Hawker Siddeley Canada
 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Aerospace, mass transit/railcar manufacturing |
| Founded | 1962 |
| Defunct | 1980s |
| Fate | Divested by Hawker Siddeley group and assets acquired by UTDC |
| Successor | UTDC (mass transit), SNC-Lavalin (Can-Car Rail) (railcar), Orenda Engines (aerospace), Halifax Industries Limited (shipbuilding) |
| Headquarters | Mississauga, Ontario |
| Products | railcar, mass transit cars, streetcars, aircraft engine, ships |
| Parent | Hawker Siddeley Group |
| Subsidiaries | Avro Canada (Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation, Halifax Shipyard Limited and Canadian Car and Foundry), Orenda Engines |
Hawker Siddeley Canada was the Canadian unit of the Hawker Siddeley Group of the United Kingdom and manufactured railcars, subway cars, streetcars, aircraft engines and ships from the 1960s to 1980s.
History
Founded in 1962 as the Canadian division of British Hawker Siddeley Group, the company assumed the assets of the A.V. Roe Canada Company Ltd..
Hawker Siddeley Canada focused on manufacturing heavy rail cars (hopper and tank cars) and transit vehicles (subway cars, intercity railcars and streetcars). Major clients included:
- Toronto Transit Commission - H series subway cars
- GO Transit - bi-level coaches
- Soo Line Railroad
- Canadian Wheat Board - cylindrical grain hoppers
- Saskatchewan Grain Car Corporation - grain hoppers
- Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority - Orange and Blue line transit cars
- National Railways of Mexico - passenger coaches
Hawker Siddeley Canada headquarters was in Mississauga, Ontario. Its formation in 1962 saw the company acquire control of several A.V. Roe Canada subsidiaries including the Canadian Car and Foundry (CC&F) as well as the Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation (DOSCO) conglomerate, which included various steel mills, coal mines, manufacturing plants, and Halifax Shipyards. Consequently, Hawker Siddeley had two primary railcar manufacturing plants:
- CC&F factory in Thunder Bay, Ontario, for manufacturing railway transit cars, and
- DOSCO factory in Trenton, Nova Scotia, for manufacturing railway freight cars (TrentonWorks), along with the Trenton Forge - the largest forge in North America.
Hawker Siddeley forced its DOSCO subsidiary to close money-losing coal mines and steel mills, subsequently expropriated by the federal and Nova Scotia governments (see: Cape Breton Development Corporation and Sydney Steel Corporation). Likewise, CC&F was forced to shed various assets. Halifax Shipyards was sold to Irving Shipbuilding Inc., a subsidiary of J.D. Irving Limited, in the 1990s.
Hawker Siddeley Canada's operations were then acquired by Kingston-based UTDC (later sold to Bombardier Transportation of Montréal, Québec). SNC-Lavalin purchased the railcar business but mothballed the TrentonWorks plant, which was later acquired by the Government of Nova Scotia and sold to Greenbrier. SNC-Lavalin sold the Thunder Bay plant to Bombardier Transportation and the Hawker Siddeley Canada name was ultimately dissolved in 2001.
Products
A partial list of products made by Hawker Siddeley Canada:
- Transit
- Subway cars - for the Toronto Transit Commission (1965-1979)
- Automated Expo-Express surface metro cars - for the Expo 67 World's Fair (1965)
- PA3-type rapid transit cars for Port Authority Trans-Hudson (1972) and Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's Blue Line (1979) and Orange Line (1980)
- Aviation
Hawker-Siddeley Canada also manufactured aircraft engines for Avro Canada and other aircraft manufacturers:
- Orenda Engines General Electric J-79
- Orenda Engines General Electric J-85-CAN-40
- Orenda Engines General Electric J-85-CAN-15
- Rail
Hawker-Siddeley Transportation also produced railway freight cars primarily for Canadian railways and leasing companies during the 1970s and 1980s at plants in Thunder Bay, Ontario and Trenton, Nova Scotia. Today the Thunder Bay plant is owned by Bombardier Transportation, and the Trenton plant is now owned by The Greenbrier Companies. The Thunder Bay plant primarily built passenger rail and transit equipment, while the Trenton plant built freight cars.
- Covered Hopper Cars - for grain and other dry bulk commodities
- Tank Cars - for liquids and compressed gases
- Box Cars - for paper and general freight
- Flat Cars - for lumber, steel, vehicles and large bulky freight
- Gondolas - for steel, logs, stone, other bulk freight
- Passenger cars
- RT85 lightweight “Tempo” passenger cars (coach, club, and cafe) for CN and NdeM.
- RTC85/RTC-85SP/RTC-85SPD lightweight commuter cars for GO Transit.
- BiLevel coaches.
See also
References
- Molson, Ken M. and Taylor, Harold A. Canadian Aircraft Since 1909. Stittsville, Ontario: Canada's Wings, Inc., 1982. ISBN 0-920002-11-0.