Photographs, a collection of approximately 1600 safety film copy negatives, 5 x 4 ins, copied from prints produced by the Gloucester Carriage and Wagon Company Ltd. Featuring mineral wagons, road vehicles and carriages and wagons constructed for British railway companies in south Wales, the Midlands and the West; also for overseas companies c1885-1964. Original images were the work of official photographers.

This collection contains approximately 1600 safety film copy negatives copied from prints produced by the Gloucester Carriage and Wagon Company Ltd. Featuring mineral wagons, road vehicles and carriages and wagons constructed for British railway companies in South Wales, the Midlands and the West as well as for overseas companies. Original images were the work of official photographers.

The Gloucester Carriage & Wagon Company Ltd was established in 1860 to take advantage of a growing market for railway wagons, building vehicles for both the railway operators and for private concerns. Companies which regularly used the railways to transport freight normally owned their own wagons, and the Gloucester works was well-placed to serve the needs of collieries in South Wales, the Midlands, and the Forest of Dean, and soon built up a lucrative business supplying mineral wagons. In 1867 the company received its first overseas orders, from India and Russia, and even set up a temporary assembly plant in Riga. The Gloucester Works then expanded its output to include carriages and road vehicles, and during the Boer War produced ambulance trains. In the First World War vehicles were built to replace damaged French rolling stock, and in the 1920s the works supplied coaches for the London Underground. During the Second World War Churchill tanks were built at the Gloucester Works, together with mines, shells, and aircraft components. In post-war years there were major orders from Canada and Australia, while the company also produced freight bogies, wagons, and tankers for British Railways.