Presented by John Sykes
Thursday, 19th March 2026 @ 7.30pm
Venue: Barrow Town Hall, Duke Street, Barrow in Furness. La14 2LD
Free admission, all are welcome
BDAE Press Release: Sulzer Diesel Engines for British Railways Locomotives – Barrow’s “Golden Mile”
For many years the shipyard at Barrow consisted of two separate organisations; the Shipbuilding Works and the Engineering Works. The Shipbuilding side built the liners, warships and submarines while the Engineering side built the engines, boilers, pumps and guns for ships but also built large engineering equipment for the mining, military and other engineering industries. Whilst there are several books covering the shipbuilding work little has been published around
the equally impressive achievements of the Engineering Works. The Sulzer build project was one of these achievements.
During the 1950s and 1960s British Railways placed large orders for diesel- electric locomotives to replace it’s steam engines. Vickers Armstrong at Barrow subsequently won contracts for building the preferred Sulzer engines and quickly became the largest manufacturer in Europe of diesel engines for locomotives. The generous bonus system for employees on the Sulzer project made them the best paid tradesmen in the shipyard and the production line became known locally as the “Golden Mile”.
John’s talk will provide the background and build details of the Sulzer engines. He will also explain the subsequent guarantee and support activities. The talk will include drawings, photographs and video clips to illustrate the project.
John’s first involvement with diesel engines was when he served a Student Apprenticeship with Leyland Motors. Several years as a construction site engineer followed (including a spell down a salt mine!) and he joined VSEL in 1974 as a Test Engineer with the Dockside Test Organisation. He moved to the Marine Design Office in 1980 where he continued his interest in diesel engines both as generating sets and propulsion engines. Like many engineers his hobby was also engineering and he built his own car in the 1990s (it is still running). He retired from the shipyard in 2010.
