Ransomes: a global engineering business

"I wondered if you would be interested in this photo for the next Newsletter. I took it in Kalka in India, at the railway station which is the terminus for the narrow-gauge 'Toy Train' that runs up through the hills to Shimla. It made me feel a bit homesick!"
— Mark Beesley

'HYDRAULIC BUFFERS RANSOMES & RAPIER LTD IPSWICH 1927 ENGLAND'

[The Ransomes Engineering breakaway company of Ransomes & Rapier, founded in 1869, soon made a name for itself that was second to none. In the 1870s it took a leading part in supplying equipment for the Welsh narrow-gauge slate railways, and also for similar railways on sugar plantations far across the sea. Ransomes & Rapier made equipment not only for railways in Britain but for lines in China, India and other parts of the world; they manufactured sluices for the Aswan Dam and for other water control schemes, and built the biggest walking dragline in the world. A testament to their quality and workmanship is the excellent condition of the Kalka railway buffer housing kindly sent in by Mark.]