Clayton Equipment Ltd is a progressive company who are continually striving to build for the future. But while we’re extremely proud of our achievements now, we are a company that retains a strong bond with our past. A history that has been the springboard to the success we enjoy today.

Founded in 1931 by Mr Stanley Reid Devlin, The Clayton Equipment Company Ltd, as it was then called, was a one-man band manufacturing the goods and spare parts for the Clayton Carriage and Wagon range of equipment. He eventually had an office at International Combustion Ltd and traded from there as Clayton Equipment, Sinfin Lane, Derby. During the war Stanley was seconded to run a factory producing war materials and after the war in response to the great shortage of goods, Clayton produced general and structural steelwork, farm buildings, conveyors, elevators and submerged ash conveyors.

In 1946 the Company had expanded and acquired the premises known as Record Works, Hatton, Derby. The Company continued to progress and erected new workshops, new offices and installed new machinery. Many types of locomotives and other equipment were made for export to various countries, e.g. Australia, New Zealand, Poland and Korea, and a number of diesel electric locomotives were made for British Railways as they started their modernisation program.

In 1957 International Combustion (Holdings) Ltd acquired the whole of the shareholding in the Company, but Clayton continued to operate as an entirely self-contained and self-supporting unit.

In 1957, the company was awarded a £5M contract by British Railways for 88 mainline diesel electric locomotives. Then, a contract worth £1.75M for 10 x 2,500 hp diesel electric locomotives for Cuba was obtained whilst at the same time, the Company's sales, particularly of mining and tunnelling locomotives primarily for export, continued to increase.

In 1962, pit ponies were removed from mines and British Coal expressed an interest in small locomotives. Clayton supplied several of these which were put into service and when asked to produce a locomotive that could negotiate a steeper gradient, came up with a rubber tyre locomotive that produced spectacular haulage and tractive results and became virtually a standard locomotive in British Coal.

British Coal was now a major customer of Clayton Equipment Ltd, with 180 people employed designing and building a wide range of flameproof locomotives for the British coal mines. The demise of the British coal mining industry had a huge impact on Clayton Equipment Ltd. A major marketing drive to expand its overseas market and diversification into the tunnelling and construction market sectors was essential for the survival of Clayton Equipment; this proved success resulting in over 90% of our equipment today being produced for the export market.

International Combustion was acquired by Clarke Chapman Ltd of Gateshead; and then in 1979 Clarke Chapman merged with Reyroll Parsons of Newcastle to form a new company, Northern Engineering Industries. In 1989 Northern Engineering Industries (NEI) was acquired by Rolls-Royce to diversify its product line into industrial power, and Clayton Equipment became a part of Rolls-Royce Industrial Power Group of Companies.

In 1994 Rolls-Royce divested itself of the remaining companies within the Northern Engineering Industries Mining Equipment Group and retained only Clayton Equipment. Consequently, Clayton Equipment was put under the control of Rolls-Royce Materials Handling based at Gateshead, then later Rolls-Royce Industrial Businesses based in Derby.

After 50 years of belonging to major British organisations, in March 2005 Clayton Equipment Ltd again became an independent Company. Clayton Equipment Ltd reported a highly successful first 6 months of independent trading, with contracts for established and long-standing customers such as UK Coal, Anglo-Ashanti in Ghana, and Bord na Mona in Ireland, as well as new markets such as a Russian Transgas Tunnel project in Siberia, and a mining operation in Iran.  

Product development and extensive overseas marketing promise to make the future of Clayton Equipment Ltd very positive indeed.