This section provides a summary of the companies that continued to operate following the closure of Queens Engineering Works in 2001 and the sale of Allen businesses. Most still operate today benefiting from the 140+ years of W H Allen & Sons Co. Ltd knowledge and experience.
Table of Contents
Allen Diesels Ltd. – Bedford
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Allen Diesels purchased the intellectual property, technical information and know-how owned by Rolls Royce Power Engineering UK (RRPE) and used in the business relating to the Allen diesel, gas and crude oil burning engines manufactured by RRPE UK, or previously by W H Allen.
Allen Diesels Ltd continue to operate from the same office in the Pilgrim Centre in Bedford under the control of Director Paul Knight, General Manager Roger Smyth and Business Development Manager Brian Kane. The Allen Design Team is led by Chief Designer, Craig Hudson. The Technical Services Support Team is in the care of the Head of Technical Services Support, Matthew Holmes, and Spares Manager, George Guzinski, heads up the Spares division. A total of 23 employees work for Allen Diesels Limited, while there are a further 5 employees in Allen Diesels India Office, New Delhi, looking after the needs of our Indian Clients. Allen Diesels procured the complete stock of Allen engine spare parts previously held by RRPE and are committed to continuing to provide the fast and efficient supply of spare parts that their clients have come to expect. New ventures by Allen Diesels include a Build, Own, Operate 20MW Peaking Plant in Yorkshire supplying National Grid; and new power plant and pipeline projects where Allen operate as EPC Contractor using Norwegian built engines manufactured in Bergen. |
Allen Gwynnes Pumps – Bedford
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In the late 1970’s the management of APE decided that the range of pumps manufactured at WHA would be reduced. Pumps sized 12″ and below were no longer to be supplied. Larger pumps were considered more bespoke and commanded a higher margin especially where high efficiency was required.
Pump projects were thus concentrated on the more complex arrangements with major sub-contract content but inevitably, the number of pump components supplied and products built at Queens Works was significantly reduced. After over 100 years as a leading manufacturer of high-performance pumps, in 1987 NEI closed-down the Allen Pump Division. An attempt was made by members of the Pump Division to purchase the Intellectual Property, but this failed and the ‘large pump’ records and assets were sold to Weir Pumps Ltd. of Glasgow. Weir pumps were subsequently sold to Clyde Pumps in 2007 who in turn were sold to the SPX Corporation of the US in 2011.In 2020 Celeros Flow Technology was launched as a standalone company following the divestiture by SPX FLOW, Inc. of its Power & Energy division to an affiliate of funds managed by private equity company Apollo Global Management, Inc. One of its brands is Clyde Union Pumps. |
Bedford Pumps Ltd. – Bedford
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In 1988 and in the midst of the redundancies, a number of ex-Pump Division employees created The Bedford Pump Company, raised finance, took premises and designed a new pump range, to supply to the large, existing, customer base. Design, Sales, Contracts, Buying, Assembly, Test, Installation and Servicing continues and is carried out at new premises, built for the purpose, in Kempston, on the opposite side of the river from Queens Works. The supply of new patterns, castings and machining is sub-contracted to a wide range of accredited suppliers (including the old WHA/Rolls Royce, Bedford before it was closed down).
The initial designs were for high-flow pumpsets in a submersible motor-driven arrangement and supplied to traditional users such as Water Authorities or Land Drainage Commissioners in the UK. Bedford Pumps expanded rapidly, extending the range of products to meet the requirements of end-users in many parts of the world. The Bedford Pump Company itself was subject to two take-overs, and is now named Bedford Pumps Ltd., still operating from Kempston. It is currently part of the Hidrostal Group which is based in Switzerland. |
Allen Steam Turbines – Bedford
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Allen Steam Turbines started by operating a service and spares operation within the Queens Engineering Works site. In 1999, during ownership by Rolls-Royce plc, the decision was taken to focus on turbine refurbishment, support and maintenance rather than commercial manufacture.
In 2001 Allen Steam Turbines became part of Weir Power & Industrial, and the new company re-located to a new industrial unit between Clapham and Oakley, still alongside the old LMS line about 3 miles north of Queens Works.From this site they provide Site Engineering Support, Design and Analysis, Technical Support and Spares Supply to customers in varying industries including Sugar, Waste to Energy, Paper and Pulp and Naval Marine.The steam turbine division of W H Allen is now owned by Trillium Flow Technologies Limited. Trillium was started following the sale by Weir of its Flow Control Division in 2018. It is owned by a US Company called First Reserve. The business is based in Oakley only a few miles from the original factory. It employs 28 staff of which at least a half worked in Queens Park. It concentrates on supply of service and spares to the existing fleet of Allen turbines worldwide however, it can offer new steam turbines manufactured in Brazil by NG Metalurgica. The operating name is Trillium Flow Services UK Limited – Allen Steam Turbines. It operates within the Services side of Trillium.The business continues to support the Royal Navy and is part way through a life extension project for the Vanguard Class Submarines. It is replacing all rotors and diaphragms in the machines, a process that will last for another 5 to 7 years. Also a lot of the older machines are requiring new rotors and diaphragms and the business is using modern manufacturing techniques. The days have gone of the welded diaphragms for example. These are now manufactured from one piece forgings. This gives much better control of tolerances and finish. The business is strong and the customers have remained faithful to it throughout the many changes since the Rolls-Royce days. |
Allen Gears – Pershore
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In 2008 a management team buy-out was completed for the acquisition of Allen Gears, the world-leading UK business that provides high-integrity gearboxes and gearbox services for the power generation, oil and gas and marine industries, from Rolls Royce.
Kevin Johnson, Managing Director of Allen Gears, completed the buy-out in association with Paul Cartwright, Finance and Services Director, and Jason Watkiss, Technical and Operations Director. The business, which employed 190 staff at its Pershore headquarters and has technical and engineering representatives based within prime market areas worldwide, took the name Allen Gearing Solutions Ltd and trades as Allen Gears. In 2014 Allen Gears as a manufacturer and service provider of gears for the power generation, oil and gas, hydroelectric, marine and nuclear energy sectors, was sold to GE Oil & Gas who had previously acquired a minority stake in the company in 2011. Following Allen Gears sale to GE, all manufacturing was eventually moved to Lufkin Gears manufacturing facility in Fougerolles in Eastern France. Around about the same time as this was happening, GE & Baker Hughes negotiated a link up, and the power transmission & coupling division was transferred under the Baker Hughes umbrella. In 2021, Allen Gears is one of many companies that form part of Baker Hughes, which lists itself as “an American international industrial service company and one of the world’s largest oil field services companies”. The plant in France is equipped with modern, up to date machine tools and state of the art test facilities and the Allen Gears name is still to be seen on new Epicyclic Gearboxes being dispatched from the Baker Hughes manufacturing plant in France. |
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