For over 130 years Firth Rixson Metals has been synonymous with the worldwide supply of axles from its Ickles site. Firth Rixson Metals has an impeccable safety record that boasts not a single derailment from the early days as Owen & Dyson to the present day.
High-tech-bespoke railway axles
From modern day pendolino’s to replicas of Stephenson’s rocket the experience and engineering expertise at Firth Rixson Metals and ensures that it can provide solutions to any design challenge you may face.
Its design team can lay claim to producing the first hollow bore axle for use in the channel tunnel and assisting with the development of axles for use in the Northern and Victoria line for London Underground.
Firth Rixson Metals currently offer a wide range of railway axles, including drive axles with multiple seats, non-drive railroad axles for passenger and freight applications, and lightweight drive and trailer axles with longitudinal hollow boring, which allow for precise diagnostics when in operation.
All Firth Rixon Metals’ axles are produced in Sheffield from Sheffield steel ensuring that quality is maintained throughout the whole production process.
Rail axle services
The experienced workforce and purpose-built plant available to Firth Rixson Metals make it one of the world-class producers of axles. It is flexible in its operations and provides the following benefits to customers:
- Immediate technical service support
- Competitive lead-times on delivery
- World-class quality levels
- Complex axle designs
- Ability to process small or large orders with equal efficiency
Axle system, gauges, CNC machines and measuring equipment
The Firth Rixon Metals CNC GFM forge is ideal for the near net shape forging of axles, shafts and round bars. Complemented by specialist heat treatment furnaces, a modern CAD/CAM system and CNC machines are amongst the specialist manufacturing equipment it has available to ensure quality and repeatability.
Customer services
A well-established customer base, developed over many years, is testimony to Firth Rixson Metals’ quality axles and excellent customer service. Firth Rixson Metals has a long and successful history of supplying international markets and deliveries can be made to anywhere in the world. In keeping with the company’s high standards, axles can be individually packed, boxed in batches, break bulk shipped or delivered in full container loads, according to customer requirements.
Certified railway axles
Firth Rixson has ISO 9001, GMRT 2470 certification. Axles are manufactured to all major railway standards, including GMRT 2466. References include:
- Siemens
- Bombardier Transportation
- Alstom
- Railcare
- Wabtec
- London Underground (TFL)
- Pullman
- LH Group
- Translink
- Ulsterbus
About Firth Rixson
The origins of Firth Rixson go back to the early 1800s with continual growth and expansion ever since, not just in terms of the quality products that it provides but also with its relationships with customers.
The company, renowned for being one of the world’s largest ring manufacturers, has significantly developed across an array of industrial markets. Currently employing 2,000 people, Firth Rixson has become a larger and more competitive provider of rings, forgings and metal products worldwide. Not only does Firth Rixson supply products worldwide but the company has an international presence from the 12 globally situated facilities in the US and UK, growing operations in continental Europe and China, and a new closed die forging facility in Savannah, Georgia, US.
Firth Rixson is continually aligning its plants and aggregated capabilities with the needs of customers worldwide. It positions its customers at the centre of everything it does. Firth Rixon adapts to innovative markets as well as challenging them to ensure that it meets customer requirements. The diverse capabilities of Firth Rixson in addition to the company’s focus on quality, delivery and responsiveness, enables Firth Rixson to do this. Its diverse capabilities are categorised into the following three divisions: rings division, forgings division and metals division. Firth Rixson has stability and strength, and continues to succeed in a competitive and versatile market. The owner Oak Hill Capital Partners is at the core of this.