Doncaster Railway Works is arailway workshop located inDoncaster, England.
Also referred to asThe Plant, it was established by theGreat Northern Railway in 1853, replacing the previous works inBoston andPeterborough. Until 1867 it undertook only repairs and maintenance. Today the remaining part is operated byWabtec.
In 1866,Patrick Stirling was appointed as Locomotive Superintendent, and the first of the 875 class was built in 1886. At this time the works also began building new coaches: in 1873 the first sleeping cars; in 1879 the first dining cars in theUnited Kingdom; and in 1882 the firstcorridor coaches. In 1891, 99 locomotives, 181 carriages and 1,493 wagons were built.
In 1889 a separate building for carriages was opened and wagon construction ceased at Doncaster in 1890, and by 1913 all of the work relating to coaches was concentrated in three buildings including a construction facility with 12 roads.[1]
Among thelocomotives the works produced were theStirling Singles, theIvatt Atlantics and theGresley Pacifics, including the world-famousFlying Scotsman, the first locomotive to achieve 100 mph[i] and also run fromLondon King's Cross toEdinburgh Waverley non-stop; andMallard which achieved the top speed of 126 mph on 3 July 1938 to become the world's fastest steam locomotive, a record that she still holds to the present day. These have hauled such trains as theFlying Scotsman,Silver Jubilee,Coronation and theElizabethan. Doncaster also constructed the carriages for the last of these.
In 1913 "The Plant" employed 4,600 and covered 200 acres (81 ha)[2] and from the time of theGreat Northern Railway intoLNER days the works continued to build a variety of locomotives and rolling stock. DuringWorld War II like other workshops it joined in the war effort producing, among other things,Horsa gliders.[3] The carriage building shop was destroyed by fire in 1940. New buildings in 1949 were designed with theBritish Railways Mark 1 all-steel carriages in mind.
In 1957,BR Standard Class 4 76114, the last of 2,228 steam locomotives, was completed.[4][5] In November 196360009 Union of South Africa was the last of an estimated 10,000 steam locomotives to be overhauled at Doncaster Works.[6] Carriage building finished in 1962, but the works was modernised with the addition of a diesel locomotive repair shop. UnderBritish Rail Engineering Limited, new diesel shunters and 25 kV electric locomotives were built, plusClass 56 andClass 58 diesel-electric locomotives.
In October 1987, the wagon works was sold by theBritish Rail Board to RFS Industries in amanagement buyout. In 1998 RFS Industries was purchased byWestinghouse Air Brake Company and in March 2000 rebrandedWabtec.[7][8]
In 2007,Bombardier Transportation closed its part of the works.[9][10] In early 2008 the main locomotive repair shop which was built on the Crimpsall was demolished to make way for housing. Wabtec continues to conduct carriage refurbishment at the Doncaster site.[11]
