traditional heavy engineering activities, a new factory was built on the western side of Mosley Road and this was completed in stages through 1940. There were significant problems producing this aircraft, not least being the unreliability of the Rolls-Royce Vulture engine and that the first 13 Manchesters were destroyed in a Luftwaffe bombing raid on Trafford Park on 23 December. Despite this
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