William Cook Rail manufactures components for bogies, couplers, drawgear assemblies and brake discs for railway vehicles, including passenger, freight and locomotives.

Bogie and coupler overhaul

William Cook Rail offers maintenance, repair and overhaul for rolling stock owners and operators at its bogie and coupler overhaul workshops.

Bogie overhaul work includes cleaning and shot-blasting, re-machining, as well as non-destructive testing, ranging from magnetic particle inspection (MPI), dry powder inhaler (DPI) ultrasonic (UT) and X-ray. Welding repairs are carried out in accordance with EN15085 standards. Component replacement and rebuilding is also included.

We carry out coupler overhaul work on wedgelock, tightlock, buckeye, Association of American Railroads (AAR), Willison, BSI, Albert and bar couplers, as well as buffers and drawgear.

Bogie components for trains and metros

William Cook Rail designs and manufactures safety-critical bogie and car body components alongside train building companies. The majority of these are complex steel castings supplied machined, painted and fabricated into finished frames in accordance with EN15085 standards. We also provide machined iron and aluminium components for train builders.

One of our projects comprised a bolster and half-frame for the Alstom Citadis Spirit model. This included three steel castings per bogie, supplied machined, X-rayed, pressure tested and painted. In total, 450 bogie frames were supplied for Ottawa and Toronto metros in Canada. The project was shortlisted for UK Cast Metals Federation Component of the Year award 2019.

For another project, we supplied bogie frames for the Bombardier Electrostar model. We supplied eight steel castings per bogie, including machining, X-ray and fabrication into a single assembly. The project saw 5,500 bogie frames delivered for Electrostar and Turbostar trains in the UK and South Africa.

Railway coupler systems

William Cook Rail designs, manufactures and overhauls a variety of couplers and drawgear for passenger and freight railway vehicles.

The company manufactures new couplers using its in-house foundry, machining, assembly and testing facilities. In addition, the overhaul workshop provides short turnaround repair and refurbishment services for rolling stock owners and operators.

William Cook Rail carried out a project for the London Underground as original equipment manufacturer of wedgelock autocouplers. Under the project, 500 autocouplers were supplied or overhauled for the Central, Jubilee and Northern lines.

With two varieties available, combination couplers are compatible with both screw and tightlock couplers. These allow compatibility with different types of rolling stock.

On the other hand, tightlock couplers have a proven robust design, which can be adapted to different types of rolling stock. They are available with pneumatic coupling and uncoupling system.

Heritage rail engineering

William Cook Rail is a major supporter of steam locomotive new-build projects, including Peppercorn A1 Pacific class ‘Tornado’, B17 class ‘Spirit of Sandringham’ and P2 class ‘Prince of Wales’.

Steel castings include driving wheels, horn blocks, frame stays, cylinders, blast pipes and superheater headers.

Our bogie and coupler overhaul workshops are experienced in the refurbishment of heritage rail components such as ‘Commonwealth’ bogies from the 1950s.