British Imperialism and its Legacies: Export Locomotives
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Over 20,000 locomotives were built in Glasgow and then exported across the globe, the majority to colonial possessions. Glasgow was home to the largest locomotive building firm in Europe, The North British Locomotive Company (NBL). The firm was formed in 1903 with the amalgamation of three existing companies, Sharp Stewart & Co., Neilson Reid & Co., and Dubs & Co. These three companies, whose origins go back to the 1830s, began producing locomotives for export by the 1850s and continued through the merger and until the firm’s closure in 1962.
Profits were made through the orders of locomotives for railway across the Empire. Australia, South Africa and the Indian subcontinent were the destination for many designs, from small industrial examples for mines, harbours and factories, to large, powerful locomotives for passenger and freight services.
Glasgow Museums has a collection of items related to NBL and its parent companies, ranging for an export locomotive built for South Africa in 1945, models of examples of products for India and Australia and associated photographs, marketing publications and drawings.
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