Locations
BREL had train building works at several sites, with the major production centres being at Crewe, Derby, Doncaster and York. The historic site at Wolverton in Milton Keynes was progressively run down until the 1980s before finally being relegated to maintenance duties.
However, not all British Rail rolling stock was built in-house; Metro Cammell, Brush Traction and Metropolitan-Vickers amongst others manufactured rolling stock, although in general it was built to BREL specifications. Latterly, BREL often acted as a sub contractor to a main contractor such as GEC, who supplied the traction equipment. Theses contracts required BREL to build, at their works, the frames, body shells and bogies, and then installing the traction and ancillary equipment of the primary contractor. Much of the electric locomotive construction programme of the 1980s, such as class 87, class 90 and class 91 were carried out in this way.
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