COMPANY PROFILE

NAME:Locomotive Software Ltd.

FOUNDED:February 14, 1983

FOUNDERS:Richard Clayton and Chris Hall

STATUS:Defunct (Rights held by SD Microsystems)

SPECIALTY:Operating Systems / Firmware / Productivity

PCW PROJECT:LocoScript / CP/M Plus / Locomotive BASIC

BRIEF COMMENTARY: Locomotive Software was the architect of Amstrad's software. Without them, the PCW would have been nothing more than hardware; they created its identity through LocoScript and the CP/M 3.0 implementation that redefined 8-bit efficiency.

Description

Locomotive Software Ltd. was a British software house whose history is intrinsically linked to Amstrad's massive success. Formed by former employees of Data Recall, the company specialized in writing low-level code of astonishing efficiency. Their first major success was the BASIC for the Amstrad CPC 464, but their true masterpiece arrived with the "Joyce" project (Amstrad PCW).

For the PCW, Locomotive not only developed the LocoScript word processor but also wrote much of the firmware and adapted the CP/M Plus operating system from Digital Research, optimizing it to take advantage of the PCW's memory bank management. Their focus was always on professional stability, allowing an affordable machine to compete in reliability with much more expensive systems.

Historical Headquarters (UK)

1980s: 13-15 High Street, Dorking, Surrey, RH4 1AR Main headquarters where most software for PCW and CPC was developed. 1990s: Allen House, Station Road, West Byfleet, Surrey Location during the PCW16 era and the transition to Windows.

Software Milestones

LocoScript (Versions 1, 2, 3, and 4) The de facto standard for word processing on the PCW. CP/M Plus (CP/M 3.0) Official implementation of the disk operating system. LocoLink Pioneering software for PCW to PC file transfer. LocoFile and LocoSpell Database and spell checker integrated into the ecosystem.

Historical Legacy

Following the cessation of Locomotive's activity, the legacy was picked up by SD Microsystems (Steve Denson), who formally acquired the rights to their software in 1999. Thanks to this preservation effort, the official Script newsletters and much of the technical software have been released and documented for posterity under free attribution licenses.