Derby Carriage and Wagon Works was built by the Midland Railway in Derby. Railway building began in Derby in 1840, when the North Midland Railway, the Midland Counties Railway and the Birmingham and Derby Railway set up engine sheds as part of their Tri Junct Station. When the three merged in 1844 to form the Midland Railway its first Locomotive and Carriage Superintendent Matthew Kirtley set out to organise their activities and persuaded that the railway should build their own rolling stock, rather than buying it in. By the 1860's the works had expanded to such an extent, that he was considering reorganising it and, in 1873, it separated into the Midland Railway Locomotive Works, and a new Derby Carriage and Wagon Works.

In 1923 the Midland Railway became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, and W.R.Reid was appointed Carriage & Wagon Superintendent. In 1962 the works was renamed as Derby Litchurch Lane Works. Wagon building and repairs ended, with a major reorganisation of the carriage and railcar work, and in 1979 container production finished.

BREL was eventually bought by Asea Brown Boveri (ABB), which then became Adtranz, and later, Bombardier Transportation. Though its future is, as ever, uncertain, in 2006 it is said to be the only remaining specialist British train manufacturer.