Misplaced Pages

#557442

52-554: In 1966, DOSCO (then a subsidiary of the Hawker Siddeley Group ) announced that its mines had only 18 years of production left and concluded that expense of opening new underground mines in the Sydney Coal Field would be too expensive. The company made its intentions clear that it would be exiting the coal mining business within months. In response to a vast public outcry in industrial Cape Breton County,

104-469: A holding company known as Hawker Siddeley Group Plc after 1980. The group rationalised in the 1980s, focusing on railway engineering and signalling, industrial electronics and instrumentation and signalling equipment. Orenda Aerospace , the only remaining original company from the Avro Canada / Hawker Siddeley Canada era, although greatly diminished in size and scope of operations, became part of

156-399: A new facility. General Motors Diesel selected a site on the outskirts of London, Ontario , for this plant. It opened in 1950, eventually expanding several times to 208 acres (842,000 m ) and branching out into building transit buses, earth movers ( Terex 1965-1980) and military vehicles built at adjacent facilities. Originally designed to produce one unit per day, it took some time for

208-939: A similar purpose for the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) and the Canadian Locomotive Company (CLC) in Kingston served a similar purpose for Baldwin Locomotive Works . MLW and CLC also produced steam and diesel engines of their own designs. The growing market for diesels in Canada meant it became worthwhile to build facilities in Canada to avoid import duties. While MLW and CLC both utilized existing steam locomotive erecting shops in Montreal and Kingston, respectively; General Motors, never having built steam locomotives, required

260-549: A successful joint venture company between General Dynamics Land Systems and GM Defense (the "GM-GDLS Defense Group Ltd") with the award of the US Army Stryker contract, the defense side of the Canadian operations was sold to General Dynamics in 2003. On April 4, 2005, GM sold its EMD subsidiary with its London and LaGrange operations to a partnership between Greenbriar Equity Group and Berkshire Partners . The company

312-507: The Canadian government , renaming the company A.V. Roe Canada, commonly known as Avro Canada , initially a wholly owned subsidiary of Hawker Siddeley. Avro Canada underwent a major expansion through aircraft development and acquisition of aircraft engine, mining, steel, railway rolling stock, computers, electronics, and other businesses to become, by 1958, Canada's third largest company directly employing over 14,000 people and providing 45% of

364-616: The Cape Breton Development Corporation , or DEVCO, was established to operate the mines in the interim, while phasing them out throughout the 1970s and, at the same time, develop new economic opportunities for the surrounding communities. On March 30, 1968 DEVCO expropriated DOSCO's coal mines and the S&;L, settling for a payment of $ 12 million. At the same time, the Government of Nova Scotia took over

416-620: The Cumberland Railway . In 1972, with H.S. Haslam as general manager, the road operated 39 miles (63 km) of route with offices at Sydney. At that date the company owned 15 diesel locomotives and 1,100 freight cars. As DEVCO had been created to shut down the Cape Breton coal industry, the Devco Railway did not have expansion in mind at the outset. Initial operations consisted of serving the old mines, hauling coal to

468-562: The Magellan Aerospace Corporation . The late 1980s also saw Hawker Siddeley divest itself of much of its other North American heavy manufacturing enterprises. Its Talladega , Alabama -based TreeFarmer heavy equipment business was sold to Franklin Equipment in 1990 and its Canadian rail car production facilities were split between SNC-Lavalin and Bombardier in 1992. In 1992, Hawker Siddeley Group Plc

520-535: The Minority government of Prime Minister Lester Pearson announced J.R. Donald would head a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Cape Breton coal industry, with hearings held in 1965 and 1966. The Donald Commission recommended that a federal Crown corporation be established to acquire and manage DOSCO's coal operations, with the aim being to slowly wean the Sydney area economy off the coal industry. On July 7, 1967

572-723: The Royal Naval College in Greenwich , London. In 1948, Hawker Siddeley acquired a factory in Kingston upon Thames , Surrey , on the Richmond Road near Ham . This was to become their main aircraft factory and headquarters. In 1957, Hawker Siddeley purchased the Brush group of companies that included Brush Electrical Machines , and Brush Traction , which manufactures electromotive equipment and railway locomotives . The Brush prototype locomotives Falcon , and

SECTION 10

#1732787590558

624-533: The aero engine business, Armstrong Siddeley was merged with that of the Bristol Aero Engines to form Bristol Siddeley . In the late 1950s, the British government decided that with the decreasing number of aircraft contracts being offered, it was better to merge the existing companies, of which there were about 15 surviving at this point, into several much larger firms. Out of this decision, came

676-561: The coal hopper fleets were modernized, with many being purchased from the Eastern Car Company in New Glasgow . By the late 1980s, production problems at DEVCO saw the last of the older mines inherited from DOSCO shut down, with production concentrated at Lingan, Phalen and Prince; the latter not receiving any rail service. The Point Aconi Generating Station was built by Nova Scotia Power Incorporated to receive coal from

728-660: The "Diesel Division of General Motors of Canada Ltd." on February 1, 1969, in a consolidation of all Canadian properties. Once dominant in North American diesel locomotive production having seen Baldwin, Fairbanks-Morse, Lima-Hamilton , Alco, MLW and CLC all fall by the wayside in the railway market, General Motors fell under intense competition from General Electric (GE). During the 1950s GE expanded beyond its early production of small locomotives, much of it for small and medium size industries, into large mainline road locomotives for Class I railroads . With excess capacity at

780-418: The "order" that all future contracts being offered had to include agreements to merge companies. In 1959, Folland Aircraft was acquired, followed by de Havilland Aircraft Company and Blackburn Aircraft in 1960. In 1963, the names of the constituent companies were dropped, with products being rebranded as " Hawker Siddeley " or " HS ". In this period, the company developed the first operational, and, by far,

832-610: The 1930s into the 1940s the largest market for diesel-electric locomotives was for switchers such as the ALCO S-2 and the EMD NW2 . Tariffs protected Canadian manufacturers against imported goods, thus many companies wanting to do business in Canada set up controlled or wholly owned subsidiaries in Canada. General Motors Diesel, Ltd., was EMD's subsidiary organized for that purpose. Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW) in Montreal served

884-549: The Canadian subsidiary "Electro-Motive Canada". The plant was closed by EMD's new owner Progress Rail in 2012, with EMD's production remaining in LaGrange, Illinois and Muncie , Indiana . Diesel-electric locomotives were built in Canada beginning in 1928. The earliest diesels were custom built one-of-a-kind designs such as Canadian Nationals numbers 9000 and 9001 and Canadian Pacific number 7000. After these unique locomotives, steam remained in favor for road service owing to

936-674: The Canadian subsidiary of the Electro-Motive Diesel division of General Motors (EMD). In 1969 it was re-organized as the "Diesel Division of General Motors of Canada, Ltd." The plant was re-purposed to include manufacture of other diesel-powered General Motors vehicles such as buses. Following the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement in 1989, all of EMD's locomotives were built at the London facility. In 2005 new owners of EMD renamed

988-464: The Lingan mine saw production cease in 1992, just months short of the colliery's 20-year design limit. The Phalen mine continued to be the only source of online traffic for the Devco Railway, however subsequent flooding and roof-falls at Phalen caused ever increasing production costs at a time of fiscal restraint by the federal government. Faced with rising subsidies , the federal government announced it

1040-481: The London operation following the peak demand years of the 1950s, GMC Truck and Coach Division used it for production of heavy road vehicles such as buses. The plant was also used for production of construction equipment and light armored vehicles under contract. EMD moved all locomotive construction to London in 1991, after which the London plant supplied US customers under the Free Trade agreement between Canada and

1092-698: The Orange Line in 1980–81. Hawker Siddeley also manufactured much of the Toronto subway system's older rolling stock , the H5 and H6 models . The heavy rail manufacturing business, based in Mississauga and Thunder Bay , Ontario, are now part of Alstom . MBTA also bought a number of commuter rail coaches from the German firm Messerschmitt , thereby teaming Hawker Siddeley with its old World War II rival under

SECTION 20

#1732787590558

1144-652: The Prince colliery directly by conveyor belt, however the Lingan and Phalen mines still hauled coal to the Victoria Junction preparation plant and then to the Lingan Generating Station. The SYSCO steel mill stopped using DEVCO coal to produce coke as a fuel for its blast furnaces in the mid-1980s. By the late 1980s, SYSCO had modernized by changing to an electric-arc process, smelting recycled metal. Problems with flooding and roof-falls at

1196-552: The United States. Some primary equipment manufacturing, such as engines, generators, and traction motors, remained at EMD's LaGrange, Illinois facility. Meanwhile, locomotives were exported to Argentina, Bengal, Brazil, Ceylon, Liberia, Sweden, New Zealand; Norway and Pakistan. In the 2000s, GM reorganized the Canadian Diesel Division holdings and separated a portion out under the name "GM Defense". After

1248-472: The cancellation of the Arrow, the company began to unravel. In 1962, A.V. Roe Canada was dissolved and the remaining assets were transferred to the now defunct Hawker Siddeley Canada . In 1948, the company name was changed to Hawker Siddeley Group . The aircraft division became Hawker Siddeley Aviation (HSA) and the guided missile and space technology operations as Hawker Siddeley Dynamics (HSD). In 1959,

1300-484: The early 1980s, DEVCO built new locomotive shops at Victoria Junction, between Sydney and Glace Bay, and shut down the Glace Bay roundhouse and shops. DEVCO also built a large coal preparation and wash plant at Victoria Junction, as well as new international shipping piers on Sydney Harbour, replacing the antiquated export piers inherited from DOSCO. With federal government financing, DEVCO was in expansion mode and with

1352-483: The first order (C-100) received, which was from Canadian Pacific for ten model FP7A 1,500 hp (1100 kW) A units of the "covered wagon" style of carbody. The two orders were on the shop floor under construction at the same time and it was TH&B 71 which was completed first and delivered on August 25 along with 72. Pairs of A units were delivered commencing with CP numbers 4028 and 4029 on September 14 and continuing until November 11. TH&B 71 cost $ 191,712 at

1404-410: The futuristic but over-weight HS4000 'Kestrel' , were produced there. Other railway engineering assets were acquired, including Westinghouse Brake & Signal and the engine builder Mirrlees Blackstone , which came with the Brush businesses. In the early 1970s, Hawker Siddeley's Canada Car and Foundry subsidiary began to build rapid transit vehicles for the North American market. The first order

1456-834: The group. During the Second World War, Hawker Siddeley was one of the United Kingdom's most important aviation concerns, producing numerous designs including the famous Hawker Hurricane fighter plane that, along with the Supermarine Spitfire , was Britain's front-line defence in the Battle of Britain . During this campaign, Hurricanes outnumbered all other British fighters combined in service, and were responsible for shooting down 55 per cent of all enemy aircraft destroyed. In 1945, Hawker Siddeley purchased Victory Aircraft of Malton , Ontario , Canada from

1508-437: The high international prices for coal, sought to produce more Cape Breton coal for export than ever before. The Devco Railway modernized its locomotive fleet by retiring the S&L's diesels purchased second-hand during the early 1960s and purchasing General Motors Diesel Limited GP38-2s ; a unique design feature of these locomotives was their ability to be used as emergency power generators for various DEVCO mines. Likewise,

1560-417: The higher initial costs and lower reliability of early diesel locomotives. The benefit of diesels was largely their reduced operating costs compared to steam, but they had to be kept going to pay for themselves. Increased use was key to their cost benefits. The greatest savings were to be had in yard service, where switching often meant idling that maximized the efficiency advantages of diesel over steam. Through

1612-503: The international shipping piers on Sydney Harbour (Louisbourg's piers were abandoned during the 1960s). The line east of Glace Bay to Louisbourg fell into disuse as older mines were closed. As part of a regional economic development initiative, DEVCO created a tourist railway named the Cape Breton Steam Railway, to operate between Glace Bay and Louisbourg. In 1973, the Sydney and Louisburg Railway Historical Society

Devco Railway - Misplaced Pages Continue

1664-493: The mine sites. On December 18, 2001 DEVCO sold all surface assets, including the international shipping piers, railway track, railway rights-of-way, locomotives and rolling stock, and a coal storage facility and locomotive shops at Victoria Junction to 510845 New Brunswick Incorporated, a wholly owned subsidiary of Emera Inc. , the holding company which owns Nova Scotia Power Incorporated (Nova Scotia Power Corporation having been privatized in 1992). Emera subsequently contracted

1716-428: The mine. DEVCO was out of the coal mining business, however for a period of approximately 1 month, it was in the coal importation business. The federal government moved swiftly to sell off assets, transferring the mine properties and mineral rights back to the provincial Department of Natural Resources. DEVCO subsequently decommissioned the Victoria Junction coal wash plant and began to immediately prepare remediation of

1768-587: The most successful VTOL jet aircraft, the Harrier family . This aircraft remained in production into the 1990s and remains in service. The Hawker Siddeley Nuclear Power Company built and operated the 10 kW JASON reactor in Langley, Berkshire (then in Buckinghamshire). The reactor was in operation there from 1959 to 1962 and generated a total of 1.4 MWh before being shut down and transported to

1820-482: The name is Hawker Siddeley Power Transformers. In 1993, British Aerospace sold its corporate jet product line to the American Raytheon Company . In 2006 the product line was sold to a new company to be known as Hawker Beechcraft , owned by Onex Partners and Goldman Sachs . The Hawker Siddeley name was not used to brand aircraft until 1963. Prior to then, aircraft were produced under

1872-476: The name of the subsidiary company (e.g. Hawker Hurricane , Hawker Sea Hawk , Gloster Javelin , Gloster Meteor ). First flight date is in parentheses. The Canadian subsidiary produced rail cars, transit vehicles and engines (aircraft and ship). General Motors Diesel General Motors Diesel was a railway diesel locomotive manufacturer located in London, Ontario , Canada. It was established in 1949 as

1924-432: The operation of DOSCO's integrated steel mill in Sydney, renaming the operation Sydney Steel Corporation , or SYSCO. The S&L was reorganized as the Devco Railway. Initially, the Devco Railway continued to operate much as its predecessor, using former S&L locomotives, cars, trackage, and locomotive shops. Indeed, for several years it continued to operate under its old name of the Sydney & Louisburg Division of

1976-514: The operation of its newly acquired DEVCO surface assets to Logistec Corporation. Logistec sub-contracted operation of the railway to the Société des chemins de fer du Québec , a Quebec-based railway holding company and short-line operating company. The new railway was called Sydney Coal Railway , although ownership of the track and other assets remains with Emera's subsidiary, 510845 New Brunswick Inc. Hawker Siddeley Group Hawker Siddeley

2028-542: The parent company's revenues. During its operation, Avro Canada aircraft (built) included the C102 Jetliner , CF-100 Canuck , CF-105 Arrow and VZ-9- AV Avrocar . Only the CF-100 fighter entered full-scale production. Other design projects (not built) included supersonic transport (SST) passenger aircraft, a mach-2 VTOL fighter, hovercraft, a jet engine-powered tank, and the hypersonic Space Threshold Vehicle. After

2080-401: The potential nationalization of Alberta 's oil, as well as an expansion of DEVCO coal production, reversing the recommendation of the 1966 Donald Commission to phase out production and diversify the Sydney area economy. The Trudeau government sought to use its ownership of DEVCO to reverse Nova Scotia's reliance on the importation of foreign oil for generating electricity ; approximately 70% of

2132-426: The province's electricity was generated by foreign oil by the late 1970s. New mines were built and opened near New Waterford (Phalen and Lingan collieries) and on Boularderie Island (Prince colliery) starting in 1972. Devco Railway built a spur to serve the adjacent Phalen and Lingan mines, extending the line to serve Nova Scotia Power Incorporated 's Lingan Generating Station which opened November 1, 1979. During

Devco Railway - Misplaced Pages Continue

2184-543: The same organisation. On 29 April 1977, as a result of the Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act 1977 , Hawker Siddeley Aviation and Dynamics were nationalised and merged with British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) and Scottish Aviation to form British Aerospace . However, HSA and HSD accounted for only 25% of the Hawker Siddeley business by this time, and the non-aviation and foreign interests were retained by

2236-521: The time. For comparison, Alco 1,000 hp (750 kW) yard switchers built in Schenectady , New York cost $ 115,000 including import duty. GMD built units for export, a significant amount of business supported by government grants to foreign countries. GMD also built some experimental diesel-hydraulic locomotives and straight electric units as well, although neither were more than a tiny percentage of production. General Motors Diesel Ltd. became

2288-454: The volume of orders to reach this level. Plant capacity was later expanded to one-and-a-half units per day. By comparison, La Grange, as the US plant was referred to, eventually could produce six units per day. The first diesel locomotive built was Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo Railway (TH&B) number 71, one of four model GP7 1,500 hp (1100 kW) road switchers. It was however, not

2340-600: Was a group of British manufacturing companies engaged in aircraft production . Hawker Siddeley combined the legacies of several British aircraft manufacturers, emerging through a series of mergers and acquisitions as one of only two such major British companies in the 1960s. In 1977, Hawker Siddeley became a founding component of the nationalised British Aerospace (BAe). Hawker Siddeley also operated in other industrial markets, such as locomotive building (through its ownership of Brush Traction ) and diesel engine manufacture (through its ownership of Lister Petter ). The company

2392-603: Was acquired by BTR plc for £1.5bn. This was led by Alan Jackson and Sir Owen Green who were the CEO and Chairman of BTR respectively during this time. Through a series of takeovers, the business units finally became part of Schneider Electric in 2014. In 1973, HS acquired the industrial electronics firm South Wales Switchgear . Later known as Aberdare Holdings, in 1992 this company was renamed Hawker Siddeley Switchgear (HSS). They have an Australian subsidiary, Hawker Siddeley Switchgear Australia . Another company which retains

2444-571: Was created by retired employees of that company to assist with the tourist railway and to preserve the Louisbourg station. The tourist railway used former S&L equipment and stations, however by the late 1970s it was proving uneconomic to operate and was closed. The track east of Glace Bay was abandoned at this time. The October 1973 Yom Kippur War and the ensuing 1973 oil crisis led the federal government of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to re-examine all Canadian energy production, including

2496-728: Was for the Port Authority Trans-Hudson line and consisted of 46 PA-3 cars numbers 724–769, which were largely based on the original hexagonal profile PA-1 & PA-2 cars designed and built by the St. Louis Car Company during 1966–67. Hawker Siddeley later sold the same general design to the MBTA in Boston for their Blue and Orange Lines . 70 48' cars were delivered to the Blue Line in 1978–80 and 120 65' cars were delivered to

2548-501: Was getting out of the coal industry in January 1999 by mining out the rest of Phalen by the end of the year and attempting to sell the Prince colliery. In September 1999, Phalen colliery closed for good, with 400 employees laid off and the only on-line traffic source for the Devco Railway severed. The Prince colliery continued with production, however coal was trucked from the mine to the Victoria Junction preparation plant, from which it

2600-636: Was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index . Hawker Siddeley Aircraft was formed in 1935 as a result of the purchase by Hawker Aircraft of the companies of J. D. Siddeley , the automotive and engine builder Armstrong Siddeley and the aircraft manufacturer Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft . At this time, Hawker Siddeley also acquired A.V. Roe & Company (Avro), Gloster Aircraft Company (Gloster) and Air Training Services. The constituent companies continued to produce their own aircraft designs under their own name as well as sharing manufacturing work throughout

2652-570: Was renamed "Electro-Motive Diesel, Inc", thus retaining the EMD initials. EMD's Canadian subsidiary was renamed "Electro-Motive Canada". In 2010 EMD and its Canadian subsidiary were acquired by Caterpillar's subsidiary Progress Rail . The plant was closed in 2012, after a labor dispute and leasing of a new plant in Muncie , Indiana . In 2015 McLaughlin Brothers and J-AAR Excavating jointly acquire

SECTION 50

#1732787590558

2704-482: Was then taken by rail to the Lingan Generating Station. Devco Railway also began to be used for importing some coal from locations in the United States and South America , with the international shipping piers beginning to be used in the reverse of their intended design. On November 23, 2001, Prince colliery closed for good, after the federal government failed to entice any private sector investors to purchase

#557442