Paxman

Davey Paxman no. 16849 'Little Aubrey' at Sandbach Transport Festival 2010

Paxman is a major British brand of diesel engines. Ownership has varied greatly since the company's formation in 1865, the brand is now owned by MAN AG, as part of MAN B&W Diesel. The origins of the company were in steam boiler production and they built a number of Steam engines. Later they moved into Internal combustion engines and specialised in the larger end of the market. At its peak, the Paxman works covered 23 acres (93,000 m²) and employed over 2,000 people. Engine production is still primarily based at Paxman's Colchester works.

Examples where Paxman diesels are in use include the Type 22 Frigate (Paxman Valenta) Type 23 frigate (Paxman Valenta), Type 42 Destroyer (Paxman Ventura), Invincible class aircraft carrier (Paxman Valenta) the Upholder class Submarine and the InterCity 125 High Speed Train.

History

An illustration of a Davey Paxman boiler from a 1912 text book

Paxman was founded as Davey, Paxman & Davey, Engineers in 1865, later Davey, Paxman & Co. which became a limited company in 1898. In 1920 the company became a member of the Agricultural & General Engineers Ltd (AGE) engineering combine, formed by several firms during the 1920 recession. In 1932 AGE collapsed and Paxman emerged as Davey Paxman & Co (Colchester) Ltd.

Davey, Paxman and Davey conducted business as general engineers and ironworkers. The company manufactured steam engines, boilers, agricultural machinery, and mill gearing. By the early 1870s the company was supplying machinery to the Kimberley diamond mines in South Africa.

In 1940 Ruston & Hornsby Ltd purchased a controlling interest in the company; this co-operation led to the formation of Ruston-Paxman Group.

In 1954 the engine controls business of Paxman was reformed as a subsidiary, Ardleigh Engineering Ltd. In 1962 Paxman acquired the engine controls division of the Curtiss-Wright Corporation and merged the two businesses under the Regulateurs Europa name. (see Wikipedia for details)

In 1966 the Ruston-Paxman Group was acquired by English Electric. The diesel engine businesses were merged into English Electric diesel engines Ltd (later English Electric Diesels Ltd). Paxman became the "Paxman Engine Division" of English Electric. In 1968 English Electric was itself acquired by The General Electric Company (GEC) (not the American GE company). In 1972 GEC renamed the engines division GEC Diesels Limited. In 1975 a reorganisation saw the creation of Paxman Diesels Limited as a subsidiary.

In 1988 GEC merged its Paxman, Ruston and Mirrlees Blackstone diesels businesses with the Alsthom division of Compagnie Générale d'Electricité's (CGE) to form GEC-Alsthom. Paxman became GEC ALSTHOM Paxman Diesels Ltd. In December 1997 GEC Alsthom had its initial public offering as Alstom. The diesel engine businesses became Alstom Engines Ltd (AEL).

In 2000 Alstom Engines Ltd was acquired by MAN B&W Diesel AG (a subsidiary of MAN AG) to become MAN B&W Diesel Ltd. In 2005 MAN sold the Regulateurs Europa controls business to Heinzmann GmbH.

In 2003 MAN B&W announced proposals to transfer manufacturing to Stockport, and this was carried out by 2003. However, the Stockport plant proved unable to manufacture the popular VP185 engine efficiently, and thus in 2005, production returned to Colchester.

Model Range

(please add any known models for cross reference, with machine used in if possible)

They were popular in standby generator sets & other static plant applications.

Steam engines

Paxmans built a number of Portable engines and also few Traction engines and Industrial boilers of the Lancashire type.

Diesel engines

Industrial engines

add details here please

Locomotive engines

Add details here please

Marine engines

add details here please

Preservation

Steam engines

Very few Davey Paxman engines survive. The The Traction Engine Register only lists 18 examples in the UK.

Preserved machines built by exz

Engine No.	Name	Build Date	Type	Weight	Power nhp	Reg No.	Owner	Image	Other info
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Make and no	Name	date built	type	weight	power	Reg no.	Owner	Photo	Misc info

Machine types Key: SW = Steam Wagon, PE = Ploughing Engine, RR = Road Roller, SM = Showmans, TE = Traction Engine

Industrial engines

Details of any surviving examples required - please list below.

Template:PML Paxman IC engines

References

Wikipedia for base article, of history, Model range and other info added.

• History of Paxman's Ownership and Corporate Identity

External Links

• Paxman and Diesel Rail Traction