The South Africans and New Locomotive Developments

 In late 1953, Dagmar Lenning, as the sole shareholder in E. C. Lenning, resolved to sell the majority of her holdings and Motor Rail investigated the option of purchasing these. Unfortunately Mrs. Lenning had received a favourable offer, which Motor Rail did not feel they could match. Thus it was that control of Lennings passed on to a consortium of three businessmen: John Davidson, an accountant, Benny Tessel of Sodium Chemicals (Pty.) Ltd. and his brother, Mr. P. Tessel. Motor Rail were concerned about the sale and the way Lennings were doing business. Firstly, Lennings appeared to be charging their customers a high price for spares, and this was encouraging other companies to produce “pirate” spares for supply to the mines. Secondly, Motor Rail were concerned that Lennings might be producing parts other than those authorised. Certainly at least one loco frame had been manufactured. As a result of these concerns the Motor Rail board decided in April 1954 to establish a South African company, Motor Rail (Simplex) Proprietary Ltd. (MRSP), to control the supply of spares produced or purchased in South Africa. The company recruited Neville Still to look after the company on site. He was sent out in June 1954, being met at the airport by Lennings people, but he never did acquire the level of information and control that Motor Rail were seeking. Lennings continued to encourage Motor Rail to consider some sort of manufacturing operation in country. The political situation was such that sanctions might be imposed on imported goods that could be manufactured locally, and conversely government support was available for the setting up of new businesses.

 Although loco deliveries improved in 1954, they again dropped in late 1955, partly due to problems at Bedford with the introduction of all-welded loco frames. By 1957 loco deliveries from Bedford had risen to 6 locos per month and would continue to rise to 10 per month in 1958, but the spares supply situation under MRSP was worse than previously under Lennings. Added to this, another threat was emerging from competitors The Hunslet Engine Company Ltd., in the form of locos with hydraulic transmission. Again, Tom Dixon Abbott was reluctant to adopt this new form of transmission, the relatively unsuccessful “Simtran” transmission not being ready for delivery until 1960. However, that did not stop another South African firm, Margolis and Ralph Engineering (Pty.) Ltd. (M&R), from experimenting with torque converters in Simplex locos. M&R were also producing their own loco designs and starting to make pirate Simplex locos. Lennings would later acquire M&R, but it turned out that M&R was not the only company they had their eyes on.

 So concerned were Motor Rail at the situation with respect to supply and pirating of spares and locomotives that in May 1959 they terminated the exclusive marketing agreement with Lennings, an act which would lead to an acrimonious legal battle between the two companies. Lennings served a summons on MRSP in December 1959 claiming a sum of £318,504 in damages as a result of the cancelled agreement.

 The situation would drag on until 1963 only to be resolved in the boardroom at Bedford when it emerged that the Lennings directors had purchased sufficient Motor Rail stock to exert pressure for change at the management level. Tom Dixon Abbott withdrew completely from the management team, leaving Tom Beighton in charge. It seemed he could not face standing by and watching the company being run by outsiders. By 1965, the Lennings people were in a position to launch a full takeover bid, acting through an Irish registered company, Loco Holdings Ltd. It was at this point that the remaining Abbotts, including Tom’s son, John R. Abbott, sold their shares and resigned from the board. However, John R. Abbott remained on the management team.

General arrangement drawing of the proposed battery-electric locomotive.

 The changes at Bedford happened swiftly. Virtually the first items to appear on the agenda were the issues of flameproofing, hydraulic transmission and narrow locos for mines. Tom Beighton was removed as works manager in 1966 and replaced by Tony Wenham, a former RMP man appointed by Benny Tessel, who was the majority shareholder. Although designs for a battery electric locomotive had been produced, and a new prototype hydrostatic loco was available in 1966 (the 40H), Lennings were now successfully producing locos to the M&R design, and at least one was diverted to Bedford on its way to Shalee Silver Mines in Ireland. This loco formed the basis of the design for the new U-Series hydrokinetic loco, the first of which was despatched in 1966 to fulfil an order from the International Nickel Company (INCO) of Canada. The U-Series would go on to win for Motor Rail the Queen’s Award for Industry in 1969 at a time when 90% of the company’s output went for export. Nearly 200 U-Series locos were produced, even though the export markets were shrinking rapidly. The U-Series would be enhanced with a hydrostatic version in 1967. In a departure from previous Motor Rail policy, different engine variants were offered, including Deutz, Ruston and Dorman, however after the first deliveries to INCO with Deutz engines in 1969, the sales team was encouraged to market this as the preferred engine. 

However, Mr. Wenham also presided over a reduction in staff at Bedford and the sale of the freehold of the Simplex Works and the various properties that Tom Dixon Abbott had bought over the years. He also sought to diversify the business by buying designs and subcontract work in. The first acquisition was The Low Loading Trailer Co. Ltd., followed by fork lift attachment manufacturing work for Oldham and Sons Ltd. This part of Oldham’s business would be taken over in 1970. The design for a concrete breaking machine, the “Thumper” was acquired, and manufacturing work for road sweeping machines was also undertaken.

 On the locomotive side, a larger version of the U-Series, the T-Series, was developed in 1972, as was the smaller G-Series with mechanical transmission in 1968 and the H-Series for underground work in the same year. Locomotives built to the original Simplex layout continued to be produced as the S-Series. RMP continued to be active in marketing these and they had Motor Rail hold stocks of standard 40S and 60S locos for quick delivery to RMP customers.