Employment

Baguley served an apprenticeship with R & W Hawthorn Leslie

Hawthorn Leslie and Company

R. & W. Hawthorn Leslie and Company, Limited, usually referred to as Hawthorn Leslie, was a shipbuilding and locomotive manufacturer. The Company was founded on Tyneside in 1886 and ceased building ships in 1982.-History:...

, initially at their Tyneside shipyard and later at their Forth Bank, Newcastle, locomotive works. In 1890 he moved to Stafford

Stafford

Stafford is the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies approximately north of Wolverhampton and south of Stoke-on-Trent, adjacent to the M6 motorway Junction 13 to Junction 14...

 and became Chief Draughtsman for W G Bagnall Ltd

W.G. Bagnall

W. G. Bagnall was a locomotive manufacturer from Stafford, England. It was founded in 1875 by William Gordon Bagnall and ceased trading in 1962 when it was taken over by English Electric Co Ltd. The company was located at the Castle Engine Works, in Castle Town, Stafford...

. While at Bagnalls, he invented the Baguley valve gear

Baguley valve gear

The Baguley valve gear is a type of steam engine valve gear invented by Mr E. E. Baguley the draftsman of the W.G. Bagnall company of locomotive manufacturers. It was patented in 1893....

 for steam locomotives.

Baguley became interested in motor vehicles and, in 1901, he joined the Ryknield Engine Co Ltd of Burton-on-Trent. This company failed in 1905 and Baguley became Manager of its successor, the Ryknield Motor Company.
In 1907 Baguley moved to Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

 as Manager of the newly formed Motor Division of the Birmingham Small Arms Company

Birmingham Small Arms Company

This article is not about Gamo subsidiary BSA Guns Limited of Armoury Road, Small Heath, Birmingham B11 2PP or BSA Company or its successors....

.

Baguley Cars Ltd

In 1911 he set up Baguley Cars Ltd which took over the assets of the (then defunct) Ryknield Motor Company at Shobnall Road Works, Burton-on-Trent. An agreement was drawn up with the Drewry Car Co.

Drewry Car Co.

Drewry Car Co, strictly speaking, was a railway locomotive and railcar sales organisation for most of its life. Only at the start and the end of its life did it build its own products, relying on sub-contractors for the rest of its time...

  and Baguley began manufacturing railcars for Drewry from 1912. In 1913 Baguley Cars Ltd bought the firm of McEwan, Pratt & Co Ltd (which was in liquidation) and thereby acquired some important orders for petrol locomotives.

Baguley served in the Territorial Army and became Second-in-Command, 6th Battalion, North Staffordshire Regiment. At some stage, he acquired the rank of Major. During World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, he served in France from 1914 to 1915. Baguley Cars Ltd supplied (under the McEwan, Pratt name) a number of 10hp petrol/paraffin locomotives to the War Department Light Railways

War Department Light Railways

The War Department Light Railways were a system of narrow gauge trench railways run by the British War Department in World War I. Light railways made an important contribution to the Allied war effort in the First World War, and were used for the supply of ammunition and stores, the transport of...

.

They did not follow the 'normal' practice of building steam first and then diesel or petrol, but started in the opposite fashion, not building their first steam rail engine until 1920. But even this was almost an 'accident', as the locomotive was intended to be a petrol hydraulic machine but the transmission components were held up because of the 1914 - 18 war, so it was converted to a steam engine. Altogether the company built some 31 steam locos.

Baguley (Engineers) Ltd

After the war there was a decline in the production of road vehicles (probably due to competition from other manufacturers) and an increase in the production of railway equipment. Because of this, the name of the company was changed from Baguley Cars Ltd to Baguley (Engineers) Ltd on 10 April 1923.

During the 1920s there was some friction because Drewry complained that Baguley was failing to produce more modern designs of engine and chassis. Drewry began to move their business to the English Electric Company

English Electric

English Electric was a British industrial manufacturer. Founded in 1918, it initially specialised in industrial electric motors and transformers...

. Baguley (Engineers) Ltd went into decline and entered liquidation in 1931. Most of the plant and effects (including Major Baguley's own Baguley car) were sold at auction on 10 November 1931.

E. E. Baguley Ltd

Major Baguley was a great survivor and, together with his friends W. E. C. Souster and F. C. Souster (who were brothers), he set up a small repair business for Baguley products at Clarence Street, Burton-on-Trent. A new company, E. E. Baguley Ltd, was registered on 30 April 1932 and was soon building locomotives again. In 1934 E. E. Baguley Ltd moved to larger premises at Uxbridge Street, Burton-on-Trent. The company later became Baguley-Drewry Ltd.

Baguley Precision Engineers Limited

Baguley under new ownership and still based in Burton-on-Trent continue to manufacture new spare parts for classic locomotives along with the repair and refurbishment of locomotive wheel and axel assemblies

--GoodwinBarsby (talk) 13:42, 9 November 2011 (UTC)

Preserved locomotives

• Baguley 0-4-0 petrol locomotive at Narrow Gauge Railway Museum
  Narrow Gauge Railway Museum
  The Narrow Gauge Railway Museum is a purpose-built museum dedicated to narrow gauge railways situated at the station of the Talyllyn Railway in Tywyn, Gwynedd, Wales....
  
  , Tywyn
  Tywyn
  Tywyn is a town and seaside resort on the Cardigan Bay coast of southern Gwynedd , in north Wales. The name derives from the Welsh tywyn and the town is sometimes referred to as Tywyn Meirionnydd...
  
  
• Baguley 0-4-0T Steam Locomotive "Rishra" at Leighton Buzzard Narrow Gauge railway

Sources

• Baguley Locomotives 1914-1931 by Rodney Weaver, published by the Industrial Railway Society in 1975, ISBN 0-901096-22-9
• The Railway Products of Baguley-Drewry Ltd by Alan Civil and Roy Etherington, published by the Industrial Railway Society in 2008, ISBN 978-901556-44-1

External links

• Baguley Petrol Locomotive No. 680
• Baguley Petrol Locomotive No. 774
• Abbey Light railway, Leeds has the only working 10hp Baguley in the world