With a wealth of mineral resources in the countryside surrounding the city, Derby was one of the key centers of the industrial revolution and quickly became a famous center for ‘heavy engineering’. As the railways expanded and developed in the 19th century, so did the city’s engineering firms, which quickly adapted to manufacturing steam engines, carriages, carriages, and permanent track systems. With the advent of air flight in the 20th century, the Rolls Royce engineering company turned its attention to building aircraft engines and quickly became a world leader in that business. The tradition of developing engineering businesses in Derby has continued into the 21st century with the car manufacturer Toyota building a plant nearby in the 1990s.
Along with Doncaster and Crewe, Derby has maintained and developed its involvement and connections with the rail industry. Derby was for many decades the location of British Rail Research and Development, prior to the privatization programs of the 1990s. Now several of the UK’s leading private companies building and running the country’s rail infrastructure and vehicles have its headquarters in Derby. Canadian company Bombardier, based on Litchurch Lane in Derby, is the last major train manufacturing company in Britain and has built a significant proportion of the diesel and electric multiple unit trains running in the country. They also have extensive contracts to build trains for the London Underground. With offices across the UK, Atkins Rail has its Derby office at Brunel House, in the former Rail Technology Center Business Park on London Road. It has contracts to supply track maintenance and power systems, and is a key player in keeping the UK rail system efficient. Another large Derby-based company is Balfour Beatty, whose office is on Nelson Street in the city centre, specializing in the development of signaling and telecommunications systems for railways. Originally part of AEA Technology until it was sold to the venture capital group ‘Vision Capital’ in 2006, DeltaRail specializes in providing consultancy and advisory services to the rail industry.
Formed in 1906 and originally operating out of London, Rolls Royce opened its first car engine manufacturing plant in Derby, at Osmaston, in 1908. It was around this time that Charles Rolls began to become fascinated, if not obsessed, with new engine technology. air flights. . In 1910 he became the first person to double cross the English Channel in an airplane and also, unfortunately, became the first Englishman to die in a plane crash that same year. Henry Royce, who had always considered himself an engineer, designed his first aircraft engine, the Eagle, in 1914. This was widely used during World War I, but it was the Merlin engine that he designed that was used in the aircraft. Spitfire. of World War II, which sealed the company’s fame in the aircraft industry. Now superseded by the Trent family of engines, the mainstay of Rolls Royce’s production in Derby for many years was its RB211 engine, which powered many of the world’s airlines. Rolls Royce, which currently employs around 11,000 people in Derby at eight sites, also makes a range of marine propulsion units, including nuclear reactors and turbo-generators for the Royal Navy. Car engine production by Rolls Royce continued in Derby until the time of the Second World War, when it was transferred to Cheshire. Some 50 years after production of Rolls Royce car engines in Derby ceased, another car manufacturing company bought a site on the outskirts of Derby to build a new plant. Toyota Motor Corporation started production at its Burnaston plant in 1992 and currently employs over 3,000 people.
Off Osmaston Road in Derby is the Royal Crown Derby Porcelain Company. With a history dating back to 1750, the factory on this site opened in 1878 and the company earned its ‘Royal’ appointment in 1898. It is still a private company employing around 300 people and producing porcelain tableware and gifts fine english. Royal Crown Derby is considered by some to be second only to Dresden Fine Bone China products. Denby Pottery, based in Denby, Derbyshire, is another company producing ceramic tableware and wares in the area. Another company, well known for a different kind of giveaway, is Thornton’s. Originally founded by Joseph William Thornton in Sheffield in 1911, it is one of the country’s favorite chocolatiers and is based on the outskirts of the city in Alfreton.
Derby has also embraced new businesses and technologies. The online banking company, Egg, has offices in Pride Park in Derby. Growing out of the tourist industry that is drawn to the countryside around the city, a flourishing media industry emerges. Some 30 media companies are now based in Derby hosting TV dramas and films such as; Peak Practice, Elizabeth and Sons & Lovers. The creators of the computer game “Lara Croft – Tomb Raider” are a Derby-based computer animation company called Core Design who, despite being taken over by the Eidos group, still work out of their Derby base in Pride Park.