End of line for Bombardier in Wakefield
 

The 28th of October marked the end of the line for more than 300 staff at train maker Bombardier in Wakefield
40 of the 350-strong workforce will stay on site to wind up the operation by Christmas.

Bombardier – are a major player in the transport manufacturing industry with nearly 60,000 employees worldwide – moved to Wakefield in 1990. But the Horbury Junction site has been used to make trains since 1856. Bosses announced they needed to slash 1,250 UK jobs last year. The cuts, announced on the back of poor financial results, are part of a “global restructuring” plan forced by over-capacity.

I get very apprehensive as I get to know people are loosing their jobs. Of course, any industrial (but now even agricultural) manufacturer will think of switching to be just a storehouse of chinese goods (and produce). I know this is not quite the case for the Railway Industry. It is difficult to realize there were so many names in the Railway Industry: ASEA and Brown Boveri, AEG, SLM, Oerlikon; all these disappeared to be swallowed by a previously marginal Company also know n as Montreal Loco Works and later Bombardier. The fact is that the national heritage of these Companies was lost on the altar of globalization. In Italy there is still Ansaldo-Breda, with a healthy portfolio of orders, but for how long? And believe it or not, I wanted to talk about Bombardier's last jewel: "ZEFIRO" high speed train. Maybe another time. Good bye for now. One positive thing I can do is praying for those workers.

Actually, Bombardier bought up Montreal Locomotive Works and then changed
the name to its own. Also ABB still exists, they no longer are involved in the railway business, they are still one of the major worldwide companies in electric power generation equipment. Unfortunately the Railway Equipment industry is highly cyclical, First a Boom in orders followed by a Bust with no orders coming in.

I have shunted Procor at Horbury Jct many times with K43 and an 08 shunter.
We took in/out all types of trucks, LUL Sets, MK3 coaches for Virgin and some of the class 60 bits were made there.
Traffic declined after the mid 2000's