Ford opened a British assembly plant at Trafford Park, Manchester in 1911, and in 1917 an Irish factory was opened at Cork for producing tractors under the name of ‘Fordson’, a title also used for British-built trucks from 1933 onwards. Manufacturing was concentrated on the Dagenham plant after it opened in 1931. Fordson tractors had many uses. This example was one of nine 35cwt 24hp Fordsons bought by London Transport for shunting trams, buses and trolleybuses within depots. It never operated on the public highway and therefore never received a registration number. It serves at Hertford, St. Albans and Edgware garages and was the last to survive, passing in 1966 to the Uxbridge & District Vintage Vehicle Society who presented it to the Museum a year later.