Greenbat 1876 - 1987

Greenbat was the trade name for the locomotive range of Greenwood and Batley of Leeds, U.K (formed in 1856). This company made thousands of battery and electric locomotives, as well as battery flat trucks for factories. In 1876 the company built an experimental compressed air tramcar. whichle was supplied by a 100 cubic foot reservoir filled at 1000psi. The outcome of this work is not known but lack of evidence would indicate it was not a success. Following this, in 1878, a Loftus Perkins tramway locomotive was built. This was fed by a water tube boiler nominally rated at 500psi. Again there is no evidence of its success. In 1896, the Leeds Corporation placed an order for 25 electric tramcars and the vehicles entered service in 1897, however this work was not repeated. Greenwood & Batley’s first successful venture into locomotive building occurred in July 1927 when five 4hp battery-electric narrow gauge locomotives were completed for Edmund Nuttall’s Mersey Tunnel contract.

Greenwood & Batley’s first successful venture into locomotive building occurred in July 1927 when five 4hp battery-electric narrow gauge locomotives were completed for Edmund Nuttall’s Mersey Tunnel contract. These locomotives proved very reliable and a total of 31 G&B locomotives were used on the Mersey Tunnel construction. Other work developed rapidly. In 1928, Flameproof locomotive were built for the Royal Navy and in 1929 the first export order was for seven, pantograph fitted locomotives for the Chinese Engineering and Mining Co Ltd.