R Y Pickering & Co Ltd (railway rolling stock manufacturers: 1888-c1973: Wishaw, Lanarkshire, Scotland)

In 1864 , John Pickering , originally from Yorkshire, England, chose Netherton, Wishaw, North Lanarkshire, Scotland, as the site for his wagon works. His son, Robert Young Pickering ( 1841-1932 ) took over the business in 1878 . Activities at that date included wagon repair and hire but, increasingly, Robert Pickering became involved in the building of new wagons, steel framed from about 1897 , expanding the business to include a second depot at Rawyards, Airdrie, North Lanarkshire. By the late 1880s however, Pickering was in need of further capital for his ventures. So, he converted the company into a limited company as R Y Pickering & Co Ltd in 1888 with himself as managing director. On the formation of the company he was paid £4,000 in cash and £4,000 in shares (this being half of the nominal capital). However, the main sources of new finance were John Wilson, Lanarkshire coalmaster and wagon owner, J Kennedy, timber merchant and J Mitchell, banker.

Robert Pickering was encouraged to go for rapid expansion by Dugald Drummond, locomotive superintendent of the Caledonian Railway. Drummond secured his own nominee, a Mr Robb, as works manager, but by 1891 the directors became dissatisfied by the low profits he was securing, in spite of his technical innovations, and he was replaced by James Steele. In 1900 , Robert Pickering sold 473 of his ordinary £10 shares, probably in order to finance the purchase of the Conheath estate in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, to John Wilson, making him the major shareholder. From 1901 competition became stronger, and orders from railway companies in Great Britain dropped, although the company was still producing, on average, 3,000 wagons each year. At the same time orders from South Africa and India increased and repair facilities in new depots at Thornton Junction, Fife, Scotland, and at Beighton, near Sheffield, England, did reasonable business. In 1904 , Pickering had secured the appointment of his son as company secretary. The main trend of his affairs, however, was unfavourable. A loss of £5,628 in 1909 was followed by an even more serious loss of £13,980 in 1910 . By 1911 , he personally owed the company at least £3,500. His son was told that his services were no longer required, and in 1911 , Robert Pickering was relieved of his position as managing director.

...