Rail parts maker switches tracks with factory move

A 140-year-old rail sector engineer is on track for its next chapter after a multi-million-pound factory deal.

Henry Williams is moving to a five-acre base on Darlington’s Faverdale Industrial Estate. 

The Innovation House site replaces a hub in the town’s Dodsworth Street.

It comes after Henry Williams’ owner, rail engineer Trackwork, snapped up the building in a £2.8 million deal from subsea engineer Tekmar Group earlier this year.

Bosses say the agreement means Henry Williams, which has been based in Darlington since 1911 and is known for products including trackside power boxes and signalling panels, will continue growing from the historic railway town.

The deal for the site – formerly used by Subsea Innovation before the business’ sale by County Durham-headquartered Tekmar Group – was supported by Richard Wilson, a partner at Stockton-on-Tees and Gateshead-based property consultancy Portland Dodds Brown.

He said: “This was a win-win for all parties.  

“The client received its asking price of £2.84 million, a high-quality industrial unit will be brought back into use and an important part of Darlington’s railway heritage is retained.”  

Henry Williams, whose portfolio also includes control systems and telephone cabinets, was founded in Glasgow in 1883.

Beyond its rail focus, the firm made artillery parts and bombs during the First World War, and supplied more than two million mortar bombs and paid for a Spitfire during the Second World War.

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