An advert from the Railway Gazette’s "Diesel Railway Traction" supplement of September 1962. This was issued by the Wednesbury, Staffordshire, based foundry of William Mills and shows one of the very fine cast motif or ‘logo’ that was fitted to British Railways new AC electric locomotives that were constructed in various classes for the West Coast Main Line electrification scheme that was begun in the late 1950s.
This version of the British Railways ‘crest’ was cast in LM5M aluminium, polished and anodised, and from memory looked very smart against the blue livery these locomotives carried. They were removed and replaced during the mid-1960s with the new British Rail double arrow symbol and I often thought I would have liked one of these in my collection! The ‘Wheel and Lion" can be seen here fitted to an AL4 locomotive, E3037, delivered in 1960 and later renumbered as class 84002.
William Mills Ltd had originally been a Sunderland based concern where their foundry undertook a range of castings, primarily for shipbuilding. An early foray into aluminium castings lead to links to the new motor car industry and Mills opened a branch in the Black Country, originally in Smethwick but later moving to Wednesbury. They were well known for specialist castings but oddly perhaps the name is better known for a lethal WW1 invention of Sir William – the Mills Bomb, better known as the hand grenade.
Posted by mikeyashworth on 2022-03-27 08:17:52
Tagged: , Mike Ashworth Collection , 1962 , Railway Gazette , railway , engineering , advert , vintage advertising , Diesel Railway Traction supplement September 1962 , William Mills Ltd , casting , metal casting , foundry , Wednesbury , Staffordshire , Friar Park , aluminium , British Railways , British Railways electric locomotive , AL4 locomotive , British Railways Lion & Wheel crest , E3037 , British Railways locomotive E3037 , British Rail class 84002 , North British Locomotive Co Ltd