| The Hett, Maylor Company Limited. | Hett, Maylor & Co. Ltd. was formed in London on the 4th February 1885 with a value of £250,000 (about £35 million in today's money) for the purpose of constructing railway lines including the railway for The GSSR. This company was formed by Edmund Sykes Hett and his friend and relative by marriage John Maylor. Unfortunately, the company only survived for slightly less than three years, its bankruptcy causing myriad problems for The GSSR. See History. In addition, John Maylor died on the 5th November 1887 at the age of sixty, which must have complicated matters somewhat as Edmund Sykes Hett was a close friend and was related by marriage so would have been heavily involved with funeral arrangements at a time when the company was in a state of flux. |
| James Livesey & Son Ltd. | James Livesey & Son Ltd. were civil engineers who were heavily involved with the design and construction of The GSSR, designing Serón, Zurgena and Almanzora stations (and possibly many more) as well as the first Gor Viaduct (never built). |
| John Lysaght Ltd. | John Lysaght Ltd was a British iron and steel manufacturer who sold iron station supports to The GSSR. See here. The company was absorbed into GKN in 1921. |
| North Eastern Steel Co. | The North Eastern Steel Co. supplied 60lb per yard iron rail to The GSSR. See here. |
| Hunslet Engineering Co. | The Hunslet Engineering Co. supplied No 100 'Mercer', the first locomotive, to The GSSR (actually Hett, Maylor) in October 1888. This locomotive continued working until 1958 for a variety of lines. |
| Sharp, Stewart and Company | Sharp, Stewart and Company provided two 0-4-0 tank engines to Hett, Maylor which were built in 1888 and delivered in 1890. The company amalgamated with others to form The North British Locomotive Company in 1903. |
| Neilson & Company | Neilson & Company supplied twelve 2-6-0 locomotives to The GSSR between 1889 and 1890. Amalgamated with Sharp Stewart and Dübs to form North British. |
| Kitson & Company | Kitson & Company was founded in 1835 in Hunslet, Leeds. It supplied two articulated locomotives to The GSSR. |
| North British Locomotive Company | The North British Locomotive Company was formed by an amalgamation between Neilson, Sharp Stewart, Reid & Company, and Dübs in 1903. It provided six locomotives to The GSSR in 1905. |
| The Granada Railway Company Ltd. | The Granada Railway Co. Ltd. was formed on 16th November 1894, as the name suggests, to build railways in the province of Granada, Spain. The company was closely involved with a number of other companies such as The Spanish Railways Trust, 'Compañia de Caminos de Hierro de Sur de España' and 'Compañia de Caminos de Hierro de Granada'. Due to the dire state of the GSSR's finances, it was decided to sell the concession for the section between Baza and Guadix to The Granada Railway Co Ltd. The Granada Railway Co. Ltd. then became responsible for the construction of a particularly difficult section of track. As part of the deal, they acquired the GSSR plans and bought a significant amount of material that was already in Spain. Due to many problems with bureaucracy and difficulties in construction (see viaduct) the line wasn't opened until 15th March 1907. It is hard to see how this section of track was ever profitable. On 11th March 1919 The Granada Railway Co. Ltd. went into liquidation and handed over all of its books to Compañia de Caminos de Hierro Granada (Baza - Guadix). |
| Sociedad de Ferrocarril de Alcantarilla a Lorca | The Sociedad de Ferrocarril de Alcantarilla a Lorca company was formed on 10th June 1900 by Banco Hispano Colonial as a means of running the 55.4Km line. This would link up to The Madrid Zaragoza Alicante Railway (M.Z.A.) which had a line to Alcantarilla. This section as well as the section to Águilas had been discussed previously, from as far back as 1858. This section was included in the Concession for The GSSR to build and run a railway from Murcia to Granada, so there was much confusion as to who was actually going to build the line. See History. The project had previously had many false starts with a number of Royal Orders to different organizations such as Crédito General de Ferrocarriles who finally built the line, work on which started on the 29th April 1884 with a loan of 3,513,364 pesetas from Banco Hispano Colonial, and which opened on the 28th March 1885. Along with all of the lines in Spain, the Alcantarilla - Lorca became part of Renfe in 1941. |
| The Spanish Railways Trust and Investment Company Limited | This company was formed in 1888 with the purpose of investing in Spanish railway companies. It went into voluntary liquidation on the 5th September 1900. |
| La Compañía de los Caminos de Hierro del Sur de España (The South of Spain Company) | 'La Compañía de los Caminos de Hierro del Sur de España', also known as 'La Compañía del Sur de España' was constituted on the 28th June 1889 to build the railway between Almería and Linares, which was completed on the 14th March 1899. The project was funded by Ivo Bosch Puig, a rich banker from Catalonia. In the period leading up to 1898, as stated in History, the GSSR was in deep financial difficulties and couldn't finish the line between Baza and Granada. La Compañía de los Caminos de Hierro del Sur de España bought the concession for the Moreda Junction to Granada section, which was completed in 1904. La Compañía de los Caminos de Hierro del Sur de España also found itself in great financial difficulties, and so in 1916 it rented out the operation of the line to Compañía de los Ferrocarriles Andaluces, finally being absorbed in it in 1929. |
| Compañía de los Caminos de Hierro de Granada (Baza-Guadix) | Compañía de los Caminos de Hierro de Granada (Baza-Guadix) took over the section Baza - Guadix from The Granada Railway Company in 1917 but spent the next eighteen years renting the line; to The South of Spain Railway between 1907 and 1916 and to The Andalusian Railway Company between 1917 and 1925. Between 1925 and 1941 (when Renfe took over) the Escoriaza family, the main shareholders, ran the line themselves. |
| Compañía de los Ferrocarriles Andaluces (The Andalusian Railway Company) | This was a relatively large company that was responsible for much of the railway consruction in Andalusia. It was formed on the 30th May 1877 by a group of financiers of whom Jorge Loring y Oyarzabal was one of the main organizers. This is the same Loring who caused so much trouble for The GSSR. Much of the finance came from France. This Malagan company built the Malaga - Cordova, Seville - Jerez - Cadiz, Utrera-Morón-Osuna, Osuna-La Roda, Jerez-Sanlúcar-Bonanza, Marchena-Écija, Campillos-Granada y Cordova-Belmez railways. This company was responsible for the section between Guadix and Baza between 1917 and 1925, finally absorbing The Granada Railway Company Ltd. on the 11th March 1919. |
| The Madrid-Zaragoza-Alicante Railway | Compañía de los Ferrocarriles de Madrid a Zaragoza y Alicante was formed on the 31st December 1856 with a capital of 456 million reales, divided into 240,000 shares, by a group of investors including the Rothschilds, the president being Alejandro Mon and vice-president José de Salamanca. The MZA is of interest as they had a concession for the Murcia - Alcantarilla section thus relieving The GSSR of the task of building that section of line. In addition Roberto Robert had a concession for, and built, the section between Alcantarilla and Lorca. |
| Richard C. Gibbins and Co. | Richard C. Gibbins and Co. were crane makers based in Birmingham, UK. They supplied at least one crane to The GSSR for Baza Station. |
| The Bacares Iron Ore Mines Limited | Known as 'The English', this company had concessions for Los Castillones, Cortijuelo and Las Grajas mines in the Bacares area. This British company had many mining interests in the area and worked hand-in-glove with The GSSR to the extent that Gustave Gillman was the Station Manager at Águilas AND the company manager in Spain. It started exporting ore in 1903. The company closed in 1941 but there was mining activity up until 1965. |
| Compagnie des Mines et Chemins de Fer Bacarès - Alméria | Known as 'Casa de Menas', this Belgian company with concessions for Las Menas, Cuevas Negras and Nímar Mines. This company intended to build an aerial cable from Las Menas to the Guadix - Almería line but this was never built. A cableway was built from Cuevas Negras Mines in Bacares to the loader at Km95 near Tíjola. Mining continued in Cuevas Negras until 1909. The old cable was sold in 1910 to 'The Grasset Hermanos Company' who moved the top of the cable so that it ran between Gran Coloso and Km95. The company ceased trading in 1918 and transferred its concessions to 'Cabarga San Miguel'. |
| Exploradora de Minas | A Spanish subsidiary of the Dutch company 'W.H. Müller' based in Córdoba, which had the concession for Gran Coloso. Exploradora was taken over by 'Cabarga San Miguel'. |
| Sociedad Cabarga San Miguel | A subsidiary company of 'W.H. Müller' of The Hague which had the concession for the San Miguel mine. In 1918 the company took over 'Compagnie des Mines et Chemins de Fer Bacarès - Alméria' and possibly 'The Bacares Iron Ore Mines Limited' in the 1940s. The company had a network of aerial cables, 500mm and 600mm narrow gauge railways using Deutz diesel engines. In 1918, W.H. Müller took over 'Exploradora de Minas', they built a cable between San Miguel, Dulce María and Las Menas and the Los Canos loader which remained open until the 1960s. There were very few small companies left after about 1948 thus leaving Sociedad Cabarga San Miguel as the only player in the area. In the 1950s, the company spent a considerable sum of money constructing facilities in Las Menas. The company ceased trading in 1968 due to the unprofitability of the mines. |
| The Bacares - Serón Ropeway Company Limited. | This company was set up to purchase the existing cables from The Bacares Iron Ore Mines Limited for £32,000. This was for the company to be able to rent cable time to other companies which were setting up in the area. On 25th April 1932 the company was voluntarily wound up and shareholders were paid 9s 11d (49.5p) in the pound. |
| Hernán Cortés | Hernán Cortés started mining in El Tesorero mine from 1909 to 1915 when it was sold to a company called 'The Dutch-Spanish Society'. The mine closed in 1923. |
| The Coltness Iron Works | The Coltness Iron Works was established in 1837 by industrialist Henry Houldsworth. It was the main customer for the iron ore that was transported from the Bacares mines by The GSSR to El Hornillo. The iron works in Newmains continued to buy ore from 1903 until closure of the mines in the 1940s. |
| Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes. | This sugar factory in Caniles opened in 1910 but effectively closed down after three years. It had a regeneration in 1917 but finally closed in the 1960s. The GSSR supplied coal for the burners and then carried the 250 tonnes of sugar per day and molasses to Águilas Port. |
