About us

Polunnio is a UK-based publishing company, undertaking layout, design and typeset work. We are also the prime source of information, and publishers of not-for-profit books, about the history of the Westinghouse Brake & Signal Company.

Where it started

Founded in 2010 as a means of publishing information of local interest in the Chippenham, Wiltshire, area of the UK, polunnio was created to publish relevant history books, and to make some relevant resources available to a wider audience.

WB&S Co?

The Westinghouse Brake & Signal Company is very closely associated with the town of Chippenham in the West of England. A major employer for over 100 years, the activities of this organisation led to the creation of a number of the region’s most successful modern companies. With up to 7,000 employees on the site, WB&S is of major significance to the social and industrial history of this area.

What information will I find on this site?

This site contains information about current books and titles that are yet to be published – and provides an online shop to buy the latest publications.

We have provided Research Resources that link to a wide range of related sites – the modern day companies, photo galleries, video and document links, and information about where archive material is held.

Are you only interested in WB&S Co and Chippenham?

No! WB&S Company’s efforts were by no means concentrated in Wiltshire, with Companies throughout the UK and worldwide created to support the various activities. Whilst polunnio tends to concentrate on local history, we maintain a close interest in the Company’s activities across the globe.

Similarly we are interested in the social and industrial history of Chippenham and North Wiltshire, even if it’s not related to Westinghouse, and we will also consider projects related to Railway Signalling and other technologies.

Protecting this heritage

Editor, Publisher and Author royalties from our publications are used to support local projects, primarily through Chippenham Museum & Heritage Centre which works to collect and preserve artefacts related to Chippenham. Support is also given to other publishing projects such as the Chippenham Studies series of books.

If you have information that you think may be relevant to our work, or you have a publishing idea thatis related to our other projects, feel free to let us know via the ‘Contact‘ page.

Commercial work

We also undertake a number of commercial contracts for layout, design, and pre-production work using the latest Adobe software on both PC and Mac platforms, working with printers ranging from some of the largest companies in the south west to small, specialist digital printers. Again if you would like to talk to us about potential work of this type, let us know via the ‘Contact‘ page.

Please note that this work is carried out separately from the not-for-profit projects – as stated before, all author, editor, publisher royalties from the Polunnio books are used to protect the Westinghouse and North Wilts industrial heritage and to support local publishing projects.