<Tr> <Td_colspan="14"> Source: MetOffice </Td> </Tr> <P> Stafford has a long history of shoe making . It is recorded as far back as 1476, when it was a cottage industry, but the manufacturing process was introduced in the 1700s . William Horton founded his business in 1767, which progressed to become the largest shoe company in Stafford, selling worldwide . He had a number of contracts with the government, through his connections with the town's MP, the famous playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan . The shoe industry gradually died out in the town, with Lotus Shoes being the last manufacturers . The large Lotus Shoe factory on Sandon Road was demolished in 2001 to be replaced by housing . </P> <P> In 1875, A locomotive firm called W.G. Bagnall was set up . Bagnall's manufacted steam locomotives for the London, Midland and Scottish Railway and the Great Western Railway . From 1875 to 1962 the Castle Engine Works, in Castle Town, produced 1,660 locomotives including steam, diesel and electric locomotives . In 1962 Bagnall's was taken over by English Electric who also bought Stafford based engine manufacturer W.H. Dorman who by that time was merged with Bagnall's . </P> <P> Since 1903, a major activity in the town has been heavy electrical engineering, particularly producing power station transformers . The works have been successively owned by Siemens, English Electric, GEC and GEC Alsthom . Alstom T&D was sold in 2004 to Areva . At the end of 2009, Areva Ltd was split between former owner Alstom and Schneider Electric . Each transformer weighs several hundred tons and so a road train is used for transport . In the 1968 Hixon rail crash, one such road train was struck by an express train when it was crossing the railway at a level crossing . </P>

What did couture stafford used to be called