Warwickshire's Industrial Railways

The Austin Motor Company

After Herbert Austin resigned from the Wolseley Tool and Motor Car Company, he established his own car factory in a disused printing works in the small village of Longbridge in November 1905. The White and Pike Printing Works had occupied the 2.5 acre site since 1804, but was abandoned in 1901 and Austin purchased this and a further 8 acres adjacent to the Bristol Road and Halesowen Joint Railway for £7,750. The first commercial car was produced the following year and production steadily expanded from 31 cars in 1906, to 218 in 1908 and 1,107 in 1912. In 1914 the Austin Motor Company (1914) Ltd became a public company and had 2,150 employees producing approximately 30 cars per week. With the outbreak of the First World War the company was turned over to the production of military vehicles and munitions. One particular order from the Russian Government was valued at £0.5M for; 48 armoured cars, 100 2/3ton lorries, 140 ambulances and various other vehicles, all of which were completed and shipped in three months. This was a period of rapid expansion for the works and the original factory was progressively extended, with the construction of both exchange and private sidings and a platform (Longbridge Station) for the expanding workforce built on the Halesowen Joint Railway by August 1915. With the demand for war materials and with Government funding, the North Works on Longbridge Lane was started in July 1916, followed in December 1916 by the West Works on Bristol Road. The extended original building became the South Works. The private sidings in each of the three works were registered separately with the Railway Clearing House (RCH) and Austin Motors obtained several secondhand locomotives from contractors to handle the traffic. To service these, a two road engine shed was built in the South Works in March 1916 and two more engine sheds were subsequently built in the two other works areas. During the war the works built aircraft parts, shells and artillery pieces, in addition to military vehicles and by 1918 there were over 20,000 people working at the site (mostly women). At the end of war the company exercised its option to purchase the new buildings from the Government and occupied 62 acres, but it struggled to sell the large-engined luxury cars it produced. With dwindling sales, the workforce had been slashed to 1,100 in 1919 and several of the locomotives were sold. In 1921 the company went into receivership.

Austin Motors was saved by changing to the mass production of inexpensive smaller cars, primarily the Austin 7 between 1923 and 1939. A steadily recovery resulted and the workforce grew to 8,000 employees in 1925 and 11,000 by 1929 (when Austin supplied 37% of the British Car market), while in 1936 the workforce reached 25,000 employees. During this period three new locomotives were purchased and in August 1936 with storm clouds gathering over Europe, Austin acquired another 23 acres of farmland in Groveley lane for a shadow aircraft factory, which was completed in 1938. The Austin works produced aircraft, munitions and other military hardware during the Second World War, but afterwards quickly resumed motorcar manufacturing with a range of new models. By 1952 the Longbridge site covered 250 acres and had over 19,000 employees and in July 1952, Austin Motors merged with its long term rival Morris Motors and became the British Motor Corporation (BMC). Below are details of the standard gauge steam locomotives that operated on the site:

It is worth noting that Austin locomotives regularly needed to cross the Halesowen Joint Railway to reach different parts of the works and when doing so they were required to conform to the Joint Railway’s regulations, including carrying appropriate headlamps. Longbridge East Signal Box would control these movements. In 1966 the Warwickshire Railway Society identified that there were normally four locomotives in steam (two at the West Works and two at the North Works), with a fifth acting as a spare.

Robert Ferris

Ref: misc_indust217 Motor Graphs View of the Austin factory at Longbridge as seen from the Midland Railway Birmingham to Gloucester route

Ref: misc_indust221 R Ferris An annotated drawing of the Austin Motor site in 1941, showing the Works and their relationship to the Railway

Ref: misc_indust223 T Cousens A 1960s photograph of the scissors crossing which dominated the two tracks of the Halesowen Joint Railway

Ref: misc_indust086 KJ Cooper Manning Wardle 0-6-0 Works No 2015 'Abernant' is seen at Austin Motors' factory in Longbridge on 19th July 1950

Ref: misc_indust087 KJ Cooper Bagnall 0-6-0ST Works No 2996 'Victor' stands out of steam at Austin Motors' Longbridge factory in 1963

Ref: misc_indust218 MJF 0-6-0ST 'Vulcan' shunts a train of loaded carflats past Longbridge East Signal Box on 8th September 1971

Ref: misc_indust219 T Cousens Manning Wardle 0-6-0ST 'Emily' stands on elevated track at the Austin Works in the early 1950s

Ref: misc_indust220 KJ Cooper 0-6-0ST 'Austin I' is seen standing at Austin Motors’ Longbridge Works on 19th July 1950

Ref: misc_indust222 T Cousens The driver adds some shine to the lined green livery of 0-6-0ST ‘Austin 3’ at Austin Motor Works

Ref: misc_indust225 Charles Roberts & Co A Charles Roberts & Co photograph of Austin Motors 12 ton Steel Open Wagon No 102

Ref: misc_indust224 GWR Magazine A photograph of Austin cars being loaded into a newly introduced a motor car van (telegraphic code ASMO)

Ref: misc_indust226 GWR Magazine Photographs showing two Austin 10 hp saloon cars loaded in GWR Motor Car Van No 116968

Ref: misc_indust227 J Baker The internal siding adjacent to the Tractor Erecting Shop in the North Works in the early 1920s

Ref: misc_indust228 J Baker Two crates of ‘Austin Tractors’ being loaded on to a bolster railway wagon by a steam crane in the early 1920s

Ref: misc_indust306 R Carr Hunslet diesel-hydraulic 0-4-0, Works No 6982, 'Longbridge' stands outside Longbridge's south shed

Ref: misc_indust308 R Carr A BRCW Type 3 Bo-Bo locomotive stands at Longbridge's loading dock in February 1972

Ref: misc_indust310 R Carr The footbridge in the foreground links the two part of the Austin Works located either side of the railway

Ref: misc_indust311 R Carr Hunslet diesel-hydraulic 0-4-0, Works No 6982, 'Longbridge' trundles two wagons past the loading dock