DO YOU remember Albion Motors in Scotstoun?
Reader Caroline Braham got in touch recently to tell us about a remarkable collection of memorabilia she discovered in a box of her husband's papers from the world-famous Glasgow vehicle manufacturer.
In addition to old photos and a framed long service certificate, the former employee had preserved a range of fascinating badges, letters and even an unopened box of cigarettes.
“Edmund passed away recently, and I have been sifting through boxes of old documents,” she explained. “His father, Edmund Walter Braham, worked for Albion Motors and then Leyland. I would love to donate these items to a Glasgow museum, or to a collector.”
Caroline was born in Coatbridge but her family moved to Doncaster in the early 60s, and Yorkshire became her home. Edmund and his family moved around because of his dad’s job, and finally settled in Nottingham. Edmund Walter spent his last years living in Wetherby and he is buried alongside his wife Mary in Wetherby cemetery.
“I don’t know much about my father-in-law’s time at the company, but I do know he used to tell stories of driving trucks up and down between Glasgow and England,” she says.
“There was one highlight in the 70s, when he achieved the Royal Warrant for some Leyland vehicles for the Sandringham estate, a tractor and a truck l think.
“There are some original letters to prove this on beautiful Sandringham headed paper, but they’ll take some finding. I have a few more boxes to go through….”
Caroline adds: “The date that Edmund was presented with his long service certificate was 1951, so it’s astonishing to imagine him starting work there in 1926 and the amazing changes he must have seen within the industry and the technology.”
The Albion Motor Works in Scotstoun welcomed a Royal visitor in 1966 when Princess Margaret inaugurated a £2m extension at the factory.
She told assembled workers and dignitaries that the company had a “proud record of 66 years in the motor industry” and then pressed a button to start the production line, a 750ft assembly conveyor which was the longest and heaviest of its type in Europe.
Albion Motors was founded in 1899 as the Albion Car Company and its radiator symbol was the rising sun. Its marketing slogan was “sure as the sunrise” and at the time of Princess Margaret’s visit, chairman Sir Donald Stokes said it was the oldest existing Scottish vehicle manufacturer.
The very first recorded shipment from Albion, back in 1901, was an 8hp dog-cart which went to Malaya.
By 1966, it was not unusual for a single order for 300 lorries to be worth £500,000.
Our photographs show an Albion chassis in the early stages of assembly during a trial run of the new conveyor belt and men at work on cylinder blocks, in 1960.
READ MORE: Amazing Glasgow photos that will take you back to 1982
In 1903 the firm moved to a new plant at Scotstoun, 200 yards from the Clyde. Its proximity to the docks helped boost its overseas business and by 1913 Albion was exporting to India, Ceylon, New Zealand, Australia and Canada.
During the Great War, many of the 6000 chain-drive, 32hp three-tonne lorries made for the War Office saw service on various overseas fronts. The company continued to thrive in later decades. Valkyrie, Venturer, and Victor buses were market leaders, though trucks continued to be the mainstay of the business.
Albion became part of British Leyland in 1968, and the “Albion” name was dropped in 1972. In 1986 the Scotstoun works became part of the Leyland DAF group; when the group went into receivership in 1993, the automotive components part of the business was transferred to a new company, Albion Automotives.
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