THE BRITISH OVERSEAS RAILWAYS HISTORICAL TRUST
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Brief Biographies of Major Mechanical Engineers
The arrangement is alphabetical (surnames beginning):
Ba | Br | Ca | Co | Da | E | F | Ga | Gr | Ha | Ho | I | J | K | L | M | Mi | N | O | P | Ra | Ru | Sa | Sm | T | U | W | Wo |
Adamson, John Beherns
Born 1860. Educated in Carlisle. Apprenticed to NBR at age 14. In
1879 moved to David Rollo & Sons, marine engineers. In 1882 joined Midland
Railway locomotive department at Carlisle. Locomotive Superintendent Maryport
& Carlisle Railway from 1904 (he had succeeded William
Coulthard) to 1922. Died 19 July 1936. J. Instn Loco Engrs, 1936,
26, 508 obituary noted that "considerate to subordinates and respected".
W. Noel Davies (Talbot LNWR
recalled) pp 78-9 noted that Adamson was a very genial man and at
the time of his visit a new 0-6-0 was being constructed in the "little" erecting
shop. 0-6-0 with Allan straight link motion built Yorkshire Engine Co.
see Locomotive Mag., 1921,
27, 228. Retired 30 June 1923
(Locomotive
Mag., 1923, 29, 273).
Death noted in Locomotive Mag.,
1936, 42, 247.
Alexander, A.
Designer of the Fell locomotives used on the Mont Cenis Railway: see
Ransom The Mont Cenis Fell
Railway. 1999. Worked for
Brassey Jackson & Betts at
its Canada Works in Birkenhead. Also designer of snowploughs both for use
in Canada and on Mont Cenis Railway. After leaving Mont Cenis project joined
Worcester Engine Co..
"Mr.Alexander, late of Kerr, Stuart & Co., Ltd. had been appointed works
manager of the L.B.& S.C.R. locomotive works at Brighton in succession
to Mr. Smart". Locomotive Mag., 1905, 11, 75. [is this same Alexander?]
P.J.G. Ransom. Was 'A. Alexander' Alexander Allan? a conundrum in Victorian
locomotive engineering. J. Rly Canal
Hist. Soc., 2001, 33, 573-9 suggests that A. Alexander was
Alexander Allan..
Anderson, Alexander
Born in 1859; served his apprenticeship at Hyde Park Works, receiving
his technical training at Glasgow Technical College. He spent his whole life
with the North British Locomotive Company at Hyde Park Works, rising by stages
until he became General Works Manager. Elected member in 1920, On retirement
in 1931, after 62 years' service, he was elected an Honorary Member of the
Institution in recognition of his long association and service to the Institution
in Scotland. Died on 18th Deceniber 1936. Obituary: J. Instn Loco.
Engrs., 1937, 27, 684.
Anderson, Harry Percival Harvey
Inventor of compression condendsing system: applied to N class 2-6-0
No. A816 as described in Holcroft's
Locomotive adventure Chap. 8. Patents financed by
Robert Julius Petersen, a stockbroker, and
many involved John McCallum of Glasgow. System
applied to stationary electricity generating plant and in ships. Many patents
mostly applicable to marine applications. When applied to locomotives it
is normally quoted as the "Anderson system". The latest British patent appears
to have been: 336,599 An improved method of conserving heat in
a steam power plant, with Steam Heat
Conservation Co. and John McCallum. Published 13 October 1930. There
are many more mostly with McCallum and some with Petersen (as applicant).
Anderson died in 1938 according to Holcroft: "a broken-hearted man"..
Andrews, Robert
First Locomotive Superintendent of the Somerset & Dorest Railway.
Appears to have been closely supervised by Frederick George
Slessor, Engineer of the Somerset Central Railway, and was in sole charge
of mechanical engineering between the departure of Andrews until the appointment
of B.S. Fisher as Locomotive Superintendent in 1874.
Barrie and Clinker The Somerset
& Dorset Railway, Oakwood Railway History 6. 1978. and
Locomotive Mag., 1938, 44, 81-3.
Appleby, Henry
T. Houghton Wright: In the Days of Gooch.
Rly Mag., 1898, 3,
345-52. noted that the shed foreman at Swindon in the early 1850s was
Henry Appleby, who came from Stephenson's with the North Star, a real
North Countryman. Apprenticed at Swindon under Gooch and took charge of
Locomotive Department at Chippenham in 1857. Locomotive Superintendent of
West Cornwall Railway and briefly its General Manager. Then Divisional
Superintendent MSLR at Sheffield. Locomotive superintendent of the Monmouthshire
Railway & Canal Co.: see Rodney Hall Br.
Rly J., 1984 (2), 33 et seq. Took over from
Richard Laybourne in 1868 until GWR took over working
the line in 1875. . McDermot History
of the Great Western Railway rev. Clinker.. Appleby
was also consultant to the Neath & Brecon Railway. From 1875 was Locomotive
Superintendent South Wales Division of GWR. In 1888 he patented eith Robert
Stephenson (company not individual) a device to send a steam jet into the
chimey to increase the draught USP 391931 30 October 1888. (
Clements,
McMahon,& O'Rourke Locomotives of the Great Southern & Western Railwaypage 221-2 ). Appointed Locomotive Superintendent
Waterford & Limerick Railway in 1882. In 1884 Appleby was responsible
for attracting J.G. Robinson to be his assistant. Following a serious accident
in 1888 he retired to England in 1889 where he died in December aged only
52. David Jackson and
Lowe.
Arbuthnott, Robert
Born 1900? Educated Cheltenham College. Apprenticeship at Vulcan Foundry.
Assistant Works Manager Nasmyth Wilson from 1926. Assistant to Managing Director
North Brtish Locomotive Co. from 1946 and Joint Managing Director.
Life long friend of Roland Bond
Presidential Addtress Instn. Loco. Engrs.
1958
Archbutt, R.C.
Last Resident Locomotive Superintendent SDJR: 1913-30. Formerly MR
locomotive department: appointment:
Loco. Mag., 1913, 19,
203.. Barrie and Clinker The
Somerset & Dorset Railway. 1978.
Armstrong, J.E. [Jack]
Draughtsman at Hawthorn, Leslie in Newcastle and probably responsible
for design of Snaigow and Durn for Highland Railway and overall
style of "Cumming" designs on Highland Railway. Red-haired, volatile Geordie
who was antagonistic towards Chief Draughtsman at Hawthorn, Leslie, namely
John Hobson. Became Chief Engineer Scarab Oil Co. from 17 August 1918. Robert
Sutton was subordinate to Armstrong and also left to join Scarab..
Atkins, Philip. Hawthorn, Leslie and
the Highland Railway. Backtrack,
1998, 12, 141-4.
Ashman, William
Lowe cites Somerset
County Herald for 28 August 1825 to suggest that Ashman of Clandown Colliery
made a locomotive to haul coal from Radstock to Midford, but cast iron rails
broke.
Aston, William
Marshall notes
that Aston was born in Ironbridge, Shropshire in 1829 and died in Oswestry,
Shropshire on 25 February 1901 aged 71. The 1881 Census describes him as
the Manager of the Cambrian Railways Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Works
in Oswestry. After an apprenticeship at Sharp Stewart, Manchester, he worked
under Ramsbottom at Crewe. In 1865 he became
draughtsman on the Cambrian Railways at Oswestry under Alexander Walker,
Locomotive Superintendent, whom he succeeded in April.1879. His appointment
was not fully ratified until June 1884. He adopted the locomotive livery
of 'invisible green', a greenish black. In April 1888 the locomotives from
the Mid Wales Railway were taken into Cambrian stock making a total of 58
of many types by various manufacturers. The engines, including those built
to Aston's specifications, worked well, and he designed some good rolling
stock, but the directors were not satisfied with the running of Oswestry
works. In 1898 V. Raven of the NER was asked to report
which led to the Board deciding, on 21 December 1898, to ask for Aston's
resignation from 25 March 1899. He was succeeded by H. E.
Jones.
Christiansen, R., and Miller, R.W. The Cambrian Rs V 1 1967,
V 2 1968;
The R Eng 6.1901 pp 161-2
Nature of Aston household, which lacked servants, from 1881
Census: Backtrack 14,
637.
See G.A. Sekon. Rly Mag
3 313-28.
See Marshall: Biographical
dictionary
Auld, John
Born in 1871; died 1949. John Auld started on the Caledonian Railway
and was a nephew of J. Manson of the G.& S.W.R.
(Locomotive Mag., 1910,
16, 2) when appointed locomotive superintendent of the Barry Railway.
(K.J. Cook: Swindon steam) noted had been Chief Mechanical Engineer
of the Barry Railway (here he had introduced an 0-6-4T in 1914 which
tended to derail when running through hand operated points and had planned
a 2-6-2T following WW1: some of the 0-6-4Ts were fitted with Swindon coned
boilers, but all were withdrawn following the General Strike in 1926:
RCTS Locomotives of the Great Western
Railway. Paty 10). Auld went to Swindon as the Docks Assistant to
the CME (Collett): Locomotive Mag.,
1922, 28, 228, but when Stanier left for the LMS Auld became Assistant
CME, although six months older than Collett. Cook does not consider
the strangeness of this choice and suggests that Collett was hardly on top
of his work at this time. One Internet source states that Auld was responsible
for all the late "Collett" designs. Cook notes that Auld was a "very
charming man, respected by all". His eventual retirement in July 1941 forced
Collett to retire.
Aveling, Thomas
Born 25 August 1856 at Ruckings; died 5 October 1931. Retired in 1928.
Founder of agricultural engineering
business established in 1861 and manufactured locomotives derived from
traction engines between 1864 and 1926. Lowe
cited R.H. Clark The development of the English traction
engine.
Bage, Edward
Locomotive Superintendent Taff Vale Railway: 1841-2:
Lowe.
RCTS Locomotives of the Great
Western Railway. Part 10 states that succeeded George
Bush on his death in 1841, but only until 1842 was placed in charge of
locomtive department.
Bain, David
Born at Isauld in Caithness in 1855 and died in Bickley on 18 September
1933. Apprenticed with Neilson & Co between 1875-9. Joined NER at Gateshead
as a draughtsman; in 1887 became Manager of Carriage & Wagon Works at
York from 5 June 1890 at a salaary of £350 per annum (Hoole
Rly Wld, 1957, 18,
77), and in 1890? became Carriage & Wagon Superintendent of NER.
He moved to a similar post on the Midland Railway in 1903 (but
see Locomotive Mag., 1901,
6, 193) where he was renowned for his superb sleeping and dining cars.
He also introduced electric lighting, the rolling stock for the
Lancaster-Morecambe-Heysham service and electric power in the carriage &
wagon works. Awarded Silver Medal at Paris Exhibition.
Locomotive Mag., 1900,
5, 145 He retired in 1919.
Marshall.
Baister, Charles [Charlie]
Everett in Visionary pragmatist: Sir Vincent Raven: North Eastern Railway, Locomotive Engineer (Stroud: Tempus, 2006. 223pp.) (portrait p. 53) states
that was born in Darlington in 1855 and was apprenticed at the Stockton &
Darlington Railway North Road Works between 1869 and 1876. Then he left to
gain experience both at the "SECR" (which did not then exist) and at sea,
but returned to the NER in 1881. By 1886 he was Locomotive Foreman at Stockton,
but in 1893 he became an assistant to Raven when they developed a form of
audible cab (or fog) signalling: Patented jointly as: 23384/1895. Improved
means for providing trains with automatic signals. Applied: 6 December
1895. Published: 15 August 1896.
Baister, Sydney Lloyd
Shop Manager;'s Assistant at York to be Locomotive works manager,
Gateshead (Locomotive Mag.,
1924, 30, 186); and then to be works manager at Stratford
in succession to T.O. Mein.
Locomotive Mag., 1930,
36, 308 Succeeded as Works Manager at Shildon and Faverdale
(Locomotive Mag., 1939,
45, 329.). Very active in ILocoE affairs.
Barclay, Andrew
Born in Dalry, Ayrshire in 1814. His father was a millwright in
Kilmarnock, working for a carpet manufacturer. His son joined him in this
trade, but at 14 became an apprentice learning tin and copper smithing and
plumbing. In 1840 he set up a general engineering business in Kilmarnock
and eventually constructed the Caledonia Works. Locomotives were manufactured
from 1859, mainly 0-4-0STs for collieries and ironworks, but some were also
supplied to the GSWR and CR. Shields
(ILE Paper 498) noted that was working with his draughtsman
Alex Morton on jet condensers from 1854. By 1875 some
160 locomotives had been produced and the firm employed 400. He was an excellent
engineer but poor businessman. He died in October 1900. Memorial in Kilmarnock
see Humm J. Rly Canal Hist. Soc.,
2015, 38, 252.
See Syddall. Banking on Barclay's Steam World, 2003 (187, January), 58-62.
Barker, Edward D.
Invented a hydraulic brake which was tried on the Great Eastern
Railway and was evaluated at the Newark Barke Trials of 1875. Problems were
encoutered with freezing and with the use of salt to inhibit
this.
Rowatt, T. Railway
brakes.Trans Newcomen Soc.,1927, 8, 19-32
Winship, Ian R. Some nineteenth
century brakes. Rly Mag., 1987, 133, 162.
Barker, Eric G.
Locomotive Superintendent Wirral Railway. Started apprenticeship on
MSLR in 1884. In 1888 moved to Dubs in Glasgow. In 1890 joined Running Department
of NBR. Appointed Locomotive Superintendent of Wirral Railway in 1892 and
from 1894 added permanent way and signalling to his reponsibilities. Retired
end 1902: Locomotive Mag.,
1903, 8, 117..
The locomotives and carriages of the Wirral Railway.
Rly Mag., 1902, 11,
131
Barlow, George
Driver of Green Goddess (15in gauge Pacific) for over thirty
years and Operating Manager of the RH&DR until his retirement in 1981.
See Snell's One man's
railway..
Bartholemew, G.
In charge of Holmes Works of Sheffield & Rotherham Railway taken
over by Midland Railway in 1844,
(Radford, Derby Works and Midland locomotives: the story of the works, its men, and the locomotives they built, London: Ian Allan, 1971. 239pp. + plates)
Bell, John Edward
Born January 1904 and educated at Radley College. Died 26 June 1962.
Commenced his engineering training in 1925 as a pupil of R.E.L. Maunsell
at Ashford Works. After serving as an assistant locomotive testing engineer
he was appointed in 1934 assistant for the Isle of Wight in charge of the
CMEs Locomotive Running and Traffic Departments staff
(Loco. RIy Carr. Wagon Rev.,
1934, 40, 287.). He served with the Forces in the Second World
War and was attached to the Transportation Branch, Royal Engineers. In 1941
he was promoted to the rank of Major as second-in-command of No. 3 Railway
Operating Group and in 1942 as Lieutenant Colonel to command this Group (then
serving in North Africa). In 1943 he was appointed Assistant Director of
Transportation (Railway Operating) at A.F.H.Q. and in 1944 he went to India
to command No. 8 Indian Railway Operating Group then employed on the Bengal
and Assam Railway main line between Calcutta and Siliguri. He was mentioned
in Dispatches for his work in North Africa and he was released from army
service with the honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel. On demobilisation in
1945 he became Assistant Works Manager, Brighton Works, and in 1946 he was
appointed Works Manager, Ashford, where he remained until his appointment
as Locomotive Works Manager, Eastleigh, in 1962.
Bell, Norman Forster
Born Ratho on 27 May 1873. Educated George Watson's College. Apprenticed
Ramages & Ferguson, Leith 1891-7. From 1903 to August, 1907, he was engaged
on the Natal Harbour Works, and later he was in Government employment in
West Africa, but had to return to United Kingdom due to ill-health. He arrived
in the Argentine in 1909 and was employed by the Buenos Aires and Pacific
Railway as draughtsman in the machinery section until 1916, when he returned
to England to join the Forces. He was engaged as an Examiner in the Aeronauticat
Inspection Department in London from Jury, 1916, to 1st March, 1919. He returned
to the Argentine in July 1919, and entered the service of the Buenos Aires
Midland Railway as a draughtsman, where he was employed until he died on
the 23 November, 1933. Obituary J. Instn Loco Engrs, 1934,
24
Bellamy, George Sydney
Mechanical & Electrical Engineer for the LMS Northern Division
from 1941 and retained this position under Scottish Region. Previously Works
Superintendent at Derby where he been a Engineering Apprentice from 1910.
Radford notes that following service
in the RE during WW1 and again in WW2 (when he was mobilised with the rank
of lieutenant colonel, by which title he liked to be known: see Miles). In
1920 he was appointed resident locomotive inspector for the MR at
Newcastle-on-Tyne for locomotives constructed there. For a time he was Assistant
Superintendent of Motive Power to J.E. Anderson at Euston. Mentioned by Alistair
Wright in his account of his pupilage at St. Rollox beginning in 1951
(Backtrack, 1996, 10,
670). Keith Miles: LMS Journal,
(12) 2. . In group photograph
Locomotive Mag., 1925, 31,
377. Died 31 May 1952: entry amended with information from Obituary in
J. Instn Loco. Engrs., 1952, 42, 170.
Contribution to discussion on Paper 464
V. 47 p. 155. Chairman of Midland Centre for many years. Contributed
to discussion 1947, 37,
155 in Holland he had seen sand boxes filled by means
of compressed air.
Bellwood, John
Obituary notices by David Wilcock and John Spencer Gilks
(Rly Wld, 1988, 49,
729) note that died on 1 October 1988. He had been born in Bradford.
He had been Chief Mechanical Engineer at the National Railway Musuem since
1975 where associated with preservation of Mallard and Green
Arrow. He began as a Doncaster Premium Apprentice in 1944. He was shedmaster
at Melton Constable and then at Colchester.
Colchester shedmaster. Rlys South
East, 1988, 1. 72-80: Includes notes on the highly satisfactory
B17 class (much better than the two-cylinder B2 rebulds) once they were
overhauled at Doncaster, on water softening, and on the relief of the footplate
crews to return to work after the ASLEF debacle in 1955. Portrait of author
alongside F5 67191 at Maldon shed on 29 May 1955. R.H.N. Hardy Stratford
forever. Part 24. Steam Wld,
2006 (234), 38 notes that Bellwood died of asbestosis in 1988. Photograph
of him on No. 44 68 Mallard on 4 October 1986.
Publications
The restoration of Duchess of Hamilton. 2 Restoration to main
line running condition. Rly Wld,
1981, 42, 122-6..
The display beside the sea at Butlin's Minehead had led to considerable
corossion and many parts failing completely or seizing up.
Was the 'A2' Britain's best passenger
locomotive. Steam Wld, 1999
(99) 8-14
Co-author (with Jenkinson) of Gresley
and Stanier
Bentley, Walter Owen
Born in Hampstead on 16 September 1888 and died in Woking on 13 August
1971. Educated at Clifton College then a premium apprentice at Doncaster
Works under H.A. Ivatt between 1905 and 1910. Thence better known as racing
driver, known as "W.O." in motor sport and manufacturer of superb cars
(automobiles). See ODNB entry by H.G. Pitt
and article in Archive, 2004
(42) 3-18.
Billington, William Martin
Educated at Brighton College. In 1897 started as pupil at
Kitson & Co. of Leeds. He worked as fireman on MR for nine months, He
then spent 3 months on shed work, followed by 18 months in the drawing office
at Derby. He then moved to the drawing office on the GCR, In 1906 he joined
Hentby & Gresham Ltd as their Manager in India and in 1922 became proprietor
of W. Billingtion & Co., Railway Engineers in Calcutta and Bombay, He
died aged 55 at Peacehaven in Sussex on 5 July 1934. ILocoE obituary.
Bischopp, G.D.
Chief Draughtsman Birmingham & Gloucester Railway at Bromsgrove:
see Hunt and Essery. LMS Journal, 2007
(20) 52.
Black, William
According to Marshall born in
Airdrie on 8 February 1823 and died in Newcastle upon Tyne on 12 July 1905.
Founder with Thomas Hawthorn of Black,
Hawthorn & Co. Also founded the St. Bede Chemical Works in East Jarrow
in 1869, later absorbed United Alkali (he had begun his professional life
with Jarrow Alkali. Obituary: Proc. Instn Mech Engrs, 1905, 69,
777.
Bollen, Percy Walter
When elected ILocoE Associate Membr was on LBSCR in 1922. Leading,
latterly Chief Draughtsman at Ashford: retired 1955. Armstrong Whitworth
trained: early interest in water-tube boilers:
see discussion on Willans paper (J. Instn
Loco Engrs., 1930, 20. 413). Involved in design of Raworth
electric locomotives: See discussion on
Paper 448. See also Tayler.
Trans. Newcomen Soc., 1996, 68, 231-65. Mentioned in Bulleid's
Bulleid (and illustrated on page 92) as instigator of 1-C-C-1 bogies
adopted on Southern diesel-electric locomotives and then incoporated on British
Railways class 40, 44, 45 and 46. Rutherford
(Backtrack, 2008, 22, 100) describes this as the "turntable
bogie" and implies was patented, but following patent is only one traced
so far. Langridge (Volume 2 of
Under 10 CMEs) worked with him for a time.
Tayler,
A.T.H. 600/750V DC electric and electro-diesel locomotives
of the Southern Railway and its successors. Trans. Newcomen Soc.,
1996, 68, 231-65 shows that Bollen's bogie was
patented by Bulleid. Contributed to
discussion on Sanders paper on suspension systems.
747,017 Improvements relating to oil
burners. with British Transport Commission. Applied 6 February 1953.
Published 28 March 1956.
The snail-like pace is noteworthy between application and granting.
Booth, Henry
(duplicate entry)
Marshall states that Booth was
born in Liverpool on 4 April 1788 and died there on 28 March 1869. Booth
was not a locomotive designer, but played an important part in locomotive
history. As treasurer of the uncompleted Liverpool & Manchester Railway,
he advised the Stephensons to work out and apply a multi-tubular boiler in
the locomotive intended for the Rainhill Trials in 1829. Although the Frenchman
Seguin was simultaneously working on a multi-tubular
boiler, it seems that Booth thought of this idea independently, and in fact
the Rocket was the first full-size locomotive to incorporate this
vital innovation. R.H.G. Thomas in his
history of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway states that James Neville
had patented a tubular boiler in 1826, but that Booth and the Stephensons
were probably unaware of this. Booth was the author of
An account of the Liverpool
and Manchester Railway published in 1830 (Ottley 6404):
see also Snell for an
appreciation. Rowatt Trans
Newcomen Soc.1927, 8, 19 noted that Booth invented a form
of the counter-pressure brake in 1836. Patents (via
Woodcroft)
GB 6814/1835 Composition for greasing axle-bearings of carriages,
and the axle-spindles and bearing parts of machinery. ("Patent axle grease
and lubricating fluid.") 14 April 1835
GB 6961/1835 Method of attaching railway-carriages together, for
obtaining steadiness and smoothness of motion. 16 December 1835
See also Locomotive Mag.,
1946, 52, 47
GB 6989/1836 Locomotive steam-engines and railway-carriages.
23 January 1836
GB 7244/1836 Construction and arrangement of railway tunnels, to
be worked by locomotive-engines. 3 December 1836
GB 7335/1837 Construction of locomotive-engine boiler furnaces;-
applicable to other furnaces. 4 April 1837
See: L.T.C. Rolt, George
and Robert Stephenson (1960);
Marshall, C.F.D. The
Rainhill Locomotive Trials of 1829. Trans Newcomen Soc. 1928/9,
9, 78-93.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
entry by Francis Watt revised by Ralph Harrington
Portrait in Thomas The Liverpool & Manchester Railway, (London: Batsford, 1960. 264pp.) page 20
Bore, Richard
Carriage Superintendent at Wolverton until his retirement in 1886
when replaced by C.A. Park. Bore was resistant to bogies
and adopted Webb's radial axles on outermost axles of his eight wheelers.
See Chacksfield's F.W.
Webb
Borrows, Edward
Had been assistant to James Cross on St Helens
Railway. Established Providence
Works in St Helens in 1865 and started locomotive manufacture in 1872.
About forty locomotives built up to 1913. Locomotives were highly distinctive
0-4-0 tank engines of "Borrows type".
(Lowe)
Bouch, William
According to Marshall William
Bouch, elder brother of Thomas Bouch (engineer
of the first Tay Bridge), was born in 1813 (according to
Pearce p. 4 at Thursby, but registered
in Whitehaven) and died in Weymouth on 19 January 1876. He was apprenticed
at Robert Stephenson & Co. and then served in the Russian navy. In 1840
he was appointed Locomotive Engineer of the Stockton & Darlington Railway.
Wil!iam Bouch in 1860 designed the first true British 4-4-0 type locomotives
for the Stainmore route. About the same year he designed a feedwater heater
known as 'Bouch's coffee can', in which the water was warmed in a sleeve
around the chimney. According to Hoole (North
Road Locomotive Works) Bouch also innovated the steam brake, the
counter-pressure system of braking and a combined lever and screw reversing
mechanism. Pearce implies that the autonomy of the S&DR ceased with the
retirement of Bouch. According to
Carling Trans Newcomen Soc., 55, 10 Bouch was granted Patent
No. 64 of 10 January 1871. Bouch also patented an improved link motion: see
Miles Macnair Backtrack, 2014,
28, 390 Early user of piston valves.
Locomotive Mag., 1922, 28, 37.
See: Locomotive Carriage and Wagon Review, April 1923, Aug.
1925.
Bown, Frederick Cecil
Born 17 February 1893, elected a Member in 1921. Educated
Shepton Mallet Grammar School and Derby Technical College. Part of his
engineering apprenticeship was served in the Somerset and Dorset Railway
Locomotive Shops at Highbridge and completed on the Midland Railway at Derby.
After a period in the Drawing Office in 1914 he enlisted on the outbreak
of war. In 1916 he was transferred to the Ministry of Munitions as a Section
Director (Production) of munition gauges. In 1919, after demobilisation,
he joined the Central Cordoba Railway Company as chief of the Technical Office,
and in 1922 was appointed Locomotive Running Superintendent. In 1928 he joined
the Buenos Ayres and Pacific Railway as Locomotive Running Superintendent.
He died in Buenos Aires on 21 January 1937. J. Instn Loco. Engrs.,
1937, 27, 684.
Brandreth, Thomas Shaw
Marshall notes
that born in Cheshire on 24 July 1788 and died in Worthing on 27 May 1873.
Educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was shown to be
brilliant. His scientific interests led him into friendship with George
Stephenson and he was a director of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway
on which he proposed to employ the Cycloped, a horse-powered "locomotive".
ODNB entry by Stanley Lane Poole revised
by R.C. Cox..
Brewer, E. Godfrey
Mechanical engineer Leek & Manifold: portrait in
Lindsey Porter's Leek & Manifold Valley
Light Railway. 2002.
Briggs, Sir George
Dabeg Company: see Cox Locomotive panorama Plate 21.
Brunton, William
According to Marshall, Brunton
was born in Lochwinnoch on 26 May 1777 (ODNB states Dalkeith as place of
birth, but same date) and died in Camborne on 5 October 1851. He is a
contemporary of Blenkinsop.
Dendy Marshall notes that he was a
mechanic at Boulton & Watt between 1796 and 1808 and left there for the
Butterley Ironworks. William
Brunton devised a four-wheel steam locomotive the drive of which was transmitted
by levers to two walking feet: this was patented (3700 Method and
machinery for drawing or propelling carriages on roads or railways...
of 22 May 1813). This machine worked successfully at Newbottle in 1813 or
1814. In 1815 a new boiler was fitted but this exploded, causing several
fatalities. This incident, which occurred on 31 July 1815, is regarded as
the first railway disaster. In 1815 he became a partner in the firm of Francis,
Smith, Dearman and Brunton (the Eagle Foundry of Broad Street, Birmingham
where he devised mechanical stokers and revolving fire grates. After this
he practiced as a civil engineer (patenting an excavator:
6500/1833) and participated in several industrial ventures in South
Wales. There he was involved in both tin and copper smelting, then became
involved in the Maesteg Ironworks. This led to further patents.
Lowe suggests Brunton may have been Locomotive
Superintendent on the Taff Vale Railway for a short time in the 1840s.
RCTS Locomotives of the Great Western
Railway. Part 10 states was in-charge of locomotive department of
Taff Vale Railway in 1842. He did not gain much remuneration from his inventions.
Other Patents: 4587 Steam-engines, and furnaces of steam engines
of 29 June 1819; 4449 Fire-grates of 19 April 1820; 4685
Fire-grates and means of introducing coal thereon of 26 June
1822. Informative ODNB entry by G.C. Boase
revised by Christopher F. Lindsey. See also:
Transactions of the Newcomcn
Society, 1921/2, 2, 118.Patents
also listed in Woodcroft
Buddicom, William Barber
Born in Liverpool on 1 July 1816 and died in Mold on 4 August 1887
according to Marshall. Apprenticed
to Mather Dixon & Co.of Liverpool. Better known in continental Europe
than in his native Britain Buddicom was originally locomotive superintendent
of the Grand Junction Railway at Edgehill, Liverpool from 12 January 1840,
but left on 31 August 1841 to begin private locomotive building in France.
(Reed in Crewe locomotive works and its men, Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1982). His works manager at Edge
Hill there was Alexander Allan, but according to Reed
it was Buddicom who in the early 1840s devised the 'Allan' or Crewe type
of locomotive to obviate crank axle failures. After Buddicom left to found
his own locomotive-building company, he received a contract from the engineer
Joseph Locke, then building the Paris & Rouen Railway, to supply Allan-type
locomotives to that Company. This was the first of several French railways
to order these sturdy machines,which on the Continent soon became known as
the 'Buddicom' type. See: Locomotive Carriage and Wagon Review, Feb.
1941. Biography by George W. Carpenter revised by Mike Chrimes in
Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography.
Burstall, Timothy
1776-1860. Built Perseverance for Rainhill trials, but locomotive
damaged in transit (Lowe).
Sekon's Evolution of the steam
locomotive (p. 37) notes that Burstall of Edinburgh (Lowe states
Leith) was a manufacturer of steam road coaches. See
C.F. Dendy Marshall History of
the railway locomotive down to the year 1831: Chapter 15 including
Figs. 78-81: including a portrait. Marshall lists two patents: 5090/1825
and 5405/18126... .
Burton, Duncan
Died 30 December 1993. Born 1920. Eductaed Hamiilton Academy.
Apprenticeship at St Rollox from 1936. WW2 army service. Shedmaster Carstairs.
Maintenance foreman, Ferryhill from 1954. Eventually mainly modern traction.
Deputy at Haymarket from 1966. Arthur
Tortorella (Backtrack, 2019, 33, 573) states shedmaster
and notes his appreciation of V2 class. Retired in October 1982. Obituary
True Line, 1994 (46) 5-9. See
also Modellers Backtrack regarding
Caledonian blue.
Burtt, George Frank
According to Marshall Burtt was
born in Greenwich on 22 March 1871 and died in Brighton on 22 August 1949.
Burtt was a founding Member of the Institution of Locomotive Engineers and
was the historian of the locomotives of the
LBSCR. Marshall gives an excellent account of how his chief (R.J. Billinton)
forced his initial literary efforts to be published under a pseudonym.
He was presented with an illuminated address by the Institution of Locomotive Engineers for his services to the Instution (J. Instn Loco. Engrs, 1932, 22, 236-7) portrait
Bush, George
Locomotive Superintendent Taff Vale Railway: 1840-1:
Lowe. RCTS
Locomotives of the Great Western Railway. Part 10 states that
Bush was the Company's Engineer and was also in-charge of locomotives from
1838 until his death in September 1841.
Caillet, F.L.
French engineer who invented spring system for long coupled locomotives:
see Slaughter
Caldwell, J.W. [Jimmy]
Started at Horwich. Caldwell had been Chief Locomotive Draughtsman
of LMS since 1945 and so continued until 1956. It was he who had had a lot
to do with the form which the Ivatt Class 2 and Class 4 engines had taken,
and far from showing any resistance to the somewhat American trend in the
standard designs, he had sometimes to be gently restrained from a wish to
see even more bizarre features introduced. Represented London Midland Regions
on team which designed British Railways standard locomotives.
Cox, British Railways standard steam
locomotives. 1966, especially p.71.
Mentioned on p. 35 of Langridge
2 in connection with appearnace of No. 10000 at Euston for inspection
in fading years of LMS on 16 Decemebr 1947: both Langridge and Caldwell were
there with Ackroyd of English Electric. Views
on standardisation: see discussion at Derby on Cox's ILocoE paper. See
also Pat Webb Fitted coal tests.
Midland Record, 2000 (13),
59.
Discussion on Gass's paper on compounding:
J. Instn Loco. Engrs, 1927,
17, 22.
Discussion on Ell's paper on controlled road testing.
J. Instn Loco. Engrs., 1953,
43, 618.
Calthrop, Everard Richard
Born in Bourne in 1857 and died in London on 30 March 1927. Educated
at Uppingham. Briefly joined Robert Stephenson & Co, but then apprenticed
at Crewe. In 1879 joined GWR, but in 1882 moved to GIPR where he developed
his ideas on light narow-gauge railways, notably the Barsi Light Railway
of 1897 (Marshall). Resigned from Barsi
Light Railway due to ill health in 1925
(Locomotive Mag., 1925,
31, 303). In Britain his ideas were incorporated in the Leek &
Manifold Light Railway (see review of
excellent book in Backtrack, 2007, 21, 59). . His ideas
on locomotives are partly considered in
Ransom's Narrow gauge
steam. and by Rutherford in
Backtrack, 2007, 21, 437. Obituary Proc. Instn Mech.
Engrs., 1926, 113;
Locomotive Mag., 1927,
33, 136. Portrait in Lindsey Porter's
Leek & Manifold Valley Light Railway. 2002.
See also W.J.K. Davies' Light
railways. See also John Bradford Corrie.
Book
Light railway construction. 1897 (reprinted 1997)
Calthrop was well known as a breeder of Arab horses and was the author of
The Horse as Man's Companion and Friend.
Patents
28354/1907 Improvements in or relating to transportation cars for
carrying road or railway vehicles. Published 11 February 1908.
3075/1905. Improvements in vehicles for conveying on railways of
narrow gauge, broad gauge railway or other vehicles, and in the method of
or means for getting vehicles to be carried into position upon and removing
them from the carrying vehicles. Published 11 January 1906.
25085/1904. Improvements in means or devices for securing railway
or tramway rails to their supporting beds or sleepers. Published 14 September
1905.
16227/1903. Improvements in or relating to central buffer and draw
gear apparatus for railway and like vehicles. Published 22 July 1904.
17525/1896. Improved means for conveying on railways railway or
other trucks and common road vehicles, with John Charles Taite. Published
10 July 1897.
17199/1896. Improvements in or in connection with buffers and draw-bars
for railway and other similar vehicles, with William Richard Sumption
Jones. Applied 4 August 1896. Published 31 July 1897.
6433/1896. Improved means of holding window and louvre sashes for
railway carriages and other vehicles, suitable also for holding ticket windows,
stove dampers, and the like, with John Charles Taite. Published 13 March
1897.
1066/1896. Improved vehicles for conveying on light railways common
road vehicles, or railway or other trucks, whether loaded or not, with John
Charles Taite. Published 15 January 1897.
20429/1895. Improvements in or in connection with buffers and draw-bars
for railway and similar vehicles, with William Richard Sumption Jones.
Applied 29 October 1895. Published 24 October 1896.
He was also the patentee of the "Guardian Angel" parachute, which
was used in large numbers by the Allies in WW1.
Cameron, John
According to Marshall
born in Wigtownshire, educated in Inverness and died in
Monkseaton on 17 March 1938. Apprenticed to Stroudley at Brighton, then moved
to LSWR and in 1885 to the TVR as Works Manager. He became Locomotive
Superintendent of the TVR from 1911 until his retirement in 1922. Appointment
as locomotive superintendent, Taff Vale Railway:
Locomotive Mag., 1912,
18, 35.
Cameron, Kenneth Reid Mackenzie
Apprentice at St. Rollox in "early LMS days" and subsequently a
draughtsman thereat (Atkins. North
Br Rly Study Gp J., 2020 (139) 40); sometime assistant Foreman in
Crewe Erecting Shop in 1932. Reported on
ILocoE Summer Meeting trip out to Forth Bridge from Edinburgh. Served
with distinction at home and abroad during WW2. District Motive Power
Superintendent at Gorton; District Motive Power Superintendent at Kings Cross.
Running & Maintenance Officer, Scottish Region
(Cox British Railways standard steam
locomotives). See also Rogers
Thompson & Peppercorn. Comments on roller bearings see
J. Instn Loco. Engrs., 1937,
27, 560-1. J. Instn Loco.
Engrs., 1937, 27, 809-10 Comment on mechanical coaling plant
limitations: Comment on Cook's paper
on Churchward. Huge contributor to discussions on motive
power of all types. Corrections to
Hamilton Ellis's Highland engines
and their work (Locomotive Mag., 1930, 36, 358-9 which reveals that in 1930 Cameron resided at Turinzean, Uddingston
Chapter 10 in Peter Townend.
LNER Pacifics remembered: ashpans, firedoors not liked, but very
revealing on unrebuilt Royal Scots and their defects..
Campbell, Ernest Thomas
Educated in Cork. Joined GS&WR at Inchicore as Draughtsman
in 1901. In 1906 left for Andrew Barclay of Kilmarnock as leading draughtsman;
moved to Hudswell Clarke of Leeds as chief draughtsman, where he stayed until
1920 when he moved to John Fowler as chief locomotive draughtsman. In 1924
he became leading draughtsman at Sir W.G. Armstrong Whitworth, where he worked
on diesel traction latterly. He died on 30 January 1935. (Instn Loco. Engrs
obit)
Campbell, James
Marshall states
that born in Greenock on 19 June 1838 and died in Leeds on 12 October 1905.
Son of Alexander Campbell, Manager of the Railway
Foundry in Leeds. Apprenticed to his father. In 1858 entered service of East
India Railway at Howrah works. In 1864 he became manager of
Hunslet Engine Co. when it was established
and took control of the company in 1875. He took a great interest in the
establishment of the Yorkshire College which was to became Leeds
University.
Campbell, Robert
Locomotive superintendent Maryport & Carlisle Railway from 1878
to 1893 (Lowe).
Cantlie, Kenneth
Kenneth Cantlie was born in London, the youngest son of Sir
James Cantlie, specialist in tropical diseases (died 1926
ODNB) who had worked in China and
had also developed a strong sympathy for those who suffered poverty and
ill-health in Britain.. Kenneth Cantlie (died 1986) was educated in Aberdeen
and following WW1, was a C.J. Bowen Cooke pupil at Crewe 1916-20. He then
worked on railways in Argentina and in Jodhpur. He was appointed technical
adviser to the Chinese Minister of Railways in 1929. He returned to Britain
in 1937 and during WW2 was involved in loading tanks onto railway wagons.
Snell's One man's railway page
51 notes Major Cantlie's involvement with the RHDR during WW2. In
1948 Cantlie was appointed the overseas representative of the Locomotive
Manufacturers' Association. He advised on the establishment of the locomotive
works at Chitteranjan in India. He was mainly responsible for the Chinese
4-8-4 project: see Atkins The Golden age
of locomotive building. Chapter 8 and
Newcomen Society paper 54-127. He worked
for the British Caprotti company in the post-WW2 period. He died on 11 February
1986, aged 86. His comments on Thorley's
paper on locomotive ergonomics are interesting, although in the 21st
century would be regarded as reactionary. See
also snippit in LMS 150...In 1937 he presented a paper on the destruction
and rehabilitation of the railways in China to the society of Arts sections
of which were published in
Locomotive Mag, 1938, 44,
11-14. Comnent on experimental Indian
locomotives see Saunders ILocoE Paper. Comments on H.F. Brown's Economic
results of diesel electric motive
power. Proc. Instm Mech.
Engrs., 1961, 175, 279. A.J. Mullay is to be congratulated
on drawing out further information on this remarkable character in
a Backtrack article in 2022. .
Carrett, W.E.
Chief draughtsman at E.B. Wilson and involved in design of locomotives
with intermediate crank axles: see
Joy diaries
Carrier, Francis (Frank) George
Frank Carrier was born into a railway family in Derby in 1899 or 1900
and died on 13 December 1952. Following military service in WW1 he joined
the Midland Railway at Derby Works (see
Rly Arch., 2009, (23) 25). See
letter by Philip Atkins BackTrack, 14, p.371 noting his
letter concerning the Paget locomotive published in 1920, his interest in
photography and influence on appearance of BR Standard locomotives.
Cox (Speaking...) noted that
Carrier produced beautiful cross-section perspective drawings of the BR Standard
locomotives. According to Riddles,
(Rogers: Express) F.G. Carrier,
a section leader in the Development and Design branch of the Derby Drawing
Office, was largely responsible for what both Stanier's and Riddles' engines
looked like. He was a railway enthusiast and photographer and was friends
with Ron Jarvis (photograph in Jarvis p.
34) and John Adams. His photographic collection is kept in the Kidderminster
Railway Musuem: see Rly Arch.,
2010, (26) 41. Langridge Under
ten CMEs p. 148 has a wonderful portrait of Frank Carrier. The obituary
in the Journal of the Institution of Locomotive Engineers (1952, 42, 604)
contains an appreciation by D.W. Peacock..
Carson, James Irving
Locomotive superintendent West Hartlepool Harbour & Railway.
(Lowe): forenames from Loco. Rly Carr.
Rev., 1929, 35, 27-8.
Cartazzi, Francis James
Francis James Cortazzi was of obscure, apparently Italian, origins.
It seems he was related by marriage to the Hornbys. Hugh Hornby (1792-1875,
successful merchant and sometime Mayor), whose Liverpool address he used
after he went to India, married Louisa, daughter of Luc François Cortazzi,
British consul in Smyrna; and John Cortazzi married Marianne Hornby. Nothing
is known of him before 1857, when he was elected a member of the Institution
of Mechanical Engineers. He was Assistant Running Superintendent for the
GNR at Doncaster at that time, and apparently acting as assistant to Sturrock
when he proposed the use of inclined slides to control the side movement
of radial axleboxes. This gave the benefits of a pony truck at a saving in
space and weight. Early in 1859 Cortazzi became Running Superintendent at
Peterborough when C.R. Sacré resigned. In 1860 he was appointed Locomotive
Superintendent on the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, Bombay. His idea was
used there and elsewhere in India, on the narrow-gauge Gwalior Light Railway,
for example. The IMechE Register Books show that F.J. Cortazzi died in 1869,
but oddly he got no obituary not even a death notice in the
Proceedings. His subs were up to date, so probably he died in India of a
fever, like many British expatriates. Bells Biographical index of British
engineers in the 19th century has no entry for him. At some point, people
started writing his name as Cartazzi. In Britain his invention
was used by the GNR, the company for which Gresley worked until its absorption
in the LNER in 1923. Gresley used Cartazzis axle on trailing carrying
axles, but the Midland Railway used it on the leading coupled axle of the
unloved Flat Iron. This Deeley 0-6-4T combined it with helical springs, though
its other coupled axles had laminated (cart) springs. Not surprisingly, it
tended to derail. In the 1930s a spate of derailments by Indian pacifics
was investigated by a team led by William Stanier. Lack of side-control was
found to be the main cause, aggravated by poor track and lack of maintenance;
wear on the Cartazzi slides was implicated as a contributory factor. When
Gresley commissioned a New York firm to design a booster engine for his P1
2-8-2, they tried in vain to persuade him to use an American trailing truck
of the type that they were used to. In the process of redesigning the booster
to fit the P1, they came round to the view that Cartazzis design was
undoubtedly about the lightest form of suspension that could be worked
out. Grateful thanks go to Keith Moore, Librarian of the Institution
of Mechanical Engineers, and Peter Townend, our vice-president and sometime
Shedmaster, Kings Cross, for information found in this article. Entry replaced
by online material generated for the A1 Locomotive Trust, but see
also: Locomotive Mag, March 1932,
38, 99,.
Casey, Michael Vince
Born 25 May 1927: Chief Engineer, Channel Tunnel Rail Link, British
Rail, 198990. Educated: Glossop Grammar School and The College, Swindon.
Premium Apprentice, GWR Locomotive Works, Swindon, 194449; University
of London External Degree Course, 194952; British Rail Western Region:
Locomotive Testing and Experimental Office, Swindon, 195258 (worked
for Sam Ell Durrant, A.E.
Swindon apprentice (1989) stated that was an assistant to Ell
when involved in controlled road testing); Supplies and Contracts Dept, Swindon,
195861; Chief Mechanical and Electrical Engineers Dept, Paddington,
196163; Area Maintenance Engineer, Old Oak Common, 196366; Chief
Mechanical and Electrical Engineers Dept, Paddington, 196671;
Chief Mechanical and Electrical Engineer: Scottish Region, Glasgow,
197176; Eastern Region, York, 197678; Engineering Director, British
Rail CLtd, 197882; Director, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering
, BRB, 198287; Project Director (BR Engineering ), 198789 Who's
Who.
Paper
And now
for something rather different . Proc. Instn Mech.
Engrs, Part D: Transport Engineering, 1987, 201, (D4), 245-56.
Cauchi, William
Consultant to the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway where he influenced
design of Greenly's Sir Aubrey Brocklebank. See
Locomotive Mag., 1919, 25,
65. Davies The Ravenglass &
Eskdale Railway and Steel's The
miniature world of Henry Greenly: latter states that Cauchi, a man
of rather retiring nature, had served on the LCDR. Also probable inventor
of feedwater system (patent not found yet diagrams look like patent drawings):
see Locomotive Mag., 1911,
17, 247.
Cecil, Sackville .Arthur. (Lord)
Locomotive Superintendent of the Metropolitan District Railway between
1879 and 1884. Locomotive Mag.,
1906, 12, 3 (C.H. Ellis:
Some classic locomotives, Chap. 4). Followed
by George Estall. Horne London's District
Railway concise biography with portrait.
Chambers, A.
Inventor in 1867? (according to Rowatt) of a modified form of Fay's
mechanical brake: evaluated on North London Railway.
Rowatt, T. Railway brakes.Trans
Newcomen Soc.,1927, 8, 19-32.
Church, William
1778-1863. Lowe lists Dr Church
as a locomotive builder, but he appeared to be a designer of a locomotive
for Samuel Aspinall Goddard which was built by Horton of Brierly Hill, or
according to Harry Jack Locomotives
of the LNWR Southern Division by John Inshaw of Birmingham (not in
Lowe). Dickinson A short history of the
steam engine (1938) p. 131 considered that Church's efforts had been
directed towards steam carriages. Furthermore, according to Jack it was a
"quaint" 2-2-0WT with a patent boiler. Jack's Figure 10 is unlike the 0-2-2WT
of Fig 83 in Lowe. It ran trials on the London & Birmingham Railway in
January 1838, but these were unsuccessful, although according to Jack it
reached 60 mile/h! It was then tried on the Grand Junction Railway whilst
named Victoria. It was fitted with piston valves. Subsequently the
locomotive now known as Surprise was tried on the Birmingham &
Gloucester Railway. It exploded at Bromsgrove on 10 November 1840 where
Hewison, Locomotive boiler explosions (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1983), noting the Official Report, records
that Goddard was hoping to sell the locomotive to the BGR. It appeared on
the Swansea Vale Railway in the late 1850s by which it had become some form
of 0-6-0T. Church is mentioned by
Petree in his Newcomen Society paper on biography largely in connection
with its reference to its guide bars being like Maudslay's table engine.See
also letter from P.C. Dewhurst in letter from Montevideo in
Locomotive Mag., 1942,
48, 216. on Church's locomotive and boiler explosions at Bromsgrove.
Miles Macnair.
Clark, John
Inventor of chain brake in 1862, adopted and developed by Webb of
LNWR. Was working on NLR and Metropolitan Railway by 1866; also used on GNR,
GWR and GIPR: Rowatt, T. Railway
brakes.Trans Newcomen Soc.,1927, 8, 19-32
Clark, Thomas F.
According to Hennessey, Backtrack, 2004, 18, 454 and
Lowe designer of Metropolitan Railway 0-4-4T
(Locomotive & Carriage Superintendent in
1896). Jackson notes that Clark was appointed
at a paltry £250 per annum, but that he was responsible for successful
modifications to the locomotives. He lasted until 1905 when Charles Jones
took over. Locomotives built at Neasden see
Locomotive Mag., 1898,
3, 161
Clayton, Nathaniel
Born 25 August 1811 at Lincoln; died Lincoln 21 December 1890. Clayton
started a small iron foundry in Lincoln, next to the boat-building yard of
Shuttleworth and Godwin, in which his brother-in-law, Joseph Shuttleworth,
was a partner. In 1842 Shuttleworth formed a partnership with Clayton as
Clayton, Shuttleworth &
Co., and they established the Stamp End foundry, Lincoln. At first they
undertook small contracts, making pipes, bridges, and railway equipment.
ODNB entry by Jonathan Brown.
Clement, Joseph
1779-1884;
Rutherford Backtrack, 2006,
20, 626 notes that he was the son of a Westmorland
hand-loom weaver and gained his early engineering experience in Scotland
before joining Joseph Bramah in London in 1814, but following Bramah's death
he joined Henry Maudslay as his chief draughtsman before setting up on his
own account at Newington Butts. Here he worked for Charles Babbage on his
difference engines and for Daniel Gooch on a "testing wagon". He laso
manufactured a superb one-eighth scale model of a Firefly class 2-2-2.
Clements, Henry
Lowe states was
Locomotive Superintendent of Taff Vale Railway from December 1846 until
his resignation in January 1858.
RCTS Locomotives of the Great
Western Railway. Part 10 confirms this.
Click, John Gaywood
Born in London on 24 April 1926; died 1 November 1988. Premium apprentice
under Bulleid: interviewed by the highly courteous CME in 1943 (Steam
Wld, 1982 (19), 26-30. Portrait. Further portrait (p. 81 Part 2) and
information (notably that he became Assistant Works Manager at Eastleigh,
in charge of Rugby Testing Plant, and then left railway service to teach.
from Robertson's: Leader:
the full story which also contains a large number of Click's photographs.
There is a Click Collection at the NRM.
Nigel Harris (Steam Wld,
1991 (54) 18) gives further personal information and reproduced some
of his photographs from the NRM In the Drawing Office he worked on major
components of the BR class 4 4-6-0 and 2-6-4T. He was a great admirer of
Bulleid and as well as his involvement with the Leader he weint to Ireland
to assist with the turf burner. He resigned from British Railways in 1965
and after six years with an engineering company he trained as a school teacher
in 1971, teaching engineering at a school in Chislehurst. He was scornful
of those who wrote about railway history or engineering from a secondhand
standpoint. He was a perfectionist, had a delightful sense of humour, but
was not an easy man to get to know well. Further extracts from Click's notebooks
in Southern Way, 2020 (50),
21 (Part 2) <also in 49 and 51>..
Cobb, Alan
Early ILocoE member (South Eastern & Chatham Railway). Retired
to Hawkhurst in 1946. Assistant Motive Power Superintendent, Southern Railway.
Appointed Motive Power Superintendent, Southern Railway in 1936
(Locomotive Mag., 1936,
42, 71). Holcroft's Locomotive
Adventure notes their joint efforts in assessing the performance
of the Woolwich Moguls in the Exeter area, and in inspecting a Sentinel
locomotive shunting on the GWR at Park Royal, and of the various options
for pull-and-push (Holcroft's terminology) contro. Retirement and replacenent
Locomotive Mag.., 1944,
50, 180..
Cochrane, Thomas (10th Earl of Dundonald)
Thomas Cochrane was born at Annfield in Lanarkshire on 14 December
1775. He joined the Navy in 1800 and was put in command of Speedy. He had
a complicated and adventurous Naval career which included his involvement
with the Chilean Navy to assist in the installation of Don Bernardo O' Higgins
as the country's first president. During this time he briefly attended Edinburgh
University where he gained an interest in steam propulsion. In 1812 he eloped
with Katharine Barnes whom he married in 1812. He became the 10th Earl of
Dundonald in 1832 and died on 31 October 1859, having become a Rear Admiral.
He was involved in the construction of warships for the Chilean navy and
in the development of the rotary steam engine.
See Barnes: BackTrack 13,
586.
Patents
Rotary engine 20 December 1833.
6530 Steam engines, propulsion of vessels &c 20 June 1834.
6923 Propulsion of carriages, vessels &c [5 November 1835] 5 May
1836
Cocks, Clifford S.
Born in Gorton in 1897
(Atkins Backtrack, 2010, 24,
634). Atkins (Backtrack 15
445) notes that Cocks had been employed in the drawing office at
Gorton (former GCR) until 1927. During that time he did appear in the Gorton
(GC) drawing register for designing the 6ft diameter boiler for the 2-8-0
which burned pulverized fuel (Atkins, 2007). He moved to Doncaster, but he
did not know Bulleid during his LNER days and transferred
to the Southern Railway in 1937 where he had to interpret his chief's unusual
wishes, especially those relating to the Leader class. In 1949 he
transferred to Derby as chief draughtsman in succession to
Coleman. He was a member of the design team for the
British Railways Standard locomotives, and was a member of the committee
which organized the 1948 interchange trials.
(Cox: Standard), who also observed
that "Finally on the Southern was the combination of C.S. Cocks with
W. Durban who had both been tried in the fire of Bulleid's
unconventional activities, and who had only now been released from the agonies
of trying to design something workable out of the ideas behind the "Leader"
locomotive." Langridge Under
ten CMEs p. 109 notes that he had been informed by Cocks that Gresley
would sit at a draughtsman's board discussing something, quite oblivious
of the passing of the 'Knocking-off' time; he was one of the very few designing
CMEs. Langridge notes that Cocks was far less orderly than Clayton and was
sometimes an impatient man (page 70).
Langridge (V. 2 p. 111): "As
I have said, Cocks's method of advance in argument was by negatives
'I don't agree' and so on: being a shortish man, and the chief draughtsman
of the locomotive drawing office (down London Road, Derby) being the same,
they at once took a noticeable dislike to each other. No doubt the latter,
being an ambitious man (his way of running his office was to write out chits
to his section leaders, 'Please do so and so'), was annoyed at having another
man put over his head. I had been so used to that, that I could see the funny
side and laugh. But more and more it made me think that Bulleid's Pacifies
were very much Bulleid's own design right down to details and that, unlike
most CME's who were Works or Production 'wallahs', he got Cocks, Durban,
Lockhart and the boys at Brighton just to draw them out. I can well imagine
that he could not stand the sight of the Eastleigh traditional men.
Langridge 2 p. 89: "For, as
C.S. Cocks was fond of saying to me in later years, 'Eric, it is all tommy-rot
to say that a new standard reduces the number of classes; it just adds one
more'. Of course Cocks, being a staunch Bulleid lieutenant, considered that
'Merchant Navies' and 'West Countries' could work all BR traffic that existed
then; he did not mention his solution for freight."
Papers
History of Southern locomotives to
1938. J. Instn Loco. Engrs, 1948, 38, 749-822.
Discussions: 823-60. (Paper No. 481).
One of the four key surveys of locomotive design prepared at around
the time of Nationalization.
Modern steam locomotives. Coventry Engineering Society J., 1937,
18, 39-47. Disc. 47-52.
See Locomotive Mag.,
1936, 42, 389
Discussion on::
Cox, E,S. and Johansen, F.C. Locomotive frames.
Pp. 126-9: experience with Merchant Navy class
Carling, D.R. Locomotive testing.
Comments at Derby meeting concerning tests of D49 with poppet valves
and on the poor draughting of the Ivatt 2-6-0 classes.
Coker, George
Chief Draughtsman at Wolverton from approximately 1877 until he retired
in 1911. He was an examiner in carriage building for the City & Gulds
and taught at the Science & Art Institute in Wolverton. He was a Liberal
and designer of the Congrgational Church in Wolverton..
See Backtrack, 10,
622.
Rly Gaz., 1911 (April), p. 103.
Colclough, E.
Works Manager, Oswestry Works, Cambrian Railways since 1909.
Photograph p. 113 Green Cambrian
Railways: presumably father of J.
Colclough, ex-Preium Apprentice.
Locomotive Mag., 1919,
25, 100 states "works assistant at Oswestry appointed locomotive
works manager". Appointed divisional superintendent of the Central Wales
division in 1924:. Locomotive
Mag., 1924, 30, 53. Interesting in that he contributed to
the discussion on paper by J.C. Metcalfe on exhaust steam injectors
(J. Instn Loco. Engrs., 1927,
17, 382-3.)
Collinson, Arthur
First cousin of T.W. and Wilson Worsdell.
Born in Halifax in 1871: educated at Quaker school in Ackworth and at
Bootham, York. Apprenticed at Gateshead 1889-93. Chief Inspector of Materials
1894-7; Chief Boiler Inspector 1897-1900, followed by being appointed Manager
York Locomotive Works. Became Raven's Assistant in 1902. In 1905 he briefly
became Manager of the Metropolitan District Railway (see
Locomotive
Mag, 1907, 13, 174 and
Horne London;'s District Railway),
but returned to NER in 1908 and occupied managerial positions until retirement
in 1935 (superintendent West Hartlepool in 1909) Loco Mag., 1909,
15, 41 and 62). Died in York on 9 January 1947.
Marshall; Everett page 67
Colville, Alexander
Lowe suggests may
have been one of many locomotive superintendents of Taff Vale Railway in
1840s. RCTS Locomotives
of the Great Western Railway. Part 10 states that succeeded
William Craig for one year in 1845 and was succeeded
by Henry Clements..
Copestake, Lester
Goodall
Chief design engineer from 1945, North British Locomotive Co., Director
from 1919-1958. Archive held by Glasgow University. Presumably son of below.
Contributed to the discussion on the
IMechE paper on the coal burning
gas turbine which was intended to power a NBL locomotive. Probably son of
Goodall-Copestake.
Member of Productivity Team visit to USA
(Backtrack, 2018, 32, 432).
Copperthwaite, Ralph Atkinson
Appointed Works Manager North Road Works, Darlington 1 June 1922,
prior to then had been Works Manager Gateshead. On formation of LNER
(Locomotive Mag., 1923,
29, 220) also given charge of Gateshead Works and Springhead Works
at Hull. In 1927 made Assiustant Mechanical Engineer Darlington
(Locomotive
Mag., 1927, 33,
209). See Hoole:North Road Locomotive
Works, p. 70
Corrie, John Bradford
Died on 4 March 1939 aged 66. Elected Member ILocoE in 1934: had commenced
his engineering training in 1892 when became a pupil of the James Holden,
at the Stratford Works. At the end of his pupilage, he left the railway company
and was appointed Chief Assistant to the late Everard Calthrop, with whom
he was engaged on the design and inspection of locomotives and rolling stock
for the Barsi Light Rly. and Barbados Rly . In 1899 he commenced business
on his own account and represented Henry Bessemer and Co., also Cronen Bros.
of Manchester. As Chairman of J. B. Corrie and Co., Ltd., Chairman of Foundry
Equipment, Ltd., and a Director of Chas. Roberts and Co., Ltd., he was
responsible for building and equipping workshops and foundries. He was a
Member of the Iron and Steel Institute and an Associate Member of the Institute
of Mechanical Engineers. Obituary J. Instn Loco. Engrs., 1939,
29, 350.
Cotton, Leslie Robert
Died aged 58. Since 1947 had been depot engineer at Neasden (London
Transport) where he was in charge of breakdown organization. He had joined
London Electric Railway as a draughtsman in 1917. Obit J. Instn Loco.
Engrs, 1960, 50, 603.
Coulthard, William
Locomotive superintendent Maryport & Carlisle Railway from 1898
to 1904. (Lowe)
Cowan, William
According to Marshall, Cowan
was born in Edinburgh in 1823 and died in Aberdeen on 10 March 1898. Cowan
had entered the locomotive department of the Arbroath & Forfar Railway
in 1839, and had subsequently spent several years with the Edinburgh &
Glasgow and the Great Northern Railway. In September 1854, he joined the
locomotive department of the Great North, and became works manager a year
later. Middlemass tells how in 1857 he switched places with J.V. Ruthven
who had been appointed to succeed the brilliant, but wayward
D.K. Clark, the original Locomotive Superintenemt
of the GNSR. Middlemass describes how Cowan developed the 4-4-0 type for
the GNSR and almost achieved the distinction of introducing the type to Britain.
His designs had outside cylinders and four-wheel tenders and on the original
engines the tender hand brake was the only form of brake power. Cowan, like
many Scottish locomotive superintendents, appeared to have had an unhappy
relationship with the railway's Board: Cowan had exceeded his mandate by
ordering six 4-4-0s from Neilson & Co. The 4-4-0, but with inside cylinders,
became the major source of motive power throughout the GNSR's existence.
The RCTS Locomotives of the LNER
Part 1 notes that following Cowan's resignation in 1883 he worked as
a salesman for Krupps' steel tyres in Britain and the USA.
Middlemass, Tom: The Scottish
4-4-0.
Craddock, Thomas
An Englishman, Thomas Craddock appears to be the first patentee (1846)
of a system of locomotive compounding. Two
patents via Woodcroft: GB 8432/1840 Steam-engines and steam
boilers (16 March 1840) and GB 11,473/1846 Steam-engines and
boilers, and machinery connected therewith. (3 December 1846).
See also Locomotive Mag., 1903,
9, 161. See : P. M. Kalla-Bishop, Tandem compound
locomotives (1949).
Craig, William Grindley
Prior to becoming Locomotive superintendent of the Monmouthshire Railway
& Canal Co (where acccording to
Rutherford, Backtrack, 2006, 18, 368 he received £400 per
annum). Craig had been at Neath
Abbey Iron Works which was an early constructor of locomotives.
Lowe suggests that may have been
in charge of locomotives on Taff Vale Railway for a time in 1840s.
RCTS Locomotives of the Great
Western Railway. Part 10 states that succeeded
Richard Gregory for one year (1844) in charge of TVR
locomotives. Passed to Richard Laybourne in
1854 when he became the second Locomotive Superintendent on the MSLR: he
succeeded Peacock in 1854 and in turn was replaced by Sacre in 1859.
(Dow Great Central Vol. 1) He
followed Beattie's work on attempting to burn coal rather than coke.
(Lowe and
RCTS Locomotives of the LNER. Part 1).
. McDermot History of the Great Western
Railway rev. Clinker. Early exploiter of rubber suspension: see
Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs., 1857,
4, 45.
Crew, Malcolm Hillier
Educated at Cheltenham College and at Owen's College, Manchester.
In 1895 he became a pupil of J.A.F. Aspinall, following which he became a
draughtsman at Mather & Platt. He then moved to the SECR where he became
Assistant Works Mnager at Battersea Locomotive Works and moved with the works
to Ashford. He resigned in 1925 to live in Malvern and died there on 1 June
1932. J. Instn Loco. Engrs., 1932, 22, 508.
Crewze, William
Briefly Locomotive Superintendent on Birmingham & Gloucester Railway
at Bromsgrove: killed when boiler wash-out plug failed: see
Hunt and Essery. LMS Journal, 2007 (20)
52.
Cross, James
Born in Uddingston, Lanarkshire, on 22 February 1829 and died in
Llangollen on 15 October 1894. Civil Engineer and Engineer of the St Helens
Canal. When Locomotive Engineer
of the St Helens & Runcorn Gap Railway he built six locomotives at
St Helens. Cross was instrumental in the successful introduction of the Giffard
injector (see T.H. Shields, J. Instn
Loco. Engrs., 1950, 40, 597 (Paper 498). In 1864 he rented
the works of the St Helens Railway and with Arthur Sinclair formed
James Cross & Co.at the
Sutton Engine Works (Lowe). Although locomotive
building ended in about 1869 there was time to build the
William Bridges Adams 2-4-2T White Raven with
radial axle boxes and the first two Fairlie locomotives.
Marshall.
Papers
On the structure of locomotive engines for ascending steep inclines in
conjunction with sharp curves. Proc.
Instn Civ. Engrs, 1863/4, 23, 406. (Paper 1113)
2-4-2T
Cruikshank, James
Educated Richmond Grammar School. Apprenticed Thomas Peach
Bros. Joined GWR at Hammersmith. Then went Egypt. Died February 1936 aged
55. J. Instn Loco Engrs., 1936, 26, 303.
Cumming, Christopher
Formerly of the North British Railway, Commenced his railway career
at Ladybank on the North British Railway and completed his apprenticeship
in the drawing office at Cowlairs. He then became assistant locomotive foreman
and afterwards was in charge at Hawick, Thornton, Parkhead and Burntisland.
He was then made district superintendent for Fife and the northern section
of the NBR (see Locomotive
Mag., 1910, 16, 112). He was appointed to the post at Inverness
in October 1915 and retired due to ill heath in 1922.
(Locomotive Mag., 1922, 28,
116). Christopher Cumming was appointed Locomotive Superintendent of
the Highland Railway in 1915, just as that Company was facing difficulties
with the increased traffic of the First World War. Designer of the
Clan class 4-6-0 in 1919, in 1917 he introduced to Britain the outside
location of Walschaert's valve gear (not true KPJ). He died in 1924 following
resignation through illness in 1922.
Portrait in North British Railway Study Group, j140-140-10
See: C. Highet, Scottish Locomotive History
1831-1923 (1970).
Curtis, William Joseph
Patent
Generation of steam. 21 September 1837
Curtis's inventions for railways, steam-vessels...London,
1840.
Includes brakes and signals and low centre of gravity coach for London &
Greenwich Railway (Ottley 3277)
Daglish, Harry Bolton
Direct descendent of Robert (Senior) below and a director of the St
Helens Foundry in 1930.
Daglish, Robert (Senior)
Marshall. The elder Daglish was
born in Northumberland on 21 December 1777 and died in Orrell, near Wigan
on 28 December 1865. He had married Margaret Twisel or Twizel, in 1802 [source
Richard Daglish in 2012]. In 1804 he settled in Wigan as engineer to
Lord Belcarres, becoming manager of the
Haigh Foundry and Brock Mill
Forge. He then became manager of the Orrell Colliery and built a railway
to it where he introduced steam traction using a Blenkinsop and Murray rack
type of locomotive known as the Yorkshire Horse. He also projected
the Bolton & Leigh Railway opened in 1828. He was one of the projectors
of, and a partner in, the St Helens
Foundry See C.F. Dendy Marshall
History of the railway locomotive down to the year 1831: Chapter
3 (Blenkinsop and Murray) the latter part of which is given over to Robert
Daglish (Senior) and documents supporting his claim, including letters contained
at Wigan Public Library and a letter by Benjamin Hick dated 30 September
1822 published in Kaleidoscope, or Literary and Scientific Mirror
of 8 October 1822 (relating back to letters from Daglish in issue for 24
September). Ottley 403 cites J. Transport Hist., 1962, 5, 146-8
for article by J.H.M. Bankes and J.R. Harris: The first Lancashire locomotive..
.
Daglish, Robert (Junior)
The son was born in Wigan on 16 September 1808 and was apprenticed
to Rothwell, Hick & Co. of Bolton. In 1830 Robert Daglish Jr joined Lee, Watson & Co, iron founders
at St Helens who, in 1832, built an engine and machinery for working the
inclines on the St Helens & Runcorn Gap Railway. In 1837-8 he contracted
for erection of engines, boilers and machinery for glass manufacture at
Birmingham and St Helens. In about 1839 Daglish, with John Smith, undertook
to work the traffic on the St Helens & Runcorn Gap Railway and continued
to do this until 1848, maintaining locomotives and rolling stock at Sutton
shed at St Helens In 1846 he contracted for bridges on the Liverpool &
Bury line of the LYR, including two large iron lattice girder bridges near
Bolton, the first of their type. In 1849 Robert Daglish Jr & Co built
the iron bridges for the Tithebarn Street extension of the LYR at Liverpool.
From 1851 Daglish conducted the foundry business alone until 1869 when he
took his nephew George H. Daglish into partnership. In 1852 he erected the
coal drops at the LNWR docks at Garston on the Mersey. He was a director
of the St Helens Canal & Railway Co, 1854-64, and of the LYR,
1876-83.Marshall.
Lowe Supplement states that
St Helens Railway & Canal Co. locomotives Nos 13 Forth (four coupled
of 1852) and No. 12 Saracen (six coupled of 1858) were constructed
at the St Helens Foundry as
well as other locomotives for industrial railways. Robert Junior married
three times: in 1834 to Harriet Speakman, who died in 1836; in 1840
to Ellen Robinson who died in 1867; and in 1867 to Ellen Worrall who outlived
him, dying in 1901. There were no children to any of these marriages.
It was this Robert who was chiefly concerned with the success of the St Helens
Foundry. Robert junior died in London on 6 May 1883.[source Richard Daglish
in 2012]. Also John Marshall and Michael
R. Bailey in Chrimes.
Daniels, L. Tom
Caprotti's invention was brilliant but flawed. The British Development
of the valve gear, brought major changes in the poppet valves themselves,
and in 1950 Tom Daniels (who had been trained at Swindon), Chief Engineer
for Associated Locomotive Equipment, changed the camshaft design to include
two exhaust cams instead of one, which could be moved (mechanically) in relation
to each other, like the inlet cams, thus achieving complete variable valve
actuation. The modified valve gear was fitted to the
Duke of Gloucester (info
from website).
Davison, Samuel Dobson
Formerly listed iunder Davidson, but Graces Guide gives Christian
names and Davison and date of death: 10 November 1883 at Boswall House,
Edimburgh; aged 82. Partner in
Hawthorn's of Leith and holder
of patents for narrow gauge locomotives, one of which Mountaineer
worked at Levenseat Limeworks: see
Rutherford Backtrack, 2007,
21, 358 and Ind. Rly Record, 1994, 12 (135).
See also Rly Wld, 1954,
15, 288 for WN 244/1861. Patent 312/1859 related to a locomotive
design whereby the water tank was placed between the frames, thus forcing
the use of outside valve gear: this was applied to Ellesmere, a
four-coupled tank engine supplied to the Paraffin Works, West
Calder.(Locomotive Mag., 1939,
45,
299).Clements,
McMahon,&
O'Rourke.page 223
include WLR No. 42 built by Hawthorn of Leith to Davison Patent design with
Gooch valve gear. See also Robert
Humm. Hawthorns & Co. Archive, 2021, (110), 2.. Humm argues
that an inside-cylinder 4-4-0 Llai Llai built for a railway in Chile
maay have a major effect upon British locomotive design.
De Winton, Jeffreys Parry
Worked for Preston Fawcett at the Phoenix Foundry in Liverpool in
1860s before joining Owen Thomas at Union Works in Caernarvon where locomotives
were constructed mainly with vertical boilers.
(Lowe).
Dodds, George
Died in 1835. Engineer of the Monkland & Kirkintilloch Railway
and instigator of Murdoch, Aitken
constructing two Killingworth-type locomotives: Monkland and
Kirkintilloch. See C.F. Dendy
Marshall History of the railway locomotive down to the year 1831: Chapter 21 including Fig. 94. See
also Ransom's Iron road. See also Lowe
(also for son William) and
NBRSGJ,
1999 (62) 16 for involvement in canal boat haulage. Had another son
Robert.
Donaldson, Roderick D.
Born 1893. Educated Brighton College. In 1901 apprenticed to Baldwin.
In 1904 moved to Robert Stephenson at Darlington, then in 1906 joined GCR
running department. In 1909 went to India. Acted as Works Manager at Parel
shops of BBCIR in 1924
(Locomotive Mag., 1924,
30, 166). Died 24 October 1934. Obit. J. Instn Loco Engrs.,
1934, 24
Dougal, Robert
Born at Easthamstead, Berks, of Scottish parentage. Educated at Wokingham
and at High School, Edinburgh. Engineering training: works of Patent Shaft
and Axletree Co., Wednesbury. Joined offices of Sir John Hawkshaw, Sons and
Hayter, remaining with firm 33 years, and eventually becoming their inspector
in Great Britain and the United States. Then for seventeen years he had offices
in Parliament Street, Westminster as a consulting engineer. He represented
the firms of Nasmyth, Wilson and Co., Ltd., and Stableford and Co. Died 29
April 1927 aged 71. Obituary J. Instn Loco Engrs., 1927, 17,
479
Douglas, Archibald Bryce
Inventor of a form of valve gear (usually known as the Bryce-Douglas
gear). He worked for the Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. of
Govan where the gear was used in marine engines. It lacked eccentrics and
enabled the slide valves to be placed above the cylinders without the use
of rocking shafts. It was fitted to a Dübs 4-4-0 exhibted at the Edinburgh
International Exhibition of 1886: see
Forty years. The
valve gear is included in Shields' review
in J. Instn Loco. Engrs, 1943, 33, 368 (Paper 443): Patent
GB 4958/1854
Douglas, G.K.
According to Balkwill was inventor of the firehole deflector plate in 1858 when applied on locomotives
of Birkenhead, Lancashire & Chester Junction Railway.
Downs, Wilson
RCTS Locomotives of the LNER
Part 2B p. 87 notes that Downs was foreman at Consett
shed. .
Patent
575,051: Improvements in track sanding apparatus for steam locomotives
and other power-propelled vehicles. Applied 23 February 1944. Published
31 January 1946. with LNER
Drewry, John Percival Archibald
Died 23 April 1958, aged 66. Apprenticed Longhedge, 1908-12. Specialised
on carriage lighting on Southern Railway. Obit. J. Instn Loco. Engrs,
1958, 48, 420..
Duncan, John
Remarkable success as a teacher and author of textbooks on engineering
subjects. He was also joint author, with S.G. Starling, of A textbook
of physics which gained him a great reputation. He was born in 1869 and
received his technical education at Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical
College, and at the University of Glasgow. From 1885 to 1890 he served his
apprenticeship in the works of D. Stewart & Co., and was retained by
the firm as a draughtsman until 1891, when he became senior assistant to
the professor of applied mechanics at Anderson's College, Glasgow. The remainder
of his career was entirely devoted to technical education. He obtained a
Whitworth Exhibition in 1892 and continued his studies and his teaching work
in Glasgow until 1896, in which year he went to University College, Nottingham,
as demonstrator in mechanical engineering. Two years later he began his long
association with West Ham Technical College, which lasted until his retirement
in 1929. He passed the examination fo Associateship of the Institution
of Civil Engineere in October 1921. His first appointment there was a lectureship
in civil and mechanical engineering, and in the following year he became
head of the mechanical engineering department. One of his most important
contributions to the College was the design and equipment of the whole of
the engineering department. Among the best known of his textbooks were
Applied mechanics for beginners, Applied mechanics for engineers,
and Steam and other engines. Duncan was a member of the Board of Examiners
in the Faculty of Engineering at London University, and a member of the Board
of Studies. He was elected an Associate Member of the Institution of Mechanical
Engineers in 1901 and was transferred to Membership in 1908. His death occurred
on 28 July 1941. From Grace's Guide
Durban, Wilfred
Worked with C.S. Cocks for Bulleid and member of Cox's design committee.
Picture in Cox Plate 3..
Brief mention by Langridge (V.
2 p. 111). Ended up at Design Centre, Derby
(Chacksfield: Ron
Jarvis)..
Eager, John
Locomotive superintendent of the Burry Port & Gwendraeth Valley
Railway. Apprentice at Bute Dock Workshops under Hurry Riches. From 1882-97
engineer on Cardiff steamers. From 1892-1901 engineer South Wales Mineral
Railway. Appointed to BP&GVR in 1901.
Loco. Rly Carr. Wagon
Rev., 1910, 16, 12-13.
RCTS Locomotives of the Great
Western Railway Part 10 Described as engineer in description of
improvement to line beyond Pontybrem in
Loco. Rly Carr. Wagon Rev.,
1914, 20, 71.
Edge, D.R.
Had come from Great Central: having joined as apprentice fitter at
Gorton in 1901 before transferring to C&W department. On formation of
LNER became Carriage & Wagon Manager at Duckinfield:
Locomotive Mag., 1923,
29, 220. Carriage and Wagon Works Manager, Dancaster, to
be Assistant to the Chief Mechanical Engineer,
(Locomotive
Mag., 1937, 43,
267) Former Carriage & Wagon man replaced Bulleid as Assistant to
Gresley. Appointed carriage and wagon works manager, Doncaster in 1933:
Loco. Mag., 1933,
39, 343. In photograph of Sir Nigel Gresley naming ceremony.
Locomotive Mag., 1937, 43,
400.
Edwards, Thomas Harold
Born in Wolverhampton in 1882. Educated Tettenhall College and apprenticed
with Electric Construction Co. Works Manager General Engine & Boiler
Co. in New Cross. In 1914 appointed Works Manager and Assistant General Manager
of the Yorkshire Engine Co. In 1927 joined Ruston & Hornsby as Personal
Assistant to the Works Director and in 1929 became Works Manager of the Grantham
Works where he remained until his retirement in 1950. Died 18 January 1958.
Greatly involved in Grantham civic activities, including Rotary and the Model
Engineering Society. Obituary J. Instn Loco. Engrs., 1958, 48,
152..
Eling-Smith, James William
Educated at Derby School, and after serving in WW1 when he was awarded
the Military Cross he graduated from Glasgow University in 1922. He was then
a pupil in the Carriage & Wagon Works of the former Midland Railway at
Derby. In 1924 he was appointed Oil Gas Inspector (Carriage and Wagon) and
in 1927 moved to Newton Heath as Assistant Works Manager. In 1934 he became
an Experimental Assistant at the Derby Carriage & Wagon Drawing Office.
Following military service during WW2 he beacame Assistant Chief Draughtsman
in the Derby Carriage & Wagon Drawing Office and became Chief Draughtsman.
Between 1957 and his retirement in 1959 he was Chief Technical Assistant
Carriage & Wagon. He died in 1963 aged 68. Obituary J. Instn Loco.
Engrs, 1963/4, 53, 838.
Ellis, Thomas
Engineer of Tredegar
Iromworks. Copied Robert Stephenson 0-6-0 Britannia
in 1832 to produce St David. Probably most notable for training
Daniel Gooch.
Estall, George
Locomotive Superintendent and after departure of David Cecil Resident
Engineer of the Metropolitan District Railway: 1884 to October 1905 when
he retired. Locomotive Mag.,
1906, 12, 3 Died 1 June 1921
Locomotive Mag., 1921, 27, 170. Photograph of him with
locomotive outside concrete locomotive shed at Lillie Bridge Works; also
another portrait and some information on him: he was recruited from the Great
Eastern Railway: Horne London's District
Railway
Evans, Josiah
Marshall states born in London in 1820 and died in Haydock in 1873.
Son of Richard Evans who established Haydock Colliery and town thereat..
Apprenticed at Jones & Potts, then joined family business.
Designed 0-6-0WT of which
six were constructed at Haydock between 1869 and 1887. No. 3 Bellerophon
of 1874 has survived. Locomotive
Mag., 1901, 6, 203 describes him as "Jonah Evans" surelay
an unfortunate mistake..
Fay, Charles
Born in 1811 in Dublin (see Tom
Wray Backtrack, 2010, 24, 186) and died in Marple on 9
January 1900: apprenticed to Thomas Clarke Worsdell where coaches for L&MR
were being produced. He was Carriage & Wagon Superintendent at Miles
Platting/Newton Heath between 1846 and 1877. Charles Fay patented a screw
brake in 1856 (Marshall states all papers lost in Miles Platting fire) with
a shaft between each vehicle and tested it on Miles Platting incline. He
was the discoverer of the important effect that skidding wheels are far less
effective than revolving wheels for arresting the movement of vehicles He
also made experimental use of containers for the movement of coal. He retired
in 1877 and was replaced by Attock. Portrait on page
90 of Marshall Volume 2. See also Ottley 3206 & 3207: Fay and
Newall doing battle with Galton over Newark brake
trials..
Marshall, John. The Lancashire
& Yorkshire Railway. Volumes 2 & 3.
Rowatt, T. Railway
brakes.Trans Newcomen Soc.,1927, 8, 19-32
Fenton, James (b. 1815)
Marshall states
that born Dunkenny in Forfarshire on 29 August 1815 and died at Leamington
on 22 April 1863. Educated Glasgow University and apprenticed to James Cook
& Co of Glasgow as a mechanical engineer. He also received training in
civil engineering under William Blackadder of Glamis. In June 1837 he worked
as an assistant engineer on the GWR under Brunel and on 3 August 1840 he
was appointed locomotive superintendent of the Manchester & Leeds Railway.
On 20 January 1845 he left to become the acting engineer on the Leeds &
Thirsk Railway, but in July 1846 he became manager of the Railway Foundry
in Leeds where the name of the firm was changed from E.B. Wilson to Fenton,
Craven & Co. In 1851 he left to become a consulting engineer to the Low
Moor Iron Co.
Description of an improved safety valve, for locomotive, marine, and stationary steam boilers. Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs, 1855, 6, 24-9.
Fernihough, William
Locomotive superintendent of the Eastern Counties Railway from 1843,
William Fernihough was the first (in Britain at least) to attach weights
to the wheel centres to balance part of the reciprocating masses. Not in
Marshall, but in Ahrons British steam railway locomotive p. 62..
See: Locomotive Carriage and Wagon Review, Aug. 1937 and
1939, 45, 205..
Field, Edward
Inventor of the Field-type of vertical boiler used on the initial
Merryweather street tramway
locomotives.
Patents (is this the same Field?)
7498/1903. Improvements in or relating to Locomotive Engines
with New Century Engine Company Ltd. Applied 31 March 1903. Published 3 March
1904.
Finlayson, John James
Late Chief Mechanical & Electrical Engineer, BR Scottish Region.
Died 3 December 1960 (Obit. J. Instn Loco. Engrs, 1960, 50, 603), Educated
Allen Glen's School and Royal Technical College, Glasgow. Apprenticed NBL
1918-23. Joined LNER at Cowlairs Works where he rose to become Assistant
Works Manager. In 1947 became Locomotive Works Manager at Gorton. In 1952
became Works Manager, Outdoor Machinery at Swindon where Peck Great Western
at Swindon Works p. 248 said that his "knock about management style"
was not appreciated. In 1956-9 Assistant Mechanical & Electrical Engineer
at LMR HQ, Derby
Contributions to discussion: Cook on
Churchward.
Fisher, B.S.
Locomotive superintendent Taff Vale Railway from July 1869 until October
1873; Lowe. Locomotive
Superintendent of the Somerset & Dorest Railway. from 1874 until 1876
thence Resident Locomotive Engineer under the Joint Committee until 1883.
Barrie and Clinker The Somerset
& Dorset Railway, Oakwood Railway History 6, 1978 and
Locomotive Mag., 1938, 44, 81-3.
Patent
321/1864. [Back to back locomotives]. 6 February 1864.
Forrester, George
George Forrester of Liverpool was perhaps the next to have a major
influence on locomotive design (Rogers summary
in book on Chapelon). Forrester saw the advantage of horizontal cylinders
but was convinced that instead of having cylinders beneath the boiler they
should be outside so as to be easily accessible. In 1834, therefore, he built
some 2-2-0 locomotives which were the first to have outside horizontal cylinders.
Forrester's ideas inspired the choice of engines for the Grand Junction Railway,
and they were echoed by Joseph Locke, the engineer of that line, who in giving
evidence before the Gauge Commission of 1846 said: "I directed my attention
to simplifying the engine itself; and the result of that was that, instead
of wanting space under the boiler, we now have no machinery there at all
except the eccentrics. We now place the cylinder outside the engine. We have
got rid of a very great deal of complexity in the machinery itself, and the
complexity which remains is on the outside of the engine and not under the
boiler." Not in Marshall, but see
Lowe.
Fossick, George
Born 23 March 1810 and registered at the Society of Friends, Surrey
the son of Samuel Fossick and his wife Ann. In 1839 formed Fossick and Hackworth
to build railway locomotives in Stockton. In 1851 listed as Engine Builder
and Ironfounder at Mount Pleasant. In 1851 George Fossick living at Mount
Pleasant, Stockton (age 41 and born at Clapham, Surrey), Unmarried, Steam
Engine Builder and Ironfounder employing 231? men and boys. At same address
is William Fossick his brother (age 36 and born at Clapham), a Druggist.
In 1866 retired from Fossick, Blair and Co In 1871 living at Hallgarth Street,
Elvet, Durham (age 61 and born at Clapham, Surrey), an Iron Master. With
his wife Jane (age 35) and son Alfred (age 8) plus two servants. In 1872
mentioned in connection with the Skerne Ironworks Co. In 1888 died
in Bromley, Kent. Graces Guide Probably financier of Fossick
& Hackworth of Stockton founded in about 1838 with Thomas Hackworth,
brother of Timothy. (Lowe)
Foster, James
Born at Oldwinford near Stourbridge in 1786 and died at Stourton Castle
on 12 April 1853. Pioneer locomotive builder. Partner in
Foster, Rastrick who built
early locomotives for Shutt End Railway. Stourbridge Lion was exported
to the USA and Agenoria is preserved at the NRM.
Marshall.
Foster, Jonathan
Enginewright at Wylam Colliery associated with Timothy Hackworth in
early locomotive construction. See
Rly Arch.., 2007 (15), 4.
Fox, E. (Teddy)
Worked for Coleman at Derby, and like him
ws a former North Staffordshire Railway draughtsman. Responsible for Wirral
electric multiple unit designs. Rutherford:
Backtrack, 2008, 22, 100. Langridge 2 notes that Fox
was involved in the design of the bogies for both the Southport electric
stock and for diesel electric locomotive No. 10000 (p. 31) and on p. 70 notes
that he died of an incurable disease and is buried in Littleover
Churchyard.
French, F.M.
Assistant locomotive superintendent on S&DJR at about same time
as below: he had been Midland Railway trained and had served on Grand Trunk
Railway in Canada Locomotive Mag.,
1938, 44, 81-3.
French, W.H.
Appointed Resident Locomotive Engineer on S&DJR by Midland Railway
on 17 May 1883: was killed by being crushed between two wagons at Highbridge
on 1 November 1889. Radford Derby
Works and Midland locomotives and
Barrie and Clinker The Somerset
& Dorset Railway. 1978. and
Locomotive Mag., 1938, 44, 81-3.
Furness, H.D.
Inventor of Furness lubricator designed to lubricate cylinders when
locomotive was coasting: Patent 2437/1871 (15 September): see
Skellon p. 67.
Surnames beginning letter "Ga"
Gairns, John Francis
Born 1876. Died in London on 10 December 1930. (Obit.: J. Instn.
Loco. Engrs., 1931, 21,, 4) Author of several J. Instn Loco.
Engrs papers. Editor of Railway Magazine from 1910 and
author of several books.
Locomotive compounding and superheating. Charles Griffin, 1907.
Obituary Locomotive Mag., 1931,
37, 34
Galloway, G.B.
British patent 55/1865. Locomotives; motor road vehicles. Application
7 January 1865.
Mixture of steam and air admitted to furnace: one part of Galloway-Hill
furnace??
Galloway, John
Born in Manchester on 14 February 1804 and died there on 11 February
1894. Ronald M. Birse has contributed an
Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography entry. Inventor of Galloway boiler (whereby boiler tubes
are strengthened by the presence of tapered water tubes): Dickinson cites
British patent 13,532/1851 and Birse states that 9000 manufactured. Birse
notes that firm supplied viaducts for Ulverston & Lancaster Railway in
assocation with James Brunless.
Gammon, Cyril Augustus
Died 19 September 1958 aged 66. Apprentice then draughtsman at LNWR
Wolverton Works: LMS moved him to Derby. Between 1934 and 1947 was draughtsman
to CME Committee. Presented paper on wagon standardisation on
Brirish Railways Paper No. 496. Obit.
J. Instn Loco. Engrs, 1958, 48, 420.
Contributed to discussion on ILocoE Paper
526.
Geer, Henry Edward
Died on 7 March 1943. Born in 1887. Commenced his engineering career
as an apprentice with Davis and Timmins, Ltd. of Wood Green,whilst attending
the Northern Polytechnic. For four years he was a draughtsman with Babcock
and Wilcox, Ltd., and left them in 1910 to be an assistant to Mr. J. P.
ODonnell, Consulting Engineer. In 1911 he was actively engaged in
exploiting the superheater inventions of J. G. Robinson, then Chief Mechanical
Engineer of the Great Central Railway, and afterwards joined the Superheater
Corporation, Ltd. (later known as The Superheater Co., Ltd.), becoming their
Chief Engineer, which post he held for many years and up to the time of his
decease. His duties necessitated frequent visits abroad. Obituary J. Instn
Loco. Engrs., 1943, 33, 158. (with portrait).
Contributed papers to Instn Loco. Engrs. on superheating (for which he was
awarded. the Institution of Locomotive Engineer's:Silver Medal)
Nos. 196 and
211.:
Patents
6011/1915. Improvements in and relating to
pressure relief valves for use in connection with engine cylinders. with
John Patrick O'Donnel. Applied 21 April 1915. Published 25 April
1916.
146,002 Improvements in or relating to steam
superheaters for marine or like multiple smoke-tube
boilers. Applied 18 August 1919. Published 8 July
1920.
251,007 Improvements in or relating to steam
superheaters.with Superheater Co. Ltd. Published 21 April
1926
254,963 Improvements in or relating to steam
superheaters. with Superheater Co. Ltd. Published 15 July
1926.
367,026 Improvements in or relating to steam
superheating and other fluid heating elements. with
Superheater Co. Ltd. Published 15 February 1932.
389,817 Improvements relating to steam
superheaters. with Superheater Co. Ltd. Published 20 March
1933.
413,104 Improvements in desuperheaters,
evaporators and the like. with Superheater Co. Ltd. Published 12 July
1934.
430,462 Improvements in or relating to the
steam superheating installations of steam generators. with Superheater
Co. Ltd. Published 19 June 1935.
444,136 Improvements in or relating to steam
generating and superheating installations. with Superheater Co. Ltd.
Published 16 March 1936.
474,650 Improvements in means for spacing, or spacing
and supporting, the tubes in steam superheaters, boilers and like heat
exchangers with Superheater Co. Ltd. Published 4 November 1937.
Photographs:
Group photograph at Swiss Locomotive Works, Winterthur on 2 June 1930.
J. Instn Loco. Engrs., 1930,
20, Plate (between pp 466-7)
Gibson, J.
See Holcroft's The Armstrongs
p. 53: Carriage & Wagon Superintendent, GWR,
Wolverhampton: retired 1864. Inventor of "Gibson Ring" tyre fitting.
Gilchrist, Vic
Shedmaster Ipswich: 1938-1946: Sergeant in Home Guard under Major
(Driver Ernie Payne) R.H.N. Hardy
Steam World, 1995 (102),
33 and: Stratford forever! part 37.
Steam Wld, 2008 (247)
42.
Gilkes, Edgar
Born Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, on 22 February 1821; died
at Grange-over-Sands on 18 December 1894. His early engineering training
was received at the works of Barrett, Exall, and Andrewes, Reading. In 1839
he went to Shildon as an engineer on the Stockton and Darlington Railway;
and in 1843 was appointed manager at Middlesbrough of a branch establishment
for the repair of rolling stock, under the name of the Tees Engine Works.
Shortly afterwards he entered into partnership with
Isaac Wilson for carrying on the works
under the name of Gilkes Wilson
& Co ; this venture was the pioneer of the engineering trade on the
Tees. For some years the firm assisted Robert Stephenson and Co. in making
the locomotives used in the North of England. .
See Pearce p. 103. Locomotive manufacture
began in 1847. Firm produced over one hundred locomotives for SDR
(Lowe).
Other work in which they engaged was the construction of viaducts
and bridges, including some of the most noted erections in this country,
such as the Deepdale and Beelah viaducts between Barnard Castle and Kirkby
Stephen on the North Eastern Railway; also the elegant structure crossing
the valley at Saltburn-by-the-Sea, and the Kingston Bridge over the Thames.
They also turned out general work, including mill, colliery, and marine engines.
In 1852 he followed John Vaughan in erecting blast-furnaces, called the Tees
Iron Works; and two years later more furnaces were erected at Cargo Fleet,
under the name of Gilkes, Wilson, Leatham and Co., the discovery of the Cleveland
ore having caused the construction of the Guisborough railway, and thus afforded
an opening for greater enterprise. He took an active part in the local and
municipal affairs of Middlesbrough, and was a county and borough magistrate.
He became a Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1856; and
was a Member of Council from 1868 to 1875. He was also President of the Cleveland
Iron Masters' Association in 1872 (Graces Guide).
Charrles McKean Battle for the North shows that he was aware of the danger of the bends when using caissons during
the construction of the first Tay Bridge.
Glascodine, Richard Thomson
Born 2 December 1869. Died 4 December 1947. Important contributor
to development of rubber in railway rolling stock. Educated Lancing College
1881-8. Engineering apprentice TVR locomotive works in Cardiff. Studied at
Cardiff University College under Prof. Galloway. Joined George Spencer Moulton
as designer of railway rolling springs for buffers, draw gear and suspension
bearings. 1920: Manager of Technical Department; 1939: Technical
Controller.
Paper
Impact of railway vehicles in relation to buffer
resistance. J. Instn Loco. Engrs,
1936, 26, 209.
Glehn, Alfred George de
Born in Sydenham in 1848. His father was Robert von Glehn, came from
the Baltic and his mother (Agnes Duncan) was a Scot. He was educated
at King's College in London and at the Zurich Polytechnic. He considered
himself to be an Englishman (see contribution to Sauvage paper below) in
spite of spending most of his time working at SACM in Belfort where he advanced
compounding. His background makes the Churchward decision to evaluate his
compound 4-4-2s far more expliccable.
Le Fleming notes that
in 1886 he designed and built a trial four-cylinder compound for the Northern
Rly. of France. De Glehn compounds proper dated from 1890 and these most
efficient and economical engines ran in many countries, and in France their
possibilities were developed to a very advanced stage. He died in Mulhouse
on 8 June 1936: obituary Locomotive
Mag., 1936, 42, 232.; also
Marshall.
Extensive contribution to
discussion on by Sauvage, Proc.
Instn Mech. Engrs., 1904, 66, 387.
[obituary]. The Locomotive 15 September 1936 p 232.
See Rutherford: Backtrack
13 495
Gomersall, Ray
R.H.N. Hardy (Stratford forever. Part 24.
Steam Wld, 2006 (234),
38) noted that Ray had served craft apprenticeship at
Doncaster, before becoming Supernumery Foreman at Colchester, and friend
of Hardy, died age 54: Sir Stephen Gomersall, Ambassador to Japan was his
son..
Goodall-Copestake, Sampson
George
According to John Thomas,
"an English gentleman" who had gone from Repton to Sharp Stewart where
he had been under the personal supervision of Charles Beyer thence Neilson
& Co. and on to Chief Draughtsman at Dübs & Co.
( also Lowe). See his model locomotive
and railway buildingNorth British Study
Group Journal, 2012 (115), 9.
Surnames beginning letter "Gr"
Graham, George
Assistant Locomotive Superintendent, North Eastern Railway at time
of McDonnell: member of Tennant Committee.Divisional Superintendent at Darlington
according to MacLean's Locomotives of the North Eastern Railway: Nock,
O.S. Locomotives of the North Eastern Railway. Presume that same George
Graham mentioned in Pearce (p. 9) who recorded
his reminiscence of driving Locomotion No. 1 to Harold Oxtoby
Graham, John
In 1834 took over responsibility for engines, as well as serving as
Traffic Manager Stockton & Darlington Railway
Pearce p.2 In 1837 visited R.&W. Hawthorn
with William Lister. Father of George Graham
Pearce p. 9.
Grantham, John
Born in Croydon in 1809; died 10 July 1874. Worked for a time in Ireland
on introducing steam power to canals and river navigations. Chief Draughtsman
of Mather Dixon, a Liverpool firm
which manufactured about 75 relatively early locomotives.
(Lowe). Sekon (Evolution of the steam
locomtive) notes Grantham's communication in the Engineer for
3 January 1896 noting Grantham's involvement in the design of the broad gauge
grasshoper type (Mars and Ajax)).. In 1872 John Grantham designed
a steam tram, with twin integral boilers (Field type) with an underfloor
engine which was manufactured by
Merryweather and the
Oldbury Carriage & Wagon Works. The vehicle was tried on tramways in
London and on the Wantage Tramway but was not successful. The twin boilers
were replaced by a Shand Mason boiler and in 1903 the vehicle was working
on the Portsdown & Horndean Tramway where the vehcile remained derelict
until 1903. Whitcombe, H.A. (Paper No.
369) The history of the steam tram. J. Instn Loco. Engrs., 1937,
27, 327-79. Discussion. 380-400.
Paper
On the stationary engines at the
new tunnel on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. .Trans. Instn Civil
Engrs, 1849, 1, 146-8. Discussion: 148
Patents (via
Woodcroft)
GB 7805/1838 Furnaces for steam-boilers. 13 September
1838 with John Chanter
GB 9550/1842 Construction and arrangement of engines and
their appendages for propelling vessels on water. 8 December 1842
GB 12684/1849 Sheathing ships and vessels 4 July 1849
Green, Robert Leonard
Died on 12 December 1950 at the early age of 59; was born in Liverpool
and educated at the Liverpool Institute, and subsequently at the Technical
School of that City. He served his apprenticeship with the Mersey Engine
Works, studying for his Chief Engineer's Certificate in steam. He had entered
the drawing office when war broke out in 1914. He at once enlisted in the
18th Battalion King's Liverpool Regiment, receiving a Commission in the County
Palatine Artillery the following year. He served until 1919 when after
demobilisation, he joined the staff of Messrs. Major & Co. Ltd. Tar
Distillers, and became works manager of their London factory. Leaving that
post in 1923, after a short period with Motor Car Builders, he became Assistant
and later Chief Engineer with the National Fuel Oil Co. Ltd. London. Engaged
on the construction of petrol storage depots, his subsequent work on the
Ocean Depot at Killingholme threw heavy responsibilities on to him at the
height of his powers. Early in 1935 an opening ocurred on the staff of Alco
Products Ltd., a subsidiary of the American Locomotive Company, the diversity
of whose interests he realised would give the greatest scope to his talents.
Until the 1939-45 war his work was mainly connected with petroleum distillation
and general refinery plant, much of which was produced in the U.K. for use
in the large oil-producing countries. This brought him into close association
with the petroleum industry which was later of considerable importance to
the national effort. Between the wars he had remained in the Reserve, and
on the outbreak of World War II he was called up, serving at Catterick and
in France until 1940. Posted thereafter to the War Office, and then to the
Royal Engineers, he served until almost the end of the war with the British
Army Purchasing Commission at Washington. His work done, on release Major
Green succeeded Mr H. Edmunds as European Manager of the American Locomotive
Export Company, and the remaining years of a strenuous life were devoted
wholeheartedly and successfully to locomotives, steam, electric and diesel.
He became a well-known and highly respected figure in the British railway
world. ILE obituary. Short version of
obituary: Locomotive Mag., 1951,
57, 4...
Gregory, Richard
Lowe suggests may
have been Locomotive Superintendent of Taff Vale Railway in 1840s.
RCTS Locomotives of the Great
Western Railway. Part 10 states that succeeded
Brunton and was in charge of locomotives on TVR in
1843.
Grime, Thomas.
Born in Crewe in 1897. Apprenticed at Crewe Works. Joined R. Garrett
& Sons as a draughtsman. In 1928 became Chief Draughtsman at Avonside.
Joined Vulcan Foundry in October 1938 and died in Newton-le-Willows aged
only 41. Author of papers in J. Instn Loco. Engrs.:
Paper 200 and
Paper 259 (development of the geared
locomotive). Worked for Hawthorn, Leslie (in 1927) (van Reimsdijk Part
3 of Newcomen paper p. 50) and contributed Possibilities of increased efficiency
in railway locomotives. Trans. North East Coast Instn Engrs
Shipbuilders, 1922/3, 39, 592-665. Obituary J. Instn Loco.
Engrs., 1939, 29, 186..
Grover, H.M.
According to Rowatt Trans
Newcomen Soc.1927, 8, 19 was the inventor of electro-magnetic
brake in which the wheels in the brake van were locked.
Gurney, Goldsworthy
Born at Treator near Padstow on 14 February 1793. Witnessed Trevithick's
experiments. Inventor of oxy-hydrogen blowpipe and surgeon. Used a form of
water-tube boiler in his steam road coaches. This is illustrated on page
129 of H.W. Dickinson's A short history
of the steam engine. A "locomotive" based on one of these
coach engines was tested by William
Crawshay on his plateway at Hirwain near Aberdare in 1830. Gurney
corresponded with the Liverpool & Manchester Railway but never constructed
a railway engine. Died 28 February 1875. [DNB].
C.F. Dendy Marshall History
of the railway locomotive down to the year 1831: see Chapter 20 (Fig.
93 for tubular boiler)
Evans, F.T. Steam road carriages
of the 1830s: why did they fail? Trans Newcomen Soc., 1998, 70,
1-25.
Forward, E.A. Gurney's
railway locomotives, 1830. Trans. Newcomen Soc., 1921, 2,
127-9.
Guy, [Sir] Henry Lewis
Born in Penarth on 15 June 1887. Pupil on the Taff Vale Railway and
studied at University College of South Wales. Guy was appointed chief engineer
of the mechanical department of the Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Company
in 1918, a post which he retained until 1941, when he resigned to become
secretary of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, of which he was then
a vice-president. He retired from professional work in 1951.
Incident of gold watch which went
down the lavatory of an LNER express near Biggleswade related by Bulleid's
son. Elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1936, Guy served on its
council in 19389, was appointed chairman of the engineering sciences
sectional committee in 1940, and in 1941 joined the executive committee of
the National Physical Laboratory. Guy was associated with the design of the
turbines for the Stanier turbine
locomotive. When ill health forced Guy to retire, he moved to Dorset,
where he died on 20 July 1956. ODNB biography:
B.G.. Robbins. Only one paper is listed: there are many others:.
The economic value of increased steam pressure.
Proc. Instn Mech Engrs.,
1927, 112, 99-213. Institution Of Mechanical Engineers. Dr. H.
L. Cuy, F.R.S., M.I.Mech.E., succeeds Mr. M. E. Mont- gomrey, B.Sc., as Secretary
of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Dr. Guy started his career in
the Locomotive Dept. of the Taff Vale Railway, Cardiff. He was elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society in I936 and later became Chairman of the Engineering
Research Committee of the National Physical Laboratory. He received the honorary
degree of D'Sc. of the University of
Wales. Locomotive Mag., 1942,
48, 85.
Surnames beginning letter "Ha"
Hall, Samuel
Born 1781, Basford, Nottinghamshire, Eng.died Nov. 21, 1863
(Britannica) Ahrons The British Steam Railway Locomotive 1825-1925 (London: Locomotive Publishing Co., 1927. 391 pp. 473 illus. 19 tables) stated
that in 1841 a Midland Counties Railway 2-2-2 Bee was fitted with
a device which forced air into the firebox when the locomotive was running
to enable it to burn coal. This was accompanied by a brick arch and was reported
by J. Markam in The Engineer, 1861, 18 January,
p. 37. (more correctly his
Proc. Instn Mech Engrs
paper). Anita McConnell biography in
ODNB notes that he died in London in "greatly redsuced circumstances":
she emphasises his contribution to condensing steam from marine engines.
British Patents (via Woodcroft: many
more on textiles)
4985/1824 Steam-engine. 8 April 1824
5659/1828 Generating steam and various gases, to produce motive-power;
apparatus for the same and other purposes. 31 May 1828
6204/1831 Piston and valve for steam, gas, and other engines;
lubricating the pistons, piston- rods, and valves or cocks of such engines;
condensing the steam, and supplying water to the boilers of such engines.
22 December 1831
6359/1833 Lubricating the pistons, piston-rods, and valves of
steam-engines; condensing the steam of such engines as are worked by a vacuum
produced by condensation; a method of condensation applicable to other purposes.
9 January 1833
6556/1834 Steam-engines. 13 February 1834
7135/1836 Propelling vessels; steam-engines; workmg parts of the
same partly applicable to other purposes. 24 June 1836
7754/1838 Steam-enginesheating or evaporating fluids or gases;
generating steam. 30 July 1838
8238/1839 Machinery for propelling. 7 October 1839
8792/1841 Combustion of fuel and smoke. 14 January 1841
9345/ 1842 Combustion of fuel and smoke. 9 May 1842
10,531 /1845 Steam-engines, boilers, furnaces and flues; , consuming
fuel and preventing smoke; propelling vessels. 20 February 1845
12,527/1849 Apparatus for effecting the combustion of fuel, also
for consuming smoke, and preventing explosions of steam-boilers. 19 March
1849
14,125/1852 Construction of cocks, taps, or valves. 17 May
1852
Hally, George
George Hally was chief mechanical engineer of the Metropolitan Railway
from 1923 to 1933. He was responsible for purchasing some of the
Woolwich/Maunsell 2-6-0s and converting them to freight 2-6-4Ts.
(Jackson). Fitted Trofinoff bye-pass
valves to G class (Locomotive Mag.,
1930, 36, 422). On the formation of the LPTB he was one of two
Metropolitan Railway officers to achive an executive (but non-influential
position). Contributed to discussion on ILE
Paper No. 495 p. 385 noting that
rolling bearings had been fitted to some Metropolitan Railway stock..
Halpin, Druitt
Born in Cavan in Ireland in 1843; son of a medical practitioner.
Consulating mechanical engineer who lived in Chiswick in early twentieth
century. Died 3 March 1922. Robin Pennie Duritt Halpin variations.
Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Society. [Journal]
Patent
14,823 Applied 20 July 1901, Accepted 9 June 1902. Thermal storage
apparatus in connection with steam boiler.
Document cites Patents 20203 of 1891 and 363 of 1892. Illustrations
of L&YR 2-4-2T modified with this apparatus are relatively common. Also
fitted to a Stirling locomotive
No, 708 by Ivatt
Hammond, Walter John
Inventor of air heating appartus: British Patents 26,953 of 27 November
1906 and 27,483 Improvements pertaining to the supply of heated air to
boiler furnaces, applied 25 November 1905 and accepted 6 October 1910.
See also Rly Arch, 2005 (11)
75 (lower) for illustration of LBSCR B1 class 0-4-2 No. 189 Edward
Blount modified with the apparatus and
Steam Wld, 2011, (284),
19 et seq for two photographs of this extraordinary apparatus.
Backtrack, 2020, 34, 292.
Contemporary reference with illustration:
Locomotive Mag., 1908,
14, 59.
Hanbury, John James
Hanbury entered the locomotive works of the Midland Railway at Derby
in 1861 and served his apprenticeship under Matthew Kirtley. In 1869 he was
placed in charge of the running sheds at Lincoln and subsequently held a
similar position at Leeds for five years. He became locomotive running shed
foreman at Kentish Town in 1880, and in 1885 he was appointed locomotive
superintendent and resident engineer of the Metropolitan Railway from 1 July
1885 following Tomlinson.
Jackson notes that he was relieved of
his duties for permanent way from 1 December 1891 and resigned on 31 October
1893. Group portrait Locomotive Mag.,
1925, 31, 31. He was followed by T.F. Clark.
Hanbury then joined the Cape Government Railway as inspecting engineer for
all rolling stock manufactured in England, and held this appointment until
his retirement in 1920: see Locomotive
Mag., 1903, 9, 313. He lost his only son, Second Lieutenant
H. W. Hanbury during WW1:
Locomotive Mag., 1916,
22, 198, He died in Exmouth on 13 December 1937 aged 91. Mainly
IMechE obituary: Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs, 1937, 136,
360..
Ellis, C.H. Some classic
locomotives. 1949.
Hancock, Walter
Sekon (Evolution of the
steam locomotive) states that Hancock of Stratford supplied a light
engine (similar to his steam road coaches) to the Eastern Counties Railway.
The boiler consisted of separate chambers and greatly reduced the risk of
explosion. This is illustrated on page 130 of
H.W. Dickinson's A short history of the
steam engine. The vertical cylinders acted upon an independent
crank shaft and the final drive was via chains. The ODNB entry notes that
Hancock devised cylinders for a steam engine based upon rubber proofed fabric.
Walter Hancock was born on 16 June 1799 and died 14 May 1852: he was younger
brother of Thomas Hancock, the inventor of rubber mastication via his "pickle"
and claimant of rubber vulcanization. Patents listed in Loadman and James:
7037 (21 March 1836) and 8765 (14 January 1841)..
Evans, F.T. Steam road carriages
of the 1830s: why did they fail? Trans Newcomen Soc., 1998, 70,
1-25.
Loadman, John and James, Francis. The
Hancocks of Marlborough. 2009.
Prosser, R.B. rev. Ralph Harrington biography
Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography.
Cochrane, Charles. On steam boilers with small
water space, and Roots' tube boiler.
Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs., 1871, 22, 229-44. Disc.: 244-59.
+ Plates 64-72. 37 diagrs.
Hancock's boilers of 1825 (Fig. 2) and 1827 (Fig. 7)
Handyside, Henry
Handyside was Assistant Provincial Engineer in the Nelson Province
of New Zealand. He devised (and patented) a system whereby trains were hauled
up steep gradients by the locomotive winching its train (the locomotive being
clamped to the track). He was backed by Fox, Walker & Co of Bristol and
the system was tried on the Hopton Incline of the High Peak Railway. Six
2-4-2 experimental locomotives were sent for evaluation by the Army, but
the system was not adopted. Trevor J. Lodge Handyside locomotives (Ind.
Rly Rec., 1974 (53), 205-19) lists Handyside's patents, but did not establish
a link with the highly successful Handyside
civil engineering business.
Own publication
A treatise on an improved method for overcoming steep gradients
on railways...London, 1874.
Pamphlet: see Ottley 2347
Cromford & High Peak Ry.
Loco. Rly Carr. Wagon Rev., 1933,
39, 206.
Refers to "T. Handyside of Derby"
Smithers, Railways South East,
3 152.
Simpson, C.R.H. Handyside's steep gradient
locomotive. Loco. Rly Carr.
Wagon Rev., 1941, 47, 161
Macnair, Miles. Tackling the gradient.
Backtrack, 2018, 32,
120
Hargreaves, John
Marshall: born
Bolton 22 October 1800, died Sunning Hill (Berks) 18 December 1874. Associated
with Bolton & Leigh and Leigh & Kenyon Junction Railways.
Sekon's Evolution of the steam locomotive
(p. 34) notes that a John Hargreaves purchased the Sanspareil
from the Liverpool & Manchester Railway in 1831; had the engine thoroughly
repaired in 1837 using it on the Bolton & Leigh Railway. With the assistance
of John Hick the locomotive was donated to the Science
Museum in 1864. See also Anthony Dawson
Backtrack, 2019, 33, 760.
Hargreaves, William
Marshall: born
Westhoughton on 27 November 1821; died Bolton 1 October 1889. Youngest son
of John Hargreaves (1780-1860) and brother of John (above). Partner in
Hick, Hargreaves of
Bolton
Haswell, John
Born Lancefield, near Glasgow on 9 June 1812 and died in Vienna on
8 June 1897. Graduated from Anderson's Univeristy in Glasgow in 1834 and
was then employed by William Fairbairn in Manchester. Went to Vienna to erect
locomotives, but was asked to stay to develop locomotive repair works for
the Vienna Glognitzer Railway. This extended to locomotive manufacture. He
built an eight-coupled locomotive, Vindebona, for the Semmering
trials. He produced a precursor of the Belpaire firebox, a form of
counter-pressure braking, thermic syphons, an early four-cylinder locomotive,
Duplex, in 1861 and a corrugated firebox in 1870.
See John Marshall. Carling's A brief
history of the counter pressure brake
Trans. Newcomen Soc., 1983,
55, 1-32: The first attempt to make a serviceable brake on this
principle was due to John Haswell in the design of his famous 0-8-0,
Vindobona, built in 1851 at his works in Vienna for the Semmering
trials of that year,? Haswell, a Scots emigre, provided a valve in the exhaust
that enabled clean air to be drawn in, instead of the hot and dirty gases
of combustion, when the locomotive was reversed, compression of this air
providing the braking effect. At that date the introduction of the compressed
air into the boiler would have had no immediate harmful effect, possibly
affecting the rate of corrosion, because boiler feed was then only by mechanical
pump: later, when Giffard's injector became the normal device for introducing
the feed water, it became a fatal defect because the presence of even a small
amount of air in the steam was enough to prevent the injector from working
properly, so that the locomotive became a failure. According to Karl Golsdorf
this idea of Haswell's attracted little attention at the time, but it may
have had some influence on later inventors, such as de Bergue and Riggenbach.
See also Le Fleming who claimed that. In 1851 he produced the
Vindebona for the Semmering trials, the first eight-coupled engine
on the Continent. Introduced Stephenson's valve gear he incorporated many
ideas of his own including rudimentary forms of the Belpaire firebox, thermic
syphons and counter-pressure braking. The Wien-Raab of 1855, a large
long-boiler 0-8-0 with all parts accessible, was the pattern for the Continental
heavy freight locomotive for many years. The Duplex of 1861 was the
first four-cylinder locomotive although the arrangement was unorthodox: see
Macnair Backtrack, 2012, 26,
756.
Hatchell, M.S.
Moved from Eastleigh to become Assistant Works Manager at Ashford,
and became Works Manager in 1938. Sent as representative of Chief Mechanical
Engineer to North America in 1946, the Report of which recommended diesel
locomotives and possibly railcars. Became Bulleid's Principal Assistant and
was based at Brighton. H.A.V. Bulleid
Bulleid of the Southern.
Langridge worked for him at
Derby mainly, but not entirely, on diesel traction. He records his easy manner
(p. 70). He notes that Hatchell was moved to Scotland as Mechanical &
Electrical Engineer for the Scottish Region (he contributed to Ell's paper
ILE Paper 588) when it was presented in Glasgow, but retired to Winchester
where he lived in The Close [presumably of the Cathedral]. Portrait: photograph
taken at annual dinner of British Railways Chief Mecanical & Electrical
Engineers on 11 December 1961:
Clements The GWR exposed
page 163.
Hawthorn, Robert
Marshall
records that Robert Hawthorn was born at Warbottle near
Newcastle-upon-Tyne on 13 June 1796 and died in Newcastle on 26 June 1867.
An engineering firm was founded
by him in 1817 and when his brother William joined the
concern in 1820 it became R.& W. Hawthorn.
Lowe notes that it began locomotive
manufacture, following the Raainhill Trials which they had attended, in 1831
with a 2-2-2 for Vienna named Modling. Six locomotives for the Stockton
& Darlington Railway followed.
Rutherford (Backtrack, 2004,
18, 754) considers that Hawthorn's significance has been understated.
He was willing to accept shares in lieu of cash payements.
Moffat East Anglia's first railways
has a diagram of the patented (1843) expansion valve gear (9691?).
Woodcroft gives alternative spelling
of Hawthorne for first patent...
Patents all with William
Hawthorn
8277: 21 November 1839: Boilers for locomotive
and other steam engines and conveying steam therefrom to the
cylinders
9691: 7 April 1843: Locomotive engines; partly applicable to other
steam engines.
13,533: 24 February 1851 Locomotive engines; partly applicable
to other steam engines.
Hawthorn, Thomas
According to Marshall born in
Newcastle upon Tyne on 19 April 1838 and killed in accident near Lucerne
on 18 August 1888. Founder with William Black of
Black, Hawthorn &
Co.
Heath, Robert
In 1848 inventor of automatic continuous brake which was activated
by a chain: braking force applied by weights and levers.
Rowatt, T. Railway brakes.Trans
Newcomen Soc.,1927, 8, 19-32:
Heaton, George
Had balanced stationary engines in 1810-11. Used models (preserved
at Birmingham Museum of Science & Industry) to demonstrate wheel balancing,
first applied to locomotives on London & Birmingham Railway in 1845
(Balkwill and
Reed).
See McConnell early IMech E
paper which cited Heaton.
Heaton, Walter
Born London 1882. Apprenticed at Eastleigh Works. Then moved to L&YR
at Newton Heath and thence to Gloucester Carriage & Wagon Co. From 1912
he was draughtsman on the Central Argentine Railway. Died 15 January 1939.
Obit. J. Instn Loco. Engrs., 1939, 29.
Paper 149 on carriage bogie
design
Hendrie, David Anderson
Born in Inverness-shire in 1861 and pupil and later chief locomotive
draughtsman to David Jones on Highland Railway at Inverness. In 1889 left
to join Sharp Stewart in Glasgow where worked in Atlas Works and later at
Queen's Park, but returned to Lochgorm as chief draughtsman from 1 July 1893,,
and later works manager and assistant locomotive superintendent under Peter
Drummond. Subsequently he became locomotive superintendent of the Natal
Government Railways (where he introduced a 4-8-0) and from 31 May 1910. Chief
Mechanical Engineer of South African Railways & Harbours where he introduced
a 4-8-2. He retired in 1922. Holland (see below) called him one of the "greatest
locomotive engineers" and "among world's best".. see
Sinclair, Neil T. Beyond the Highland
Railway - Part Two. Backtrack, 2010, 24, 348-51.. Loco
Profile 17. Chacksfield
(Drummond Brothers) is obviously unaware of Hendrie's significance.
Holland, Donald Frank Edwin. Steam locomotives
of the South African Railways. Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1971.
2v. Further information from W.T.
Scott in Backtrack, 2010, 24, 637 who states that he was
an innovator introducing the steam reverser and electric headlamps. He visited
America in 1909 where he picked up ideas on the Mallet engine and
superheating. He introduced Betyer Garratts shortly before retiring. Patent:
GB 15213/1908 Improvements in or
connected with fusible plugs with Walter Reuben Preston Published 15
July 1909: .
Henstock, Maurice A.
See Cox Locomotive panorama Plate 21 (portrait) and page 80
when Cox encountered him on dynamometer. Henstock was a Derby man and later
became Assistant Store Superintendent.
Langridge Under ten CMEs:
gained a London external engineering degree and "married into the railway":
for many years assistant to T.F.B. Simpson and ended his career as stores
superintendrent, LMS. See also discussaion
on Tuplin ILocoE paper
Hepburn, Joseph
Locomotive superintendent Llanelly Railway & Dock Co., 1850-71.
(Lowe). In charge when
I'Anson, Fossick had contract
to work the line.. McDermot History
of the Great Western Railway rev. Clinker
Hepburn, Robert
Locomotive superintendent Llanelly Railway & Dock Co., 1871-3
(Lowe). .
McDermot History of the Great Western
Railway rev. Clinker
Heywood, Arthur Percival
Heywood (1849-1916 Ransom
Narrow gauge steam) was a member of the landed gentry who developed
15 inch gauge railways on his private estate at Duffield Bank. His locomotives
are included in Lowe. He was a First Class
Honours Graduate in Engineering from Cambridge University. He was also interested
in the military, campanology, philanthropy, religion and the Bench. Wrote
Minimum guage railways (Ottley 2395): one reprint manifestation reviewed
in Rly Wld, 1975,
36, 170. See Backtrack
Vol. 8 p.257. See also
W.J.K. Davies' Light railways.
Heywood, Thomas Edward Hett
Born Cardiff in 1877; died Aberdeen 1953. Obituary Proc.Instn
Mech. Engrs, 1954, 168. Last Locomotive Superintendent of the GNSR
(1914-1922). Heywood had varied experience, not only in this country but
overseas. He had been trained as a pupil under T. Hurry Riches of the Taff
Vale Railway and had won a Whitworth Exhibition gold medal for engineering.
His first railway appointment was as draughtsman and inspector at Cardiff.
He left for Burma in 1902, where he became assistant locomotive carriage
and wagon superintendent of the Burma Railway, at Inseine. On return to Wales,
it was again to the Taff Vale, being employed at Penarth. Dock as Chief Assistant
Superintendent, in charge of the locomotive depot and the docks machinery.
From Penarth he moved to Cardiff as Chief Assistant Superintendent before
going north in 1914 for the chief's post on the Great. North of Scotland
where he remained until the 1923 amalgamation. Under the LNER he remained
Mechanical Engineer & Running Superintendent at Inverurie but then moved
to Gorton as Mechanical Engineer
(Locomotive Mag., 1924,
30, 186); then Running Superintendent of the Northern Scottish
Area? then Mechanical Engineer Scotland from 1927
(Locomotive Mag., 1927,
33, 209). Following WW1 Heywood was responsible for eight 4-4-0s
to his designs. Webb, Locomotive engineers of the LNER (London: Ian Allan, 1946. 76pp. illus. incl. ports.). He subsequently became
Mechanical Engineer at Cowlairs following the retirement of Chalmers. Retired
1942. Known as Mechanical Engineer (Scotland)
see Loco.Mag., 1941, 47,
140. and Loco. Mag.,
1942, 48, 83. Paper with T.H. Riches on coal shipping plant
Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs.,
1906, 71, 423-
Hick, Benjamin
Marshall
records that Hick was born in Leeds on 1 August 1790 and
died in Bolton on 9 September 1842 (note anyone accessing this information
prior to 25 July 2012 will have received incorrect data). He was apprenticed
at Fenton, Murray & Jackson in Leeds and following a joint business with
Peter Rothwell which led to Rothwell, Hick & Rothwell Hick returned to
business on his own.
Patents (via Woodcroft)
GB 6550/1834 Locomotive steam-carriages ;-partly applicable to
ordinary carriages and steam-engines for other uses. 30 January 1834.
GB 6638/1834. Construction and adaptation of metallic packings
for the pistons of steam and other engines, pumps, and for other purposes
to which the same may be applied. 4 July 1834
GB 6689/1834 Locomotive carriage ;-partly applicable to ordinary
carriages, and steam- engines for other uses. 8 October 1834 [firebox
and three cylinder engine]
GB 8081/1839 Machinery for drying cotton, woollen, and other fabrics,
also other fibrous substances. 25 May 1839
See also article by Peter Townend in
Rly Arch., 2016 (50), 53 which includes portrait of Benjamin Hick
and comment on his three-cylinder locomotive.
Hick, Benjamin junior
Younger brother of John below.
Patent (via
Woodcroft)
GB 8618/1848. Regulators or governors, for adjusting the speed or
rotary motion of steam-engines, water-wheels, also other machinery. 27
August 1840
Hick, John
Marshall notes
born Bolton 2 July 1815, died Whalley 2 February 1894. He was the eldest
son of Benjamin (above) and had a brother also named Benjamin. Educated at
Alderley in Cheshire and at Bolton Grammer School. Associated with Benjamin
Hick in Benjamin Hick & Sons.
Marshall states that "left firm in 1868 when he became MP" (elected 17 November
1868). Sekon (Evolution of the steam
locomotive) states that John Hick MP for Bolton wrote a history of
Sanspareil when it was presented to the Science Museum in 1864. He
was an active MP: he participated in Railway accidents the adoption
of continuous brakes (Hansard June 1879). Hick defended the LNWR position
(he was a Director of the LNWR) and stated that he "regarded all automatic
machinery with distrust". Webb compound No. 20 named after him. Latterly
his residence was Mitton Hall (or Mytton). He is buried at Christ Church
Walmsley. There is a life-size portrait in Bolton Library and a memorial
in the Parish Church. He was a founder member of the Institution of Mechanical
Engineers. He contributed tio many local charitable institutions..
Harris, Brian. Frank Webb's friends at Bolton. LNWR Society J.,
2012, 34-6.
John Hick and his involvement in iron and steel manufacture and locomotive
building..
Patents (via Woodcroft)
GB 9971/1843 Steam-engines; apparatus to be connected therewith
for driving machinery ;-partly applicable to forcing, lifting, and measuring
water. 5 December 1843
GB 10597/1845 Machinery for cleaning wheat and other grain or seeds
from smut and other injurious matters. 7 April 1845.
GB 12488/1849 Steam-engines, more particularly applicable to
marine-engines; machinery for propelling vessels. 28 February 1849
GB 13,691/1851 Steam-boilers or generators. 17 July 1851
See also article by Peter Townend in
Rly Arch., 2016 (50), 53 which includes portrait of Benjamin Hick
and comment on his three-cylinder locomotive.
Hicks, C.J.
Appointed Assistant Works Manager at Ashford under Maunsell who brought
him over from Inchicore where he feared victimisation for supporting his
former chief. See Holcroft's Locomotive
adventure (page 79). Promoted to Works Manager at Ashford on retirement
of G.H. Pearson. Locomotive Mag..
1938, 44, 205.
Hill, Joseph Albert
David Jackson's J.G. Robinson
confirms that this Hill (of Sheffield Ordnance Works) was behind the
Galloway-Hill patent locomotive furnace which was claimed in the following
patents.
Patents
21061/1911 Improvements in and relating to locomotive and
the like furnaces for economising fuel and preventing sparks. Published
8 August 1912.
20643/1912. Improvements relating to the supply of air
for furnaces. Published 17 April 1913.
26400/1912. Improved furnace grate for locomotive and the
like boilersApplied 2 February 1912. Published 3 March 1913.
27499/1912. Improvements in or relating to furnace grates
Applied 29 November 1912. Published 7 August 1913.
12451/1913. Improvements in furnace grates Applied 28
May 1913. Published 7 May 1914.
7532/1914 An improved ash ejector for locomotive and other furnaces
and the like. Published 7 January 1915.
196,054 An improved method of and apparatus for
firing the furnaces of steam generators and other furnaces. Published
11 April 1923.
Hitchcock, Cyril
He was born in 1866, and in 1888 completed a five years
apprenticeship at Swindon locomotive works under William Dean from 1883.
Joined R.W. Hawthorn Leslie in 1888, thence to Maudslay & Sons. In 1889
moved to India. In 1902 joined A.M. Rendel as an inspector.
Paper on Indian Standard
Locomotives, 1910.. From 1919 became a partner in Robert White &
Partners. Died 24 March 1931. See obituary
Loco. Rly Carr. Wagon Rev.,
1931, 37, 143.
Surnames beginning letter "Ho"
Hobson, John William
Born Newcastle-on-Tyne on 29 June 1883; died 13 January 1948. Educated
Rutherford College, Newcastle; served engineering apprenticeship with Hawthorn,
Leslie from 1898 to 1904. In 1904 awarded the R. & W. Hawthorn, Leslie
Marshall Trophy and Scholarship for proficiency in technical subjects, which
enabled him to take a special course at the Armstrong College. In 1907 was
awarded first prize by the North East Coast Institution of Engineers &
Shipbuilders for his Paper "Modern Locomotive Boilers" and in, 1914 was awarded
the Engineering Gold Medal for a Paper entitled ''Industrial Locomotives.''
In October 1910 he was appointed Chief Draughtsman of the Locomotive Dept.
of Hawthorn, Leslie and Technical Manager in 1934 on amalgamation of the
Locomotive Dept. with that of Robert Stephenson & Company of Darlington.
Mr. Hobson was elected a Member of the Instn Loco Engrs in 1920, and was
a very keen member, serving on the Committee of the Newcastle Centre from
the year of formation (1928) to 1931, and again from 1936 to 1939, then 1945
to 1946. Mr. Hobson was an authority on the history of the locomotive in
general and gave various talks on that subject to societies interested in
engineering. Altogether, he was fifty years with the same firm, being finally
appointed Technical Manager. Address to Stephenson Locomotive Society
(Locomotive Mag., 1944,
50, 124). Ciontributed to
discussion on Kelway-Bamber's Modern
steam rail cars ILE Paer No. 240 .
Holker
Locomotive Superintendent Wrexham Mold & Connah's Quay Railway
until 1877. See Dunn's Wrexham,
Mold & Connah's Quay Railway..
Holmes, Verena Winifred
(duplicate entry)
Important as being one of the very few lady (term used by Instn Loco.
Engrs) locomotive engineers: and remarkable for being in ODNB in spite of
absence of Riddles, S.W. Johnson and many other greater contributors to
locomotive engineering.
Born at Highworth, Ashford, Kent on 23 June 1889 and died in Fernhurst, Sussex
on 20 February 1964.
Educated at Oxford High School for Girls after which she studied photography,
but longed for engineering. WW1 opened this door: after building wooden
propellers at the Integral Propeller Co., Hendon, with evening classes at
Shoreditch Technical Institute, she joined Ruston and Hornsby, in Lincoln,
where she attended the technical college. Engaged as a supervisor she was
able to exchange this position for a formal apprenticeship before male employees
returned from war. She advanced from fitting to draughting, but resolved
to become a first-class designer. She entered Loughborough Engineering College,
where in 1922 she graduated BSc(Eng). In engineering Verena Holmes was versatile:
working on marine engines, locomotive engines, heavy oil, diesel, and internal
combustion engines. During the 1920s, with employment scarce, she worked
briefly for a marine engineering firm and tried her hand at technical journalism
in the USA. Back in England she became an associate of the Institution of
Marine Engineers (1924), worked for the North British Locomotive Co., and
was the first woman admitted to the Institution of Locomotive Engineers (1931).
During WW2 she worked on rotary gyro valves for torpedoes, new superchargers,
and other apparatus for the Admiralty, designing much of the complicated
mechanism for Lord Mountbatten's station keeping system. Verena Holmes was
a versatile inventor, too, holding at least twelve patents for items ranging
from medical devices (the Holmes and Wingfield pneumo-thorax apparatus for
treating tuberculosis, a surgeon's headlamp, and an aspirator) to a safety
paper cutter for school use, and rotary valves for internal combustion engines.
Her years (19329) at Research Engineers Ltd, where invention was her
job and Lord Mountbatten a frequent client, were probably her happiest. Here
she built the model of her most ambitious invention, the poppet valve for
steam locomotives. Holmes's pneumo-thorax apparatus was widely used, notably
in prisons, and her Safeguard guillotine (manufactured by her own firm) was
acknowledged best of its kind. The poppet valve, however, despite praise
for her introductory paper, was not taken up by the railway industry. During
WW2 she developed a highly successful programme to train women for munitions
work and was appointed headquarters technical officer with the Ministry of
Labour. She advocated the sandwich course, alternating periods of work experience
and college study, as an improvement on standard apprenticeships Holmes was
a founding member of the Women's Engineering Society (1919), which she served
as president (1930, 1931), council member, and honorary secretary (until
1960). Her own engineering firm, Holmes and Leather, founded in 1946, employed
only women, and she created the Women's Technical Service Register, where
girls could enrol to train for such positions as junior draughtsman and
laboratory assistant.Slim and elegant, a brilliant speaker and a good writer,
Holmes read many papers before professional societies, including one on
mechanical fuel injection for diesel engines at the first Women's Engineering
Society conference. She is commemorated by the Women's Engineering Society
Verena Holmes lectures. Autumn Stanley ODNB biography.
Author of ILoco.E paper No. 278 (1931)
A new infinitely variable poppet valve gear. on poppet valves.
Contributed to the discussion on Cardew's paper on lead in valve events
J. Instn Loco. Engrs, 1933,
23, 508.
Holt, Charles
Born 1830; died 1900. Cousin of John Ramsbottom: Works Manager, Beyer
Peacock, 1877-1900. see Raph Peacock for patent:
see Hills, Beyer Peacock: locomotive builder to the world (Glossop: Transport Publishing Co., 1982. 302pp.)
Holt, Henry P.
Patented a tramway engine design in 1872 with compound engine and
self-acting damper. Lowe states probably
not built.
Hooley, William Glynn
Born in Manchester iin 1887; trained at Beyer Peacock and Nasmyth
Wilson. Joined SECR at Ashford in 1913 when aged 25. Leading locomotive
draughtsman under Maunsell and instigator of several unfulfilled projects,
including Schools class with tapered boiler, Belpaire firebox and cylindrical
smokebox. Also involved in ARLE standard designs which failed to materialise.
Died on 12 January 1936 (Holcroft Locomotive adventure p. 183), aged
48. Obituary with portrait Locomotive
Mag., 1936, 42, 63.
Atkins, Railways South East,
3, 62.
Atkins. Backtrack, 2008,
22, 461.
Atkins The man who really designed the Maunsell 'Moguls'.
Southern
Way, 2011 (13) 16-23
Horne, Frank
Ex-Darlington: became Chief Draughtsman at Doncaster during WW2 where
he gained much experience in rebuilding steam locomotives.
(E.S. Beavor: Steam was my calling.
1974): "with perhaps as much experience as anyone in the design work for
rebuilding steam locomotives" p. 58..
Hosgood, John Howell
Born Cardiff in October 1860; died Cardiff 28 January 1910. Chief
draughtsman to the Taff Vale Railway, then appointed Locomotive and Hydraulic
Engineer to the Barry Docks and Railway Company, a position which he filled
for over 18 years, during which time he designed locomotives and rolling-stock
for the railway, laid out pumping-stations and plant, hydraulic coal-tips
and other works. ICE obituary (online).
RCTS Locomotives of the Great Western
Railway. Part 10 notes that he left in July 1905, by which time most
of the locomotive stock was complete. 2-4-2T design:
Locomotive Mag., 1903, 8,
150.
Hosgood, Walter James
Died in his seventy eighth year at Rayne, Essex, on l0 June
1943, was for twenty years chief mechanical engineer of the Rhodesia and
Mashonaland Railways. On the completion in 1887 of a four years
apprenticeship at the Cardiff depot of the Taff Vale Railway, under T. Hurry
Riches he went to sea and served for two years as marine engineer. After
a years experience in the drawing office of Sharp, Stewart and Company,
Ltd., Glasgow, he was appointed draughtsman in the locomotive, carriage,
and wagon department of the Barry Dock and Railway Company, and subsequently
became assistant mechanical engineer. He resigned this position in 1897 on
his appointment as chief mechanical engineer to the Port Talbot Railways
and Docks Company and two years later was given the additional appointment
of resident engineer, in which capacity he was responsible for the whole
of the engineering works, including extensions to railways, docks, wharves,
and marine equipment. In 1905 he was replaced by
A.H. Hertz in 1905 as Locomotive Superintendent
and W. Cleaver as Engineer. In 1905 Hosgood went to South Africa to take
up the appointment of chief mechanical engineer to the Rhodesia Railways
(see Locomotive Mag., 1905,
11, 38), .He was responsible for the coversion of five 4-8-0 tender
locomotives into 4-8-2T tank engines: the work being done at the Untali Works
(Locomotive Mag., 1015, 21,
170-1). For some years Hosgood served in the Rhodesia Defence Force,
retiring after the war of 1914-18 with the rank of major. On his return to
England in 1924 he subsequently joined the firm of Sir Douglas Fox and Partners
as a consulting engineer, and practised until his retirement some six years
later. Mr. Hosgood was a member of the Institution for over half a century,
having been elected a Graduate in 1891 and transferred to Membership in 1897;
he was also a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers (IMechE obituary).
RCTS Locomotives of the Great Western
Railway Part 10 . ..
Howe, William
Born Bishop Aukland 3 March 1814 and died Clay Cross 16 January 1879.
According to Marshall was inventor of
Stephenson link motion, but William Williams (mentioned by Marshall, but excluded) also contributed and according to
Hunt (BackTrack 17, 641) was main
innovator. See also Brewer Loco. Rly
Carr. Wagon Rev., 1933, 39, 373 Howe worked under Timothy
Hackworth at Shildon as a millwright and pattern maker, then moved to Jones
at Newton-le-Willows, thence to Vulcan and then to Mather Dixon in Liverpool.
In 1840 he moved to Gateshead where after a brief period with Hawks, Crawshay
he joined Robert Stephenson & Co where contact was made with Williams
when it would seem that Howe translated Williams' idea into reality and the
Stephenson link motion became a reality. He patented (11086/1846 Locomotive
steam engines
Woodcroft) a three-cylinder
locomotive with George Stephenson, In 1846 he was appointed chief engineer
at George Stephenson's collieries at Clay Cross. Howe, W.L. A short biography
of William Howe, 1814-1879. Liverpool: Author, [1963]. 7pp. Ottley
10405.
Hughes, Henry
In 1865 Henry Hughes, an engineer and timber merchant, founded the
Falcon Works in Loughborough on seven acres of land adjacent to the Midland Railway.
(Lowe). Locomotive building started soon
after the work's inception. Firm for a time noted for its steam tramway
locomotives, built to a patented design by Hughes. Hughes left the firm in
1883 (handing control over to Norman Scott Russell)
and possibly died in New Zealand in 1896...
Hulburd, Percy
Considerable number of patents for auxiliaries and jointing materials
for steam locomotive: advertised as Hulburd Patents Ltd., 26 Park Road North,
Acton in 1924.
Hunter, James A.
Chief draughtsman to Dugald Drummond at Nine Elms from 1906, formerly
with Metropolitan Railway at Neasden
(Rutherford, Backtrack, 2005,
19, 102 (p. 189). According to Rutherford a mild-mannered
Scot. According to Langridge
Under ten CMEs promoted to Works Manager Eastleigh upon D.C.
Urie becoming CME..
Hunter, John
First locomotive Superintendent Eastern Counties Railway (1846-1850)
(Lowe).
Locomotive Mag., 1904, 8,
75-6 records that Hunter fitted Robert Stephenson long boiler 2-4-0 No.
69 with valver gear designed by himself. See also Locomotive Mag.,
1939, 45, .
Hutchinson, George Victor Valentine
George Hutchinson was born in Galway in 1880 and left Inchicore
in about 1917 where he had been Maunsell's personal assistant (see
Chacksfield Richard
Maunsell). (see letter by J.
Cliffe by Atkins BackTrack 11 page 517) was known to letter
writer. Hutchinson confirmed Maunsell's popularity at Inchicore. The 3-cylinder
0-8-2T design had to be abandoned as it was impossible to fit an inside or
derived valve gear due to the small driving wheels. Notes his involvement
in design of 341 Sir William Goulding and 257-64 superheater 0-6-0.
He was patentee of "Maunsell" superheater which was fitted to the above designs.
Watson displaced the superheater with the Schmidt type: this was a source
of his unpopularity together with his anti-Irish feelings.
Patents
3778/1913. Improvements relating to steam superheaters. with R.E.L.
Maunsell Published Applied 13 February 1913. Published 18 December 1913.
GB191419269 Improvements relating to steam superheaters with R.E.L.
Maunsell Published 1914-11-26 Applied 19130213
Improvements in and relating to locomotives
GB278419 (A) ? 1927-10-03 A 19260703 Compressed air transmission from
internal combustion engine
GB231604 (A) ? 1925-04-09 Improvements in and relating to internal combustion
engines A 19240112
Hutchinson, Walter Harold (Joe)
Assistant to Clifford Cocks: "one fateful day, in the absence
of Cocks I was called to OVB's office and requested to produce a sketch for
a double four-wheeled bogie loco.". [Leader]. On his return Cocks was not
amused. H.A.V. Bulleid's Bulleid
of the Southern describes his involvement in the Leader project,
and provides a portrait on Plate 76 of him alongside the only one to steam.
Kevin Robertson's book on the Leader class makes it clear that Hutchinson was given the task of designing the sleeve
valves. Contributed to discussion on Paper 451 by Sanford mentioning Great Western and Balgian chimneys..
Iden, Walter
Ex-LBSCR engineer who became Assistant Motor Engineer to the London
General Omnibus Co. and helped to design the B-type bus with Frank Searle:
see Archive Issue 19 page 55
et seq.
Innes, Richard Herbert
Established an IMechE prize in 1972 in commemoration of three generations
of locomotive engineers. Did he write letters under "RHI" and is he the anonymous
author of the long series on Stockton & Darlington Railway locomotives
published in Locomotive Magazine?
Inness, Richard H. [Dick]
Atkins, Philip.
Br. Rly. J. North Eastern Rly Spec. Issue, 2005?,
8-21. includes a few notes on a man who entered Gateshead
Works in 1898, aged 14, was responsible for designing T2 0-8-0, and claimed
that a three-cylinder 0-8-2T was contemplated for banking trains out of Tyne
Dock. Unfortunately, the name is quoted with a single terminal "s": the Librarian
of NERA provided the correct spelling. See also note of Inness as locomotive
historian in Langham Early locomotives on the Stanhope & Tyne Railway,
Backtrack, 2019, 33,
588).He contriubuted to the Loocomotive Mag. during WW1 as
Corporal Inness and the long series on the Stockton & Darlington is
attributed to him.
Irving, Benjamin
Born in 1877. Educated Hutchinson's Grammar School. Apprenticed to
Dubs, and also studied at the Glasgow & West of Scotland Technical College.
In 1899 became a locomotive draughtsman at Sharp Stewart. In 1904 became
Chief Locomotive Draughtsman at Andrew Barclay. In 1919 he became Commercial
Manager and Technical Representative for the Locomotive Department of
Armstrong Whitworth, and in 1938 he
became Managing Director and Chaiman of Barclay & Sons. He died in October
1939. Paper on The modern locomotive abstracted in
Locomotive Mag., 1936, 42,
113,
Isaacson, Rupert John
Took out several patennts mainly related to internal combustiion engines
and motor cycles
Patents
27,899/1907 Improvements in valve gears for
steam and other fluid pressure engines, with Horace Sanderson, Henry St
John Sanderson, Edwin Wardle, John Edwin Firth and Charles Ernest
Charlesworth. Applied 18 December 1907. Published 13 August 1908.
Radford's Derby Works and Midland
locomotives (p. 149) states that No. 382 was fitted with Isaacson's
valve gear during 1910-11.
126,203 Improvements in and pertaining to sight-feed lubricators,
with Ysabel Hart Cox. Applied 27 June 1918. Published 8 May 1919.
Jacques, John
Indoor Superintendent at Bury from 1865, but as most locomotives were
of Bury type Jacques had little real influence
(Griffiths, Locomotive engineers of the L.M.S. and its major constituent companies, Sparkford: Patrick Stephens. 1991 [Ottley 18512]. 184pp.)
Jeffreys, Edward Alexander
Born Shrewsbury 20 August 1828, died Leeds 3 April 1889
(Marshall). When 14 apprenticed to
Bury, Curtis & Kennedy in Liverpool. In 1845 appointed Locomotive
Superintendent on Shrewsbury & Chester Railway. When amalgamated with
GWR in 1853 he worked with Thomas Brassey constructing rolling stock for
GTR of Canada. He was resident engineer and locomotive superintendent of
the Shrewsbury & Hereford Railway until 1862: according to
Reed (150 years...) whilst there he
invented the rocking grate which assisted coal consumption. He became a
consulting engineer to Low Moor Ironworks after the death of James Fenton
and in July 1879 became a partner of James
Kitson.
Jenkin, Bernard M.
Born August 1867. Educated Edinburgh Academy and Edinburgh University.
Premium Apprentice/Pupil of Webb (1887-1889). Involved in early electric
railways working under Sir Alexander Kennedy, Consulting Engineer. Contributed
to discussion on W.E. Dalby (Proc. Instn civ. Engrs, 1912, 2,
877)
Jenkins, William
According to Marshall was born
at Llanddewi Brefi in Cardiganshire in December 1803 and died in Manchester
on 20 November 1867. He was son of a millwright with whom he served part
of his apprenticeship and the remainder with Hughes & Wren in Manchester.
From 1826 to 1835 he worked under Jesse Hartley on Liverpool Docks. In 1835
he joined Hartley on the Manchester & Bolton Railway and when it opened
in 1838 he became responsible for locomotives at its Salford Works. He was
responsible to John Hawkshaw for erecting
and fitting out the works at Miles Platting where the Manchester & Leeds
Railway was the first in the world to construct its own locomotives routinely.
But until Hurst left for the NBR in 1854 Marshall would not agree with
Lowe who stated that Jenkins was
Locomotive Superintendent of the Manchester & Leeds Railway at Miles
Platting from 1847 to 1868: Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs 1860 confirm his
position at Miles Platting.. Furthermore, it appears that poor Jenkins was
over-worked and became ill in 1867. Portrait fp. 16
Nock: Lancashire & Yorkshire
Railway.
Johansen, Frederick Charles
Graduated with first-class honours from Kmgs College, University
of London, gaining the degree of B.Sc.(Eng.), and afterwards obtaining his
M.Sc. On leaving the university, he took up an appointment with the Yorkshire
Electric Power Co.; later he joined the National Physical Laboratory, where
he did research into certain aspects of fluid motion, and carried out a
comprehensive investigation into air resistance of trains. In 1932 he joined
the Scientific Research Department of the L.M.S. Railway as engineering research
officer and in 1946 was appointed deputy scientific research manager of the
L.M.S. Railway. (mainly Nature online archive also
Locomotive Mag., 1947,
53, 1). In November 1949 he was appointed Director of Research
at W. & T. Avery by which time he was Dr Johansen.
Papers
The screw-propeller .
Proc. Instn Mech.
Engrs., 1929, 113, 1073-84. 5 diagrams.
Includes both propellers for ships and for
aircraft
Research in mechanical engineering by small scale apparatus.
Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs., 1929,
116, 151-216. Discussion: 216-72.
The air resistance of passenger trains.
Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs.,
1936, 134, 91-160. Disc.: 160-208.
High-speed cinematography.
Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs.,
1945, 152, 224-5 + plates
Locomotive Practice. Proc.
Instn Mech. Engrs., 1945, 153, 351-2 Discussion was with other
papers at a Conference on Surface Finish at which Stanier contributed.
with E.S. Cox
Locomotive frames. J. Instn Loco,
Engrs, 1948, 38, 81-115. Disc. 115-96. 43 digrs. Bibliog. Paper
No. 473
Paper was mainly concerned with plate frames, although the discussion
incorporated a major contribution on cast bed frames based on US practice.
In part, the paper reflected a major problem of frame fracture as it occurred
on the LMS. The frames of the LMS class 5, LNER B1 and GWR County 4-6-0 were
compared. The following parameters were considered: plate thickness, stiffness,
horn stays, cross stays, horn blocks, and horn guides. The LNWR Prince of
Wales were especially prone to frame fractures and poor welding may have
led to further fractures.
Contributions to papers by others
Holcroft, H. (Paper
No. 430): Smoke deflectors for locomotives. J.
Instn Loco. Engrs, 1941, 31, 462-89. Disc.: 490-509.
Johansen was the researcher at the NPL whose wind tunnel tests formed the
basis of Holcroft's Paper. He also made a written communication to the
Discussion.
An anomolous paper by Peacock as it incorporates much of Johansen's work,
but he is not listed as co-author
Peacock, D.W. Railway wind tunnel work.
J. Instn Loco. Engrs, 606-31.
Disc.: 631-61. (Paper No. 506)
Johnson, James
Locomotive Engineer GNoSR (1890-1894)
RCTS (Locomotives of the LNER Vol.
1): son of Samual Johnson of Derby and trained by him at Derby.
Middlemass (The Scottish 4-4-0)
introduced the S class of 4-4-0 and nine 0-4-4Ts, both classes displayed
strong lionks with Derby practice and were attractive looking locomotives.
According to Highet Johnson moved to a
firm of engineers in the West of England.
Vallance Great North of Scotland Railway.
Jones, Arthur Dansey
Locomotive Running Superintendent Southern Railway
Locomotive Mag., 1923 ,
29, 220.. Formerly with L&YR and SECR. SECR had appointed
Jones as Running Superintendent at the same time as
Maunsell was appointed as CME thus creating a
system similar to thet on Midland Railway/LMS, but with even greater
independence than that on LMS/LNER. This aspect has received too little
attention by commentators on the Southern Railway.
Nock (Great locomotives of the Southern
Railway) refers to Jones as being a "deligtful personality" (page
94). See also Holcroft's Locomotive adventure
(page 78).
Obituary (J. Instn. Loco. Engrs., 1937, 27, 683-4):
Arthur Dansey Jones, M.V.O., O.B.E. (Past-President), was the son of Canon
W. I. Jones, and was born at Tilford, Surrey, on the 5 June, 1871. He was
educated at Haileybury College and later at Owens College, Manchester, where
he received his technical education. In 1889 he became a pupil of Sir John
Aspinall on the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, at Horwich Shops, and after
completion of his practical training in 1892 he had fifteen months' experience
in the electrical department at Horwich. Following this, he entered upon
his long association with locomotive running with eight months as an Assistant
District Loco. Foreman. and then five months as District Loco. Foreman. He
was next appointed Junior Assistant to the Loco. Running Superintendent,
and in 1897 became Outdoor Assistant for Carriages and Wagons for a period
of fifteen months. Following this, in 1901 he became Chief Assistant in the
Loco. Running- Dept. until he left the Lancashire and Yorkshire Rail\vay
in 1912 to become Outdoor Loco. Carriage and Wagon Superintendent of the
South Eastern and Chatham Railway.
Upon the formation of the Southern Railway in 1923 he was appointed
Locomotive Running Superintendent, with headquaners at Waterloo, a position
which he held until his retirement in 1936. He became a member of the Institution
in 1916, and was President for the year 1917-18. He was a member of the
Institution of Mechanical Engineers and the Institute of Transport. During
WW1 he was responsible for providing motive power for vast numbers of troop
and munition trains passing over the S.E. & C.R., and in recognition
of his services he was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1918, and
in 1929 he became a Member of the Royal Victorian Order. He died in his sleep
on 23 August, 1937, while on a pleasure cruise in the Adriatic and was buried
at sea
Papers
The locomotive running department. J. Instn
Loco Engrs, 1917, 7, 87-95.
Notes difficulties with cost and supply of coal to railways south
of the Thames.
British railways and the War: Address by the President.
J. Instn Loco Engrs, 1918, 8,
78-87. (Paper No. 58)
A very general presentation of Britain's railways contribution to
the War effort during WW1. The most significant item of mechanical engineering
was the assembly of ambulance trains by several individual companies. The
movement of troops and munitions to the departure points for the battle fronts
required a major effort. Leave trains for troops also contributed to inferior
services for former customers. Cross Channel steamers were greatly affected
and the murder of Captain Fryatt, Master of the GER vessel Brussels is
given emphasis.
Proceedings of Institute of Civil Engineers, comment (196 p. 156)
on superheater performance on the road on Fowler's
Superheating steam in locomotives.
Min Proc. Instn civ. Engrs.,
1913/14 Paper 4084
Jones, Charles
Charles Jones was mainly an electrical engineer, and appointed as
such to the Metropolitan Railway at £650 per annum from 1 July 1903
(Jackson). Redesignated from 1912 as
locomotive and chief electrical engineer. There are some Jones steam locomotives
(0-6-4T) one of which carried his name. He retired from being Chief
Electrical Engineer from 30 June 1924, but remained as Consulting
Electrical Engineer and was replaced as Chief Elctrical Engineer by P.R.
Boulton of Birmingham (Locomotive
Mag., 1924, 30, 200). He was succeeded by George
Hally
Jones, George Frederick
Holder of patents with Ramsay Condensing Locomotive Co.
224,583 Improved means for condensing steam and other vapours
with Ramsay Condensing Locomotive Co. Applied 9 August 1923. Published
10 November 1924
222,970 Improvements in evaporative condensers for steam and the
like with Ramsay Condensing Locomotive Co. and Thomas Laurence
Hale. Applied 13 July 1923. Published 13 October 1924.
207,043 Improvements in or relating to steam-condensers with
Ramsay Condensing Locomotive Co.. Applied 24 November 1922. Published
22 November 1923.
206,895 Improvements in or relating to steam condensers
with Ramsay Condensing Locomotive Co. Appl;ied 19 July 1922. Published
19 November 1923.
203,145 Improvements in or relating to fluid-pressure packing
devices with Ramsay Condensing Locomotive Co.. Applied 2 August
1922. Published 6 September 1923.
201,749 Improvements in or relating to flexible pipe couplings
with Ramsay Condensing Locomotive Co.. Applied 19 July 1922. Published
9 August 1923.
Jones, Herbert Edward
Born Huddersfield c1855; died 10 June 1926 (Internet) Pupil of Matthew
Kirtley at Derby, but more directly under S.W. Johnson and then under T.G.
Clayton. He then was moved to Leicester and thence to the White Cross Street
Goods Depot and Victoria Dock to look after the company's hydraulic machinery.
He then became District Superintendent at Brecon, followed by working at
Toton before taking charge of the Manchester District with its new engine
sheds at Heaton Mersey and Trafford Park. In 1899 he was appointed Locomotive
Superintendent of Cambrian Railways: replacing sacked
Aston. Two locomotives (Class 61 4-4-0s) were constructed
at Oswestry whilst he was in-charge.(Lowe)
Retired end of 1918. He was proud to have come from a railway family: his
father C.H. Jones, a Huddersfield JP, had been one of the original directors
of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway, and subsequently a director of
the Midland Railway (he died in 1885). The birth and death information for
the biographee are still missing.
(Kidner Cambrian Railways, Oakwood Railway Histories 55,
1992. Portrait page 58: C.C. Green's
Cambrian Railways.
Illustrated Interview in Rly Mag.
1901, 8, 289. RCTS
Locomotives of the Great Western Railway. Part 10.
Jones, John
John Jones of Bristol patented the Cambrian system in 1848 whereby
a balanced system was sought through locating a transverse segmental cylinder
between the frames and providing drive through rocking levers.
Lowe Fig 552 shows an 0-2-2-2, South Yorkshire
Railway No. 5 Albion which became MSLR No. 156.
On the adpation of the "Cambrian" engine to locomotive purpose.
Proc. Instn Mech Engrs, 1848,
1 (October) 16-21.
Messrs Thwaites &
Co. of Bradford had built Albion to Jones' patented design.
Jones, Thomas Ellis
Born 25 March 1903. Educated University College School, London. Pupil
of A.C. Stamer of the N.E.R. (during period he was CME). In 1924 appointed
assistant foreman at Hull locomotive running shed, thence to a similar position
at York before becoming Assistant Locomotive Superintendent on the Jodhpur
Railway in 1925. He died on 1 September 1932.
Kearsley, Josiah
Locomotive superintendent of the Midland Counties Railway.
(Lowe):
Radford (p. 20) stated that he
expected to be appointed Locomotive Superintendent of Midland Railway. He
refused to work under Kirtley and had to be bought out from his contract
for £750 and then joined Rothwell at the Union Foundry, Bolton-le-Moors
(Baxter, British Locomotive Catalogue, 1825-1923, volume 3A).
Kendall, C.
Patented a compressed air brake in 1864 which was tested on the LCDR.
Rowatt, T. Railway brakes.Trans
Newcomen Soc.,1927, 8, 19-32
Kendall, John
RCTS Locomotives of the Great
Western Railway. Part 10 called him the firtst proper
Locomotve Superintendent of the Rhymney Railway. He was killed in a derailment
at Maescwmmer along with J.T. Simpson, Locomotve
Superintendent of the Brecon & Merthyr Railway.
Kendall, Ramsey
Works Manager, Darlington Works, NER, 1893-1909
Loco. Mag., 1909, 15,
42 notes resignation from NER and spells name with two
ls: inventor of Kendal cab. Hoole, K. Illustrated history of NER
locomotives. 1988. Hoole
(Rly Wld, 1957, 18, 77) calls him Chief Test Inspector
who reported with Raven on two-cylinder compounds in 1893.
Kendall. W.
Patented (26 October 1867) a three-cylinder design which was built
at the Percy Main workshops of the Blyth & Tyne Railway. Sekon Evolution
of the steam locomotive and Lowe.
Hoole (Illustrated history of NER
locomotives) stated that Kendall was Locomotive Superintendent of
the Blyth & Tyne.
Kerr, James
Marshall notes that
Kerr was born (14 April 1851) and died (4 December 1884) in Glasgow.
Studied at Glasgow University then spent three years with Snell, Stuart &
Co in Glasgow before establishing James Kerr & Co. In 1881
Kerr Stuart was formed: see
Lowe.
Kilby, Jack Armytage
Educated Castle Hill School, Ealing and Marlborough College. At Swindon
Works, GWR, 1915-1917, service in Royal Engineers during WW1 interupted his
training, but his apprenticeship was completed in 1920, and this was followed
by being a pupil on the G&SWR. He then worked in Egypt during which time
he patented devices to inhibit the effect of dust and sand on valve gears.
Died in October 1938, aged 40. J. Instn Loco. Engrs, 1939, 29,
661.
Patents
479,032 Linkwork for converting a reciprocating motion into a rotary
motion, or vice versa. Published 28 January 1938.
472,892 Improvements in and relating to valves and valve gear for
reciprocating steam engines. Published 30 September 1937.
Kitching, Alfred & William &
family
Builders of
locomotives: born in Darlington on 19 June 1808 and 1
June 1794. Elder died in Darlington on 4 September 1850 (he had been one
of the original directors of the Stockton & Darlington Railway). Younger
one died in Redcar on 13 February 1882. Both were members of the Society
of Friends (Quakers), Both in John
Marshall. A Darlington website lists an Alfred Kitching as Mayor between
1870 and 1871, and John Kitching (1856 to 1935)
as a railway entrepreneur: according to
Locomotive Mag., 1903, 8,
148 desined Game Coacks 2-4-0 see
also Locomotive Mag., 1904, 10, 60..
Kyffin, Arthur Ellesmere
In 1918 was employed by Messrs Foden at Sandbach.
Papers
Notes on axleboxes and axlebox guides.
J. Instn Loco. Engrs, 1921,
11, 603-24. (Paper No. 108)
Some features of boiler design and construction in relation to upkeep.
J. Instn Loco. Engrs, 1922,
12, 891-910. (Paper 131)
Lambie, John
According to Marshall was
born in Saltcoats, Ayrshire, in 1833 and died in Glasgow on 1 February 1895.
He became Locomotive Superintendent of the Caledonian Railway on 1 April
1891. He was a running man who had come from a railway background: his father
had been Traffic Manger of the Wishaw & Coltness until it was absorbed
by the CR in 1848. He improved the footplate conditions by fitting cab doors,
better handrails and footsteps. He improved the Drummond 4-4-0 design in
1894 and introduced both 4-4-0T and 0-4-4T designs fitted with condensing
apparatus to work on the underground lines.
Middlemass: The Scottish 4-4-0.
Also another J. Lambie, Member of ILocoE from 1920 worked for Beardmore &
Co and resident in Tollcross, Glasgow (related?)
Lane, E.T.
Wash drawing made in June 1849 of Norris-type engine, probably built
by Nasmyth: Reed, Brian. Norris locomotives.
Loco Profile 11. The
RCTS The Locomotives of the Great Western
Railway. Part 2, Broad gauge in which it is stated that G.F.
Bird's Broad gauge locomotive history of the Great Western Railway published
in the Locomotive. between 1901 and 1903 (Volumes 6 to 8) based his
drawings upon those prepared by E.T. Lane in 1848/9.
Peck, The Great Western at Swindon Works (Poole: Oxford Publishing Co, 1983. 281pp.) argues that the Lane drawings were source
of stone carvings of Premier which featured on the wall of Swindon
Works.
Lane, Francis Lawrence
According to Marshall born in
Manchester in 1860 and died in Leeds on 12 March 1931. Rolling stock engineer
who trained under S.W. Johnson at Stratford and moved with him to Derby.Works
and then joined the staff of Sir A.M. Rendel & Son. Manager at Ashbury's
in Manchester and from 1895 at Leeds Forge. For a time he left Leeds Forge
to advise Clayton Wagons at Lincoln. Patents on application of pressed steel
Obituary Loco Rly Carr. Wagon
Rev., 1931, 37, 143.
Lawrence, Lillian (Curly)
Probably born on 12 December 1882 and was registered as a female
and died on 5 November 1967. Noted for regular contributions to the Model
Engineer written under Lawrence's pseudonym of LBSC. and for the excellence
of small locomotives which were engineered to perform efficiently. See
Brian Hollingsworth biography and
own reminiscences ('LBSC' footplate reminiscences at New Cross) compiled by Klaus
Marx. Steel's The miniature world of
Henry Greenly includes a chapter on the protracted discourse between
Lawrance and Greenly. See also "Tug-Boat Annie" explained: Curly's design
criteria for 4-6-2 miniature Pacific with outside cylinders in s de Glehn
position and wide firebox with extended combustion chamber and Westinghouse
brake. Locomotive Express,
1949, 4, 2-3.
Lawson, Thomas [Tom] William
Manager of the Lambton Engine Works of the NCB. Responsible for angled
cabs for both engines and tenders. Also favoured chime whistles and extensive
lining. Active in 1950s:
Archive, 2007 (55) 13 et seq
(page 18)
Laybourne, Richard
Locomotive superintendent of the Monmouthshire Railway & Canal
Co. Took over from W. Craig in 1854.
RCTS Locomotives of the Great
Western Railway. Part 3 states that he supervised erection of the
workshops at Dock Street in Newport, converted the old tramroad engines,
and switched from coke to coal. In 1867 he left to become manager of the
Rhymney Iron Co. Lowe states was from Crewe.
Appleby took over in 1868. .
McDermot History of the Great Western
Railway rev. Clinker..
Laycock, William Samuel
According to Marshall was born
in Sheffield on 20 October 1842, and died there on 2 March 1916. Associated
with supply of equipment for rolling stock, including Morton brake, torpedo
ventilator, pull-down blinds, and buck-eye couplers. In 1910 became Chairman
of Cravens Ltd. Many patents. Obituary
Locomotive Mag., 1916,
22, 82.
Lees, Sylvester
Locomotive Superintendent of East Lancashire Railway at Bury (Marshall
Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway). Previously, first Locomotive
Superintendent of the Dublin & Drogheda Railway from 1844 to September
1848 when he left for Bury (Norman
Johnston. Locomotives of the GNRI).
Lelean, William Arthur
Was born in 1886 (Holcroft describes
him as a Cornishman) and educated at Queen's College, Taunton. Served
as premium apprentice under William Dean at Swindon. Gained a Whitworth
Exhibition he was transferred to the drawing office and thence to the inspection
of materials. In 1896 he joined the firm of Sir Alexander M. Rendel &
Son and was placed in charge of locomotive contracts in the Glasgow district.
In 1909 he moved to the Company's head office in Westminster where he was
in charge of the control and inspection of locomotive contracts. From 1924
he was involved in the standard designs for the Indian Railway Board. He
was a founder member of the Institution of Locomotive Engineers. Contributed
to discussion on paper on condensing.
Institution of Locomotive Engineers New President.
Locmotive Mag., 1932, 38,
129. portrait with a slide rule: text regretted non-participation of
Great Western Railway in affairs of Institution. He died on 27 December 1933.
Obituaries: J. Instn Loco. Engrs, 1933, 23, 973 (with portrait).
Locomotive Mag., 1934,
40, 17. Present in group photograph taken at Railway Centenary
in Darlington: J. Instn Loco, Engrs,
1925, 15, 576. Contributed to
discussion on Kelway Bamber Paper No. 182 by noting durability of rubber
springs in India,
Leonard, John
Engineer of the Cromford & High Peak Railway from its opening
in 1831 until 1847. Was also manager and secretary. Born in about 1800 in
Bradley, Staffordshire. In 1848 had moved to London. Hodgkins, David. The
Cromford & High Peak Railway: some questions and
answers. J. Rly Canal Hist.
Soc., 2007, 35, 768-71. Resident engineer (and possible designer
of two 0-6-0STs) for the Cromford & High Peak Railway.
(Lowe page 118)
Lewin, Stephen
Not in Marshall: see
Lowe. Builder of small narrow
gauge locomotives, including two for Guiness in Dublin and two for the Laxey
Leadmines in the Isle of Man. Lowe notes "local reports" that Stephen Lewin
was a rich man who built locomotives and steam launches "as a hobby". He
had come from Lincolnshire and became a prominent person in Poole.
Lindsay, Charles
Born Tayport in 1884: apprenticed Caledonian Railway at Perth. Worked
in India until retirement in 1938. Died in Perth in 1942. Obituary J.
Instn Loco Engrs.
Lish, George
In charge of Kipps works of
Monkland & Kirkintilloch
Railway (Lowe). Involved in tests of
locomotive haulage of barges on Forth & Clyde Canal.
NBSGJ, 1999, (62), 16.
Lister, R.R.
Chief draughtsman Beyer Peacock:
portrait p. 78 in Hills
Livesey, [Sir] Harry
Born 30 May 1860: son of James Livesey,
engineer of the Transandine Railway. Sir Harry died on board his yacht
Jeanette in Monaco on 21 June 1932 aged 72. His father took Harry
into partnership in 1894. Harry developed the Livesey Meyer locomotive used
on the Bolivia Railway: Espacenet shows several patents relating to railway
wagon design, but not the locomotive. Obituary
Loco. Rly Carr. Wagon Rev.,
1932, 38, 265..
Loach, Joseph Charles.
Portrait: Cox Locomotive panorama Plate 21, Trained as a mechanical
engineer at Horwich: had a liking for precision in all his work: several
I Loco E papers: Paper 309 (Volume 23);
Paper 472 (Volume 38);
Paper 583 (Volume 48) and
an un-numbered contribition in 1966 Volume
56 (all dealt with inter-relation of vehicles and the track,
Loco. Rly Carr. Wagon Rev.,
1955, 61, 186 noted Development Officer, (Vehicle & Track
Testing), Derby, to be Superintendent (Vehicle & Track Division), located
at Derby. Retired in 1965. MSc.
Locke, Joseph
Joseph Locke, the eminent Civil Engineer,
was responsible for the siting and creation of Crewe Works.
Lockyer, Norman Joseph
Born in London in September 1860, son of Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer,
the eminent astronomer. Educated University College School. Apprenticed Sir
Joseph Whitworth & Co and subsequently at Gorton Works of MSLR. Served
for a short time under Stroudley on LBSCR, then joined staff of Sir Alex
Rendel where involved in inspection of plant, rolling stock and locomotives
for Indian and other overseas railways. In 1896 appointed Works Manager of
Sharp, Stewart & Co. in Glasgow. In 1899 became Works Manager of NER
at Gateshead and in 1910 transferred to Darlington as Works Manager. Awarded
Silver Medal at Paris Exhibition.
Locomotive Mag., 1900,
5, 145 He died in Darlington on 14 April 1922. The obituary noted
his genial and kindly nature. Portrait. J. Instn Loco. Engrs., 1922,
12, 640. The patents relate to the double beat regulator and to a
beer pump which presumably dated from his time with Sir Alex Rendel. His
double-beat regulator valve is discussed by
T.H. Shields (J. Instn Loco. Engrs,
1930, 20, 49 (pp. 69-73))
Patents
18209/1913 A balanced double beat steam regulating valve for
locomotives. Applied 11 August 1913; Published: 26 March 1914.
15393/1896 Improvements in air compressing apparatus for raising beer
or other liquids. Applied 11 July 1896; Published: 10 July 1896. [fuller
examination is advised]
Lucas, Samuel Joseph
Born 25 April 1860. Died 18 March 1940 (brief obituary
Locomotive Mag., 1940,
46, 89). Apprenticed to Kitson's at Airedale Foundry from 28 January
1877. Retired February 1916. Responsible for design of Kitson-Meyer locomotives.
He was a thoughtful and reserved man. His knowledge of German must have assisted
in his interpretation of documents about the Meyer articulated types.
See Rutherford, Backtrack, 2007,
21, 358. Long commuication
following Kitson Clark's Paper 87 on the behaviour of articulated locomotives
on curves: this was followed at the Leeds presentation of this paper by showing
model locomotives to demonstrate this behaviour.
Lucy, Ernest Edward
Died Sydney on 17 July 1944, in his eighty-fourth year. He was a
locomotive engineer throughout the whole of his professional career, and
for twenty-one years held the position of chief mechanical engineer of the
New South Wales Railways. He served his apprenticeship in the locomotive
works of the Great Western Railway at Wolverhampton from 1879 to 1882, and,
on the completion of a two years' pupilage at the Morpeth Docks, Birkenhead,
returned to the service of the former company, successively filling the position
of assistant locomotive superintendent at Birmingham, Swansea, and Weymouth.
From 1897 to 1905 he was locomotive works manager at Wolverhampton. He then
joined the New South Wales Railways on taking up the appointment of assistant
chief mechanical engineer, and six years later was promoted to be chief
mechanical engineer and held that position until his retirement in 1932.
During Mr. Lucy's twenty-seven years with the New South Wales Railways he
saw many changes and improvements and the expansion may be gauged by the
growth of the mechanical engineering branch. In 1905, when he first took
up duties, there were about 5,000 employed in the Branch and this had increased
to over 16,000 at the date of his retirement. The importing of complete
locomotives was superseded by the manufacture in the railway workshops of
locomotives designed in the drawing office of his department, and there was
a similar development in the carriage and wagon section. When Lucy arrived
in New South Wales there were 687 steam locomotives in operation and he saw
this number increase to 1,437. The total annual steam engine mileage had
increased to over twenty-three million by the year 1932, an increase of nine
million miles per annum over the fourteen million engine miles that had been
covered during the year of his arrival twenty-seven years earlier.
His readiness to consider new ideas was manifest by the adoption of rail-cars,
driven by internal combustion engines, so that a service could be maintained
on certain country lines where the running of steam locomotives would have
been uneconomical ; the first rail-car went into service in 1919. With the
increase in the population of Sydney the need for fast suburban passenger
transport resulted in the electric suburban passenger service which was put
into operation in 1926, and the change from steam to electric transport was
quickly and smoothly effected. The need for investigation of mechanical problems
and the scientific control of materials was appreciated by Lucy, and a testing
laboratory was fitted up in 1921 which, a year later, so that a wider field
of investigation could be embraced, became a Research Laboratory. He was
keenly interested in the application of any new technical developments to
railway traction and was active in the introduction of superheating to
locomotives, the use of alloy steels and welding, and welding at a time when
it was not so well received as at present. He was quick to appreciate a
situation, would soon have a grasp of a difficulty, and his memory about
the details of the locomotives under his charge was remarkable. Considerable
charm of personality was possessed by Lucy; he was interested in the men
in the works and knew most of them by name, and was ever willing to lend
a sympathetic ear to their problems and difficulties. Although he spent many
years in Australia, and acquired a wide knowledge and strong liking for the
country, to the end of his life he remained a typical Englishman and not
infrequently one would hear the remark that he "was a fine old English
gentleman". Lucy had been a Member of the Institution of Mechanical Enginewers
for nearly fifty years, having been elected in 1897. began career on GWR
at Wolverhampton Works. Long article in
Locomotive Mag., 1922, 28,
351. Retirement in 1932/3: Loco.
Mag., 1933, 39, 56.. Obituary Locomotive Mag.,
1045, 51, 109.
Lundie, Cornelius
Born in Kelso in May 1818 and died in Cardiff on 12 February 1908.
(Marshall) Traffic Manager & Engineer
of the Rhymney Railway until 1904. He attended science classes at Edinburgh
and Glasgow Universities and in 1832 began to work for Charles Atherton on
the Broomielaw Bridge in Glasgow. In 1836 he took charge of the Clarence
Railway in County Durham and then worked in New South Wales from 1839 to
1847. Following work for Thomas Brassey, he was Manager of the Blyth &
Tyne Railway from 1855 to 1861 when he joined the Rhymney Railway shortly
after its inception. He had been in this post for 42 years. Latterly his
Assistant in charge of locomotives was Richard
Jenkins who was appointed Superintendent upon Lundie's retirement, but
he in turn was replaced by C.T. Hurry Riches.
(Nock, British locomotives of the 20th century, Volume 1. 1900-1930 Patrick Stephens. 1983. 255pp.).
Obituary Locomotive Mag.,
1908, 14, 42.
Lynes, Lionel
Leading Carriage & Wagon Draughtsman at Ashford under Maunsell:
recruited from Swindon where he had been in charge of carriage & wagon
section of Swindon drawing office. See
Holcroft's Locomotive adventure
(page 79). Went on with Bulleid to design lightweight rolling stock,
including double-deck EMU: see
Bulleid's Bulleid of the
Southern Bonavia
History of the Southern Railway calls him "Leonard" incorrectly.
Patent holder and author of book. MBE
Papers
Brake equipment and braking tests of Southern Railway C.C. electric
locomotive, with A.W. Simmons. J.
Instn Loco Engrs, 1944, 34, 345-95. (Paper No. 448)
The construction and inspection of 10-ton open goods wagons.
Locomotive
Mag., 1914, 20, 298-301
Reflections. Locomotive
Mag., 1953, 59, 66-9; 101
Southern Railway all-steel suburban electric stock, with C.A Shephard,
J. Instn Loco Engrs, 1948,
38, 205-38. Disc. 238-57. (Paper No. 474)
Contributions to discussions:Kelway Bamber
ILocoE Paper 182
Surnames beginning letter "M" (all forms of M', Mc and Mac filed as "mac")
McColl, Robert Boyd
He was born in Kilmarnock on 1 January 1882. He was a premium apprentice
of James Manson (GSWR). In 1904 he moved to the drawing office of Robert
Stephenson & Co in Darlington and in 1905 emigrated to Canada joining
the Montreal Locomotive Works. He transferred to the Eddystone Munitions
Co (a subsidiary of the Baldwin Locomotive Works) during WW1 and in 1917
became the firm's representative in England. In 1918 he was recruited by
Armstrong Whitworth to manufacture locomotives, of all types, at their Scotswood
works (see roll out of Raven 0-8-0 in
Locomotive Mag., 1919, 25,
205), but returned to the USA in 1922 and joined the American Locomotive
Company where he became Vice President in 1945 and President soon after.
He retired in January 1950 but remained in Schenectady until his death in
May 1972. He was the subject of a biography by
Atkins in Backtrack 14
502. See also appointment as President and Director of McIntosh and Seymour
Corporation of Auburn, NY (Loco.
Rly Carr. Wagon Rev., 1931, 37. 142). Observations on welded
locomotive boilers: Locomotive
Mag., 1946, 52, 182.
McConochie, John
Patent: locomotive improvements (including low pitched boiler) March
1848 with Claude. Sekon: Evolution:
Paper
On an improved railway chair.
Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs, 1853,
4, 9-15. Disc.: 15-19 + Plates 1-4 (17 diagrs.).
Patents
12,089 Locomotive-engines. 8 March 1848
14,189 Locomotive and other steam-engines and boilers... 24
June 1852.
McCulloch
Born Glasgow in 1879, Educated Glasgow High School. Apprenticed: Sharp
& Co., G.&J. Weir and Bruce Peebles. Then moved to South America
where he became an advisor on lubrication. Established Galena Signal Oil.
Died 22 January 1939. Obit J. Instn Loco. Engrs, 1939, 29,
350..
M'Curdy, John
C.F. Dendy Marshall History
of the railway locomotive down to the year 1831. Chapter 11 gives
some details of a locomotive producer for the Gloucester & Cheltenham
Railway around 1825. This possibly had a flash boiler (Patents
4974 Generating steam of 15 June 1824: 5313 Generating
steam of 27 December 1825; 5356 Steam-engines of 6 May
1826; 6819 Generating steam of 23 April 1835 and 7890
Generating steam... of 1 December 1838):
see Woodcroft. Benjamin Newmarch,
an inventor (of firearms) was also involved. Cites A. Gordon's Treatise
on elementary locomotion.2nd edition (pp. 132-4). (Ottley 305).
M'Curdy (in some documents M'Cardy) was probably an American.
McDonald, George Champion
Final locomotive superintendent and Engineer Cambrian Railways.
Dawn Smith states born in 1867 and educated
at Blundell's School, then articled to C.S. Wilson, Resident Engineer of
the Midland Railway. Joined Cambrian Railways in 1904. .
(Kidner Cambrian Railways Oakwood Railway Histories 55,
1992) illustrated by Green
(page 103) and spelt Macdonald.
RCTS Locomotives of the Great Western
Railway. Part 10. See
Locomotive Mag., 1919, 25, 1
MacDonald, Symington
Born Gourock 1921; died North Berwick 16 June 1997. Naval architect,
whose expertise brought him American honours, where he assisted with the
building of the Savannah, the first nuclear-powered ship. He stayed
in Glasgow with Upper Clyde Shipbuilders before moving to London to become
chief technical officer with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution in 1972.
He was responsible for the design, building, fitting-out, and maintenance
of the RNLI's operational and relief fleets and at a time of change for the
institution during which it moved its headquarters to Poole in Dorset, he
oversaw the development of the 52ft Arun lifeboat, the 50ft Thames fast afloat
lifeboat, and the early development of the RNLI Brede class and was instrumental
in the development of the rigid inflatable Atlantic 21 class. He retired
to North Berwick in 1981. Bond's Lifetime
with locomotives describes his encounters with Symington MacDonald
who had developed a system for burning pulverized fuel in a novel form of
boiler which was in part a Lancashire boiler and in part a tradional Stephenson
boiler. The development failed to progress partly due to WW2., although Bond
stated that he raised the matter agin in 1946. His other patents had no
relationship with railways, being mainly improvements to razors. (entry improved
via Phil Atkins).
Patent
526,410 Improvements in and relating to steam locomotives.
Published 18 September 1940.
Maceroni, Francis
Born 1788; died 26 July 1846. Soldier, balloonist. Became interested
in the work of Sir Goldsworthy Gurney and attached himself to Gurney's Regent's
Park workshop on the recommendation of Sir Anthony Carlisle, ostensibly to
work on his own inventions. He stayed six months and became involved enough
in Gurney's work - he witnessed one of the early carriage contracts - that
he persuaded several friends to invest in the enterprise. After a time in
Constantinople helping the Turks fight the Russians, he returned to London
in 1831 and joined forces with Gurney's former employee, carpenter John Squire.
In 1833, the two had constructed their own steam carriage. It was a
straightforward vehicle that carried up to fourteen passengers, developed
30 horsepower at 14 mph and ascended hills with ease. The carriage ran for
hire for some weeks between Paddington and Edgware with no serious mechanical
problems and in 1834, after a new toll relief bill was passed by the House
of Commons, Maceroni built a new and larger carriage. But the bill failed
in the House of Lords and Maceroni fell into financial difficulties. In 1835,
Maceroni published a book on road steam power and tried to raise new capital,
but a railway investment panic in 1837 doomed his chances and in 1841 the
disclosure of serious mismanagement ended with the seizure of all his
assets.
Evans, F.T. Steam road carriages
of the 1830s: why did they fail? Trans Newcomen Soc., 1998, 70,
1-25.
McInnes, John
Glasgow engine driver. Inventor of compressed air braking system in
1862: good enough to be tested in Newark trials.
Rowatt, T. Railway brakes.Trans
Newcomen Soc.,1927, 8, 19-32. Pickersgill in his Presidential Address
(J. Instn Loco. Engrs, 1920, 10, 335-50. (Paper 85) noted
that McInnes became a brake inspector on the CR.
MacIntyre, Hugh Macdonald
Born in Glasgow in 1893, Died 7 January 1961. Educated Royal Technical
College, Glasgow. Draughtsman at NBL. In 1922 joined Buenos Aires Great Southern
Railway where involved in diesel traction.
Long contribution to discussion on Paper
498 on railway electrification. Obit.: J. Instn. Loco. Engrs.,
1960, 50, 604..
MacLeod, James
Turbine locomotive developed with North British Locomotive Co. and
exhibited at Wembley Exhibition in 1924.
Paper
Trans Instn Engrs Shipbuilders
Scotland, 1929/30, 73, 49-108.
Muir, Ian. James MacLeod's
Turbines. Archive, (14) 46-53.
As fitted to Reid-MacLeod condensing turbine locomotive exhibited
at Wembley Exhibition. Notes on unsuccessful trial running are included.
Also application of a more highly developed turbine to Marianne Clunies
(shown on trials on Clyde).
Patents
237,640 Improvements in or relating to
locomotives with Hugh Reid. Applied 12 April 1924. Published 6 August
1925.
237,338 Power transmitting mechanism with Hugh Reid. Applied
23 April 1924. Published 23 July 1925.
187,786 Improvements in or relating to locomotives with
Hugh Reid. Applied 2 September 1921. Published 2 November 1922.
182,356 Improvements in or relating
to locomotives with Hugh Reid. Applied 18 August 1921. Published 6 July
1922
178.881 Improvements in or relating to locomotives. with
Hugh Reid. Applied 9 December 1920. Published 10 April 1922.
Maclure, W.G. Percy
Locomotive Running Superintendent, Southern Area, LNER. He had held
the same post on the Great Central Railway since 1896 and, somewhat naturally,
had a very high opinion of J.G. Robinson's locomotives: he was the son of
Sir John W. Maclure, one of the Directors
of the GCR. (see David Jackson J.G.
Robinson) He had been educated at Rossall School prior to an
apprenticeship at Gorton.. Gresley himself had a special regard for Robinson,
feeling much indebted to him for his recommendation; so that when Maclure
suggested trials of certain Great Central engines on the Great Northern there
was no opposition from Gresley.
Nock,
Great Northern 4-4-2 'Atlantics' (Classic Locomotives No. 2), Wellingborough: Patrick Stephens, 1984. 136pp.
Hughes and Jackson, Harry Pollitt: GCR locomotive engineer. Harvey (Bill Harvey's sixty years
of steam p. 61) encountered him when was Loocomotive Running
Superintendent at Liverpool Street: he retired in 1931.
Mansell, Richard Christopher
Born in Liverpool in October 1813 and died in Westmorland in 1904
(Wikipedia). Inventor of Mansell wheel (Wikipedia cites Dendy Marshall History
of the Southern Railway for four patents: see also below). In charge of Ashford
Works during the period when Alfred Watkin, nepotistic son of Edward Watkin,
should have been running the show. Mansell designed the M class 0-4-4T.
See Hennessey, R.A.S.
Backtrack, 2004, 18, 454 (p. 457). Set preserved in Eastleigh
Paint Shop see Locomotive Mag.,
1938, 44, 180.
Patents
12,170 1 June 1848. Construction of vehicles used on railways or
on common roads
14,089 24 April 1852. Construction of railways, railway rolling
stock; and machinery for manufacturing the same.
Marriott, William
William Marriott is covered in greater detail in the section on civil
engineering (qv).
Marshall, James
There are two James Marshalls: this one appears to be associated with
the Britannia Iron Works in Gainsborough and with the Marshall family of
agricultural engineers. Born in Manchester on 17 May 1836 and died at Cleveland
House in Gainsborough on 27 February 1922. Jonathan Brown:
Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography
518. Applied 7 January 1897, Published 4 December 1897. Improvements in trip valve gear for engines operated by steam or other expansive fluid.
Marshall, James Thompson
Of Boyne Engine Works, Leeds and formerly of Steam Plough Company
of Leeds: inventor of "Marshall valve gear".
N. Groves Great Northern
locomotive history (3A) describes how C2 4-4-2T No.
1520 was equipped with J.T. Marshall's valve gear for trial purposes in March
1903, although no external change was visible. "In this gear the motion was
derived from two eccentrics one of which gave the lap and lead movement by
swinging the link backwards and forwards on its suspension. The other eccentric
was set at 90 degrees to the crank and rocked the link by means of a bell
crank on the hanging link pin. The position of the radius rod die pin in
the link determined the direction of movement and the cutoff. Showing little
advantage over the normal Stephenson link motion the valve gear was removed
in April 1907." Marshall appears to have died in 1931:
Kevin Robertson's Leader and Southern
experimental steam in Leader: the full story page 12 where
the mechanism is highly visible. (entry improved via Phil Atkins). Described
at length in Some "improved" locomotive valve gears.
Locomotive Mag., 1939, 45,
24: patented in 1926 (see final one in list) and fitted to Maunsell Mogul
"a year or two later".
Patents
14242/1894 Improvements in steam engine valves and gear for working
them, with Reginald Wigram. Applied 24 July 1894, published 25 August
1894.
5430/1897. Improvements in speed-regulating governors, specially
suitable for electric-light and other high-speed engines. Applied 1 March
1897; published 1 August 1898.
6013/1897 Improvements in metallic pistons and piston rings suitable
for steam and other fluid pressure engines. Applied 6 March 1897; published
29 January 1898.
7294/1898. Improvements in or relating to fluid-pressure engine
valves and valve-gear. Applied 25 March 1898, Published 11 March 1899.
.
13662/1900. Improvements in valve gears for steam engines.
with Reginald Wigram. Applied 30 July 1900, Published 11 May 1901
3761/1901. Improvements in valve gear for fluid pressure engines.
Applied 21 February 1901, Published 6 July 1901.
3144/1906. Improvements in valve gear for fluid pressure engines.
Applied 8 February 1906, Published 7 February 1907
20911/1908. Improvements in slide and piston valves for fluid pressure,
steam and other engines with Enoch Richardson. Applied 19081003 Published
1910-01-03.
256,676 Improvements in or relating to motive fluid engines.
Applied 11 May 1925; published 11 August 1926.
Atkins, Philip. An Inchicore
threesome. Backtrack, 1997, 11, 396-9.
Includes photograph of N Class 2-6-0 No. 1850 as fitted with
Marshall's second valve gear for a brief period in 1934 (page
398).
Marshall, William Prime
Marshall
records that his namesake W.P. Marshall was born in St
Albans on 28 February 1818 and died in Birmingham on 27 March 1908. He was
eduicated by his father and at King's College, London. He worked in the drawing
office of Robert Stephenson on drawings for the London & Birmigham Railway.
From 1840 to 1844 he was Locomotive Superintendent of the North Midland Railway.
In 1845 he became Locomotive Superintendent of the Norfolk Railway until
he became Secretary of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1849 until
he retired in 1877. He presented a
paper on the evolution of the locomotive at the Instn of Civil Engineers, 133-241 which was attended by Webb, D. Drummond and McIntosh. He had enjoyed the
patronage of Robert Stephenson. He was involved in experiments in atmospheric
traction on the Dublin & Kingstown Railway and in many other investigations.
He would appear to be a candidate for a thorough biography.
Martley, William
Marshall notes
that Martley was born in Ballyfallon, County Meath, on 4 January 1824 and
died in London on 6 February 1874. He was articled to
Daniel Gooch at Swindon in 1841 and was appointed
District Locomotive Engineer on the GWR. R.B.
Wilson notes that he was Gooch's chief assistant at the time of the gauge
trials. In 1847 he was appointed Locomotive Superintendent of the Waterford
& Limerick Railway, but after a few months left to become Locomotive
Superintendent of the South Devon Railway, and in 1850 moved to a similar
position on the new South Wales Railway. On 5 April 1860 he was appointed
(what was in effect the first) Locomotive Superintendent of the LCDR, a post
he held until his early death. Prior to his appointment
Crampton locomotives had been supplied. He was succeeded
by William Kirtley. D.L. Bradley described Martley
as a "most capable and experienced engineer having a high standing in his
profession". According to Bradley he inherited a "strange collection" from
Cubitt and Crampton and replaced them with hard working and reliable machines,
especially the 2-4-0 mail engines of 1873, and the suburban well tanks (2-4-0WT
and 0-4-2WT). The same source notes that he possessed great personal charm
and a keen sense of humour..
Webb, Ben: Locomotive engineers of
the Southern Railway. 1946.
Bradley, D.L.: The locomotive history of
the London Chatham and Dover Railway. London: RCTS, 1979.
Mason, Charles Walter Lewis
Born 1918; died 25 July 1960. Educated Ashford County School. Employed
Brush Electrical. J. Instn Loco. Engrs, 1960, 50
Mason, Richard
Locomotive engineer Furness Railway from at least 1886.
Brewer cites him as "W.R." Mason
which may account for minimal information about him.. Retired in 1897. Group
portrait Locomotive Mag., 1925,
31, 31 (Supplement) photograph taken at Grasmere on 24 June 1892.
Vice President ARLE (Hughes, ARLE: the Association of Railway Locomtive Engineers: notes on the Minutes, 1869—1949)
Mather, John
Partner with Dixon in
Liverpool firm which manufactured
about 75 relatively early locomotives.
(Lowe)
Matthewson-Dick, Thomas [Tommy]
His grandfather had been with NER before working on Indian railways.
His father worked in the Electrical Department of the NER on Tyneside, He
travelled to school in Newcastle by electric train, and it was natural for
him to contemplate a career in Electrical Department, but the requirements
for a Whitworth Scholarship demanded a wider experience and he moved to Gateshead
Works and steam traction. He studied at Rutherford Technical College, Newcastle.
He worked for the Running Department under John Henry
Smeddle and gained experience with water tube boilers: Woolnough on Sentinel
railcar and Yarrow on No. 10,000.
According to Loco. Rly Carr. Wagon
Rev., (1947, 53, 31) he had been Technical Assistant to the
Locomotive Running Superintendent, North Eastern Area, when appointed District
Locomotive Superintendent, York in 1947. Prior to that he had been shedmaster
at Newport (Middlesbrough), Haymarket and St. Margarets in Edinburgh. In
1952 was Chaiirman York centre of ILE and
commented on paper on vacuum brakes. In 1956 he became Assistant Motive
Power Superintendent for the North Eastern Region and in 1962 Chief Mechanical
and Electrical Engineer of the Western Region. President ILocoE 1967-68.
(J. Instn Loco. Engrs, 1967, 57, 5).
Address See how they run.
Maudslay, Henry
Outstanding contributor to the development of mechanical engineering:
born in Woolwich on 22 August 1771, died in London on 25 September 1861.
See firm. Biography by R.
Angus Buchanan if Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography and F.T. Evans:
The Maudslay touch. Trans. Newcomen Soc., 66, 153-74 notes
that he "had a great reputation as an ingenious craftsman.
See also Brian Reed's
comments.
Maugham, Ernest
Harvey,
D.W. Bill Harvey's 60 years in
steam. (1986) page 79 encountered him at Gorton where
he was senior mechanical foreman. He considered him to be an excellent example
of the old school of Manchester engineer adept at modifying machines, for
instance by adapting a lathe to turn journals before such attachments were
marketed and how slack tyres used to be tightened by inserting slips
of tin after the tyres had been heated by gas jets..
Maw, William Henry
Born 6 December 1838 in Scarborough. Died at his home in London on
19 March 1924. ODNB entry by Robert Sharp.
Apprenticed John Gooch of the Eastern Counties Railway at Stratford. From
1859 he was Chief Draughtsman at Stratford. In addition to his work for the
E.C.R., Maw designed locomotives and rolling stock for the Luxemburg Ry.
and the East Indian Ry. He was also closely associated with Zerah Colburn,
editor of the Engineer, and became his He developed contacts with
Zerah Colburn (see Mortimer)
and with Henry Bessemer. In 1866 he cecame a Co-editor of Engineering
where he became noted for the excellence of his technical journalism, and
its accuracy. He was President of the Civil & Mechanical Engineers Society
and was President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1901-02
(Presidential Address), and
of the Civils in 1922-3. Ahrons
(p. 166) notes that Dr Maw introduced an improved steam reverser which
was used by Sinclair in 1862. See also
John Mortimer's Zerah
Colburn according to which he had a life long friendship with
Bessemer. Obituary Locomotive
Mag., 1924, 30, 133..
May, Charles
Born in Alton on 4 May 1801; died in London on 10 August 1860. He
was born into a Quaker family and received a Quaker education. He joined
Ransomes in their engineering business in Ipswich in 1836 and remained with
them until 1851. He took out eight patents (all listed in
Woodcroft, but the purely agricultural
machinery ones are not listed herein).
GB 8847/1841 Manufacture of railway-chairs, railway and other pins
or bolts, wood fastenings and trenails. 15 February 1841.
GB 10358/1844 Working atmospheric-railways; machinery for constructing
the apparatus employed therein, with James Nasmyth. 22 October
1844.
In 1844 inventor with James Nasmyth of vacuum
brake Rowatt, T. Railway brakes.Trans
Newcomen Soc.,1927, 8, 19-32.
GB 11168/1846 Machinery for punching, rivetting, and shearing metal
plates. 15 April 1846
GB 11641/1847 Railway-chairs; fastenings used therewith;
trenails. 27 March 1847
GB 13801/1851 Permanent-way of railways. 4 November 1851
He continued to make astronomical instruments, including for the Greenwich
Observatory, He was elected an FRS. Mike
Chrimes in Chrimes.
Meikle, Wiiliam
Locomotive Superintendent Whitehaven & Furness Junction Railway.
Rush: Furnace Railway, Oakwood Railway History 35.
Chambers (Loco. Mag., 1900, 5, 42-50) calls him "Meikley".);
also briefly (1864-5) of the Dublin & South Eastern Railway (he came
for interview from Whitehaven and according to
Shepherd The Dublin & South Eastern
Railway returned thence.
Melling, John
Inventor of link valve gear patented in 1837 and of an improved feed
pump in 1834. Steam jets were used to clean the rails. In 1837 Firefly
was fitted with friction wheels to increase adhesion (these were fitted on
a cross shaft). According to Ahrons this device was patented.
Lowe notes that three locomotives appear
to have been supplied to the Grand Junction Railway in 1841/2. His son
Thomas, who had also worked for LMR, worked with
him from 1842. He also appears to have been the first locomotive superintendent
of the Dublin & Kingstown Railway but was followed by Richard Pim in
1840 and by James Rawlins in 1843. (Lowe)
Patents
7254/1836: Locomotive steam engines to be used on railways or other
raods partly applicable to stationary engines and machinery in
general. 15 December 1836
7410/1837: Locomotive steam engines to be used on railways partly
applicable to stationary steam engines and machinery in general [coupling
of wheels]. 26 July 1837
Melling, Thomas
11,199/1846: Steam-engines, marine, stationary
and locomotive; machinery connected therewith; partly applicable to the flow
of fluids generally. 7 May 1846
Thomas,
R.H.G. The Liverpool & Manchester Railway.
1960.
Melling, William
In 1839 Haigh Foundry supplied broad gauge 2-2-2 to GWR. This had
6ft 4in driving wheels and geared drive (ratio 3:2). This had been patented
by William Melling (not in Woodcroft)
who according to Lowe was not related to
John Melling.
Mercer, Ivor E.
Sometime in charge of Leicester motive power area of LMS (ex-Bolton):
Thorley Breath of steam and had
been at Holyhead (Dunn). Contribution to Holcroft
paper. Own ILocoE paper 145 on locomotive
running repairs states at Greenore (presumably in charge of Dundalk, Newry
& Greenore locomotives). Paper on
apprentice training given at Crewe. success in Motive Power League in
1938 when in charge of Wellingborough District
(Locomotive Mag., 1938,
44,185) and Thorley Breath of
steam and Burgess (Working with
LMS steeam) both of whom noted his love of locomotive firing.
Locomotive Mag., 1943,
49, 170) notes move from Toton to be district locomotive
superintendent at Rugby (but lists him as T.E. but was in depth of WW2.
Discussion on multiple cylinder designs on paper by Holcroft:
J. Instn Loco. Engrs., 1918, 8,
p. 374 et seq
Merryweather, Moses (also Richard)
Moses Merryweather (1791-1872), and subsequently Richard Merryweather
(1839-1877), were owners of the
Merryweather business, and in association with Edward Field invented the steam tram, initially as
an integrated vehicle, but subsequently as locomotives intended to haul tramcars
on streets.
Surnames beginning letter "Mi"
Miles
On Shrewsbury & Hereford Railway. In 1855 Miles invented a continuous
pressure brake using locomotive steam in combination with water-filled cyclinders
on the carriages and linked to the brakes.
Rowatt, T. Railway
brakes.Trans Newcomen Soc.,1927, 8, 19-32
Miller, Terance [Terry] Charles Barry
Born 1908? Died 9 June 1989. Premium apprentice from 1929 at Doncaster
(under Gresley). In 1941 he became Technical Inspector, Southern Area (Eastern
Section) of the L&NER. He went to Ardsley in 1943, to Cambridge in 1944
and to Stratford in 1947 as District Locomotive Superintendent at
38 taking on perhaps the largest and most difficult district in the country.
The MBE came in 1955, the year he left Stratford to hold a number of further
senior posts, culminating in his appointment as Chief Mechanical Engineer,
BR Eastern Region in 1959 (see Hardy.
Stratford forever. Part 4, \Steam Wld, 2005 (214), 34), Assistant
Technical Manager Eastern Region in 1962 and lastly Chief Engineer (Traction
& Rolling Stock) in 1968, from which he retired in 1973, having been
the driving force behind the development and introduction of the HST - High
Speed Train. Hughes (Gresley
influence) p. 124 noted that Miller was mechanical foreman at Haymarket
in 1941 and had removed the skirting from one of the A4s to ease maintenance
and that this led to Thompson removing it from all of the class. See
Cattermole Steam Wld (219)
28 et seq, especially p. 32. (who noted that Miller was a kind and courteous
boss) also R.H.N. Hardy. Maintenance of diesel motive power on Eastern Region.
L.Loco.E. Paper 650. Portrait: photograph
taken at annual dinner of British Railways Chief Mecanical & Electrical
Engineers on 11 December 1961:
Clements The GWR exposed
page 163.
Minor writings
Miller, Terry. Examining the piston valves of a 'Castle'
in Hughes, Geoffrey.
A Gresley anthology. Didcot: Wild Swan/Gresley Society, 1994.
page 35.
Industrial espionage would have been possible, but...!
Miller, T.C.B. Salad days in steam.
in Hughes, Geoffrey.
A Gresley anthology. Didcot: Wild Swan/Gresley Society, 1994.
pp. 59-65.
As part of his premium apprenticeship in 1932 the writer spent a
considerable amount of time on the footplate when working a great variety
of trains. One vivid memory was a trip on a K3 in darkness when the crew
were thrilled at the view of glow worms in the cuting at Stoke summit.. Another
memory was an extremely difficult start from Peterborough going north on
2751 Humorist with the Duke and Duchess of York on the train. There
was a very fast run with 2544 Lemberg
Chapter 7 in Peter Townend.
LNER Pacifics remembered:.
Mills, William
Served with RAF in WW1. Engineering graduate from Queens University
Belfast in 1922. Practical training at Stratford Works 1922-25. Professional
career on North Western Railway in India. Died 6 October 1963. Obituary J.
Instn Loco. Engrs, 1963, 53, 457.
Mitchell, John
Obituary: J. Instn. Loco. Engrs., 1932, 22, 630-1. Includes
portrait. Born on 24 December 1874. Educated David Stewart's College in Edinbugh
and at Heriot-Watt College and at Glasgow & West of Scotland Technical
College. In 1891 he started work in the running sheds of the Caledonian Railway
and then moved to the Drawing Office at St Rollox Works. He had become an
Inspector of Materials before in 1899 joining Sir Alexander Rendel's Inspectorate
Staff on behalf of the Cape of Good Hope Government Railways. In 1911 he
joined the ABC Coupler & Engineering
Co and was made Managing Director in 1918. He was the author of many
patents relating to buffers and couplers. Possible contribution on piston
valves See J. Instn Loco. Engrs.,
1931, 21, 245. He died on 20 October 1932. Also
obituary Loco. Rly Carr. Wagon
Rev., 1932, 38, 412. Present in group photograph taken at
Railway Centenary in Darlington: J. Instn
Loco, Engrs, 1925, 15, 576
Mitchell, Reginald Joseph
Designer of the Spitfire aircraft. Born near Stoke-on-Trent on 20
May 1895 and apprenticed at Kerr Stuart when
aged 16, but his heart was in aircraft design not locomotives. Joined Supermarine
Aviation in 1917 and died in Souhampton on 11 June 1937. Sebastian Ritchie
Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography,
Molyneux, Thomas
Began apprenticeship with Sharp, Roberts in 1831 at age of 16. Did
not retire until 1901 and died three years later at 91, Draughtsman:
Rutherford. Backtrack, 2006,
20, 626.
Moon, Arnold Nicholson
Died 5 August 1947 aged of 44, was associated with the LMS for the
whole of his professional career. He was born in February 1903 and was educated
at Christs Hospital, Horsham. He commenced his apprenticeship with
the LMS Railway in 1919, in the Derby carriage and wagon workshops, passing
through all the principal manufacturing shops and concurrently studying at
the Derby Technical College for his B.Sc.(Eng.) (London), degree, which he
obtained in 1924, and subsequently obtaining further experience in the works
drawing office, after which he was engaged on inspection and research work.
In, 1934, the question of all steel welded construction of carriages and
the introduction of lightweight stock was receiving increasing attention,
and Moon was given the opportunity to develop his ideas and theories in this
connection, when he was put in charge of a specialised section of the C.
& W. H.Q. Drawing Office of the L.M.S. Railway at Derby. In 1937 he was
a member of a party of L.M.S. officials who visited various machine and rolling
stock manufacturing firms in France for purposes ol studying the development
of lightweight rolling stock. He was an active member of the Institution
of Locomotive Engineers, being elected an associate member in 1927 and passing
to full membership in 1943. He was the author of the Paper
One hundred years of railway coaches
(Paper No. 328) which was read in London on the rgth March 1934, and
the joint author with G. Foster of
Welded carriage underframes (Paper 469) which was read on his behalf on 19 February 1947. He was also an associate
member of the Institution of Civil Engineers and the Institution of Mrchanical
Engineers ; also a member of the Junior Institution of Engineers, and was
awarded their Vicliers Gold Medal for his Paper on
Comfort in railway travel from the
engineers point of view (Paper 221), which was read in London in
1925-6. He was a man of very wide interests and had in the past few years
applied himself to the many problems affecting the welfare and conditions
of the railway professional. Instn Loco. Engrs. obituary
Morriss, Kenneth Herbert
Died 14 August 1960, aged 56, when Works Manager of Eastleigh Locomotive
Works, which he had been since 1941. Had joined railways as pupil at Brighton
Works in 1922. Obit: J. Instn Loco. Engrs., 1960, 50,
395.
Morrison, Roderick
With Cantlie was involved in 4-8-4 project for Chinese National Railways.
Technical representative for Vulcan: Swindon trained. Atkins; Golden age
of steam locomotive building. Chap. 8
Morton, Alexander
Draughtsman with Andrew Barclay: worked on jet condensers in 1850s.
Later when with Morton & Thomson of Glasgow worked on exhaust steam injectors
(Patent 2106/1867: Improvements in the lateral action or induction of
fluids.). Shields
(ILE Paper 498)
Moulang, Francis Daniel
See either Derby engineers or
Irish engineers
Napier, Robert
Tomlinson's IMechE Presidential
Address of 1890 mentioned the Napier boiler
which had one straight flue for containing thc grate, about 9 feet long ;
at the end was a combustion chamber, from which about 100 tubes came back
by the sides of the niaiii flue to the chimney.
Pearce (p. 64) states that the Napier boiler
was patented and that the Stephensons had to reach an agreement with Robert
Napier in 1831 concerning the use of the multi-tube boiler. Robert Napier
is subject of ODNB biography by Michael S.
Moss.Napier was born in Dumbarton on 18 June 1791 and died on 23 June
1876. Apprenticed in his father's works. Worked briefly for lighthouse Stevenson
from 1812 in Edinburgh and for William Lang in Glasgow before establiishing
his own busioness. Major marine engineer: engines designed for PS
Leven in 1823.
Nasmyth, George James
Born in Edinburgh on 6 June 1806: brother of James (below). Partner
with brother in Bridgewater Foundry, but left in 1843 to be a consulting
engineer in London. From 1857 he was curator of the Patent Museum under
Bennett Woodcroft, but was dismissed
in 1859 due to fraud. He left for North America and died in Louisville Kentucky
on 2 July 1862. Biography by John Cantrell and Tom Swailes in
Chrimes.
Nasmyth, James Hall
Marshall states
was born in Edinburgh on 19 August 1808, son of Alexander Nasmyth, famous
Scottish painter. Inventor of steam hammer and estasblished
locomotive builder. with
Holbrook Gaskell. Died in London on
5 May 1890. Biography by R. Angus Buchanan with portrait in
Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography. Rowatt Trans
Newcomen Soc.1927, 8, 19 states that invented a vacuum brake
with Charles May in 1844. Steam hammer patents: 9382/1842
(9 June 1842) and 9850?. Robert Arbuthnott's
Presidential Address to the Institution of Locomotive Engineers in 1958
is highly pertient. Biography by Tom Swailes in
Chrimes.
See Brian Reed's comments on his
contribution to locomotive development and
Woodcroft for patents. John A.
Cantrell.. Two Maudslay protégés : Francis Lewis and George
Nasmyth. Newcomen Soc. Trans, 2003,
73, 257-74.
Naylor
Rowatt Trans Newcomen
Soc.1927, 8, 19 states that invented an automatic form of
the chain brake, evaluated on LCDR.
Nesbit, W.H.
In 1885 the North British Railway rebuilt a 4-4-0 damaged in the Tay
Bridge disaster in accordance with Nesbit's patent for a four-cylinder compound
system. After a year the experiment was abandoned. See:
E.L. Ahrons, The British Steam Railway
Locomotive 1825-1925 ( 1927). J.T.
van Riemsdijk Compound locomotives refers to this on page 41.
Ellis The North British Railway
suggests that Nesbit was a cousin of Matthew Holmes see
NISBET, William Holmes.
Newall, James
James Newall was born in Appleton, Cheshire in 1816
(see Tom Wray Backtrack, 2010,
24, 186) the inventive Carriage & Wagon Superintendent of
the East Lancashire Railway at Bury and developed one of the first continuous
brakes using a shaft system along the tops of carriages and connections between
carriages by a system of universal joints and shafts. It was tested on the
exdtremely steep Baxenden bank. These tests were viewed by William Fairbairn,
Francis Trevithick and Samuel Barton Worthington. He also introduced gas
lighting using a flexible container in the guard's compartment and flexible
tubing along the roofs. See also Ottley 3206/7 Fay doing battle with Galton
and Newall over Newark brake trials..
Marshall, John. The Lancashire
& Yorkshire Railway. Volume 3.
Rowatt, T. Railway
brakes.Trans Newcomen Soc.,1927, 8, 19-32
Nicholson, George Reginald
Born 31 December 1896 and educated at Hunters Bar School, Sheffield.
He served his apprenticeship with the Yorkshire Engine Co. from 1912 to 1917
with part-time technical training at Shefield University. From 1918 to 1925
he worked as a draughtsman with the Yorkshire Engine Co. rising to the position
of principal locomotive designer. From 1925 to 1931 he served as Chief Locomotive
Draughtsman to the Nitrate Railways, Iquique, Chile. He returned from South
America arid joined the LMS railway in 1933 as a draughtsman at Horwich when,
after seven months, he transferred in the same capacity to Crewe. In 1935
he was appointed to the position of Assistant to the Chief Draughtsman, Derby,
and in 1942 he became the Chief Draughtsman at Derby. In 1945 he was appointed
as Chief Draughtsman, Crewe. His death occurred after a short illncss, on
30 November 1953. (J. Instn Loco. Engrs., 1953, 43, 498). He had been a Member
ILocoE since 1936. Langridge notes that Nicholson was his
Langridge's boss (mentioned
in both volumes) and on final page of first volume he stated: "Nicholson
was not the sort of man one could get close to. At Derby he appeared always
very smart. He strode into his office a quarter of an hour late and left
early with his head held high. Evidently he was sure of staying and bought
a house in a pleasant northern suburb. He had no car. He treated me fairly,
but passed out most of his letters for me to draft replies to, and came round
the office and dealt in a rather superior manner with his senior men. Tom
Wright said, 'He is like that', and I suppose they had got used to his manner
at Crewe: but he was a very different man from Owen. What impressed Coleman
when he took on Nicholson at Horwich must have been his self-assurance, I
presume, and that he could get on with a job quickly. He was not a neat
draughtsman, such as Coleman had been, and as was Fox, a point that appealed
usually to Coleman. Once he had been taken on, Nicholson must have asserted
himself over the other two men taken on at the same time by sheer personality
and his determination to get to the top." Designer of rebuilt Scot boilers:
portrait BackTrack 18
(page 44 top). Eventually sent back by Fairburn to Crewe locomotive
drawing office as chief draughtsman.
Discussion on boiler design see ILocoE
Paper 414.
Nicholson, Gordon Lloyd
In charge of Isle of Wight during Bulleid's tenure: see
Master builders of steam p.
96. Loco. Mag., 1955,
61, 202 noted that former District Motive Power Superintendent
at Stewarts Lane had been appointed Modernisation Assistant to the General
Manager of the Scottish Region (but mis-spells name as Nicolson).
Hardy Railways in the blood
stated: "My greatest asset was G. L. Nicholson himself. He was a
young man of 38 which was rare indeed for a Southern Region District Motive
Power Superintendent. He was Southern through and through and yet quite different
from any of his colleagues with whom I dealt, on that Region. To see him
stalking down the signing on corridor, through our outer office to his own
sanctum tall, military bowler, white stiff collar and furled umbrella
was a revelation even though his efforts to get me into a white stiff
collar did not meet with the success they deserved. To know that he was
steadfastly behind one was great, to experience the strength of his leadership
and inspiration was even better for he was no extrovert leader who claimed
the limelight but one who would delegate but expect his men to emulate his
principles to the full. Furthermore, he had both a sense of humour and a
sense of the ridiculous so necessary in running a Motive Power Department
in which the actors were so often hilariously funny, sometimes quite
unconsciously.
Nicholson, John
May have been "engine superintendent" Leicester & Swannington
Railway (Locomotive Mag., 1932,
38, 272). Patented a form of compounding in association with the
Eastern Counties Railway (patent listed under Samuel) (where
Sekon's Evolution of the steam locomotive
states that he was an engine-driver) and James
Samuel in 1850. (Balkwill in Marshall)
Acworth states that in 1850 long before
the compound marine engine had ever been dreamed of, that an engine-driver
on the Great Eastern (then the Eastern Counties) Railway, Mr. John Nicholson
by name, suggested a form of compound locomotive. Two engines were built
on his design, and according to two papers read by Mr. Samuel,. the loco.
superintendent of the Eastern Counties, before the
Institute of Mechanical Engineers
in January and April, 1852, they yielded highly satisfactory results.
Strange to say, no record seems to survive, either at Stratford or elsewhere,
to show what was the subsequent fate of these old compounds, how long they
ran, or why they were finally discarded. See
also Locomotive Mag., 1903,
8, 141.
Nicholson, Robert
Locomotive superintendent Edinburgh & Northern Railway/Edinburgh,
Perth & Dundee Railway: workshops
at Burntisland (Lowe). Acworth stated
(page 72)
Nisbet, William Holmes
Born in Glasgow on 15 January 1862, and received his education at
private schools and at the University of Glasgow. From 1878 to 1883 he served
his time in the works of Messrs. Muir and Caldwell and in the locomotive
works of the North British Railway at Cowlairs, and on its completion he
remained as draughtsman for three years. From 1886 to 1890 he was principal
outdoor assistant to the locomotive superintendent of the same railway. In
1890 he was appointed locomotive draughtsman and superintendent of the wagon
repairing works of the New South Wales Government Railways, and was also
for some time acting manager of the carriage and wagon shop. Two years later
he became assistant to the consulting engineer of the Assam Bengal Railways,
and from 1893 to 1899 he acted as engineer and manager for the Westinghouse
Brake Co. in the Australasian Colonies. In 1899 he was appointed chief mechanical
engineer to the Queensland Government Railways, which position he resigned
in 1901 to resume control of the Westinghouse Brake Co.'s interests in
Australasia. He retained this position until his death in Sydney on 30 October
1907. Dr Euan Cameron of the North British
Railway Study Group j40-43-112, refers to the Nisbet tandem compound without noting
the incorrect transcriptions of the surname which occur in the sources
quoted under Nesbit (above)
Notter, Ernest Frederic Stanhope
Head of the GNR London locomotive department: see
Locomotive Mag., 1909,
15, 62. ; also Locomotive
Mag... 1916, 22, 217.
Patents
14247 Applied 18 June 1912. Accepted 13 February 1913. Improvements in
means for preventing the ejection of sparks and live cinders from
locomotives.
Patent of addition to 19002 of 12 August 1910
701 Applied 10 January 1907. Published 28 November 1907. Improvements
in spark arresters
Nuttall, John
Born in Newton-le-Willows in November 1818. Probably apprenticed to
Jones, Turner & Evans of Newton-le-Willows, and then worked for Sharp
Roberts & Co, as foreman smith, and (from 1854) for Beyer Peacock:
see IMechE paper by Beyer. He
then retired to Blackpool, but moved to Cammell's Works in Penistone which
specialized in the manufacture of locomotive wheels and crank axles. He died
in Penistone in 1890.
See Transactions of the
Newcomen Society, 1930/1, 11, 67-89. extracts from Nuttall's
sketch books
Ockwell, Horace Clarence
1908-1966. Deputy Superintendent of the Rugby Locomotive Testing Station.
Swindon-trained: See Fred Rich "You'll
go to jail, young man...". Part 1. Steam Wld 8-14..
Ogle, Nathaniel
Page 131 of H.W. Dickinson's A
short history of the steam engine refers to a combined fire-tube
and water-tube boiler for steam carriages designed in association with William
Altoft Summers.
Cochrane, Charles. On steam boilers with small water space,
and Roots' tube boiler. Proc.
Instn Mech. Engrs., 1871, 22, 229-44. Disc.: 244-59. + Plates
64-72. 37 diagrs.
Ogle's boiler of 1830 (Fig. 6
Evans, F.T. Steam road carriages
of the 1830s: why did they fail? Trans Newcomen Soc., 1998, 70,
1-25.)
Onions, Thomas
Designed a rotary engine which was tested under the direction of Kirtley
on the Midland Railway (Patent: 11,539 (21 January 1847, Rotary steam
engines: via Woodcroft). The tests
led to the sole paper from Geoge
Stephenson On the fallacy of rotary engines.
Panter, A.H.
A.H. Panter had been Carriage and Wagon Works Manager of the LBSCR
since 1898. He was the son of William Panter, Carriage
Supernitendent of the LSWR since 1885, and had served at Wolverton, LNWR,
with the Leeds Forge Company, and twice at Eastleigh before he went to Brighton.
His new main-line stock, from 1905 onwards, had a standard length of 54 ft
and maximum width of 8 ft 6 in. There were several varieties brake-first,
brake-third, first-class, first- and second-composite, tricomposite, third-class,
and others. Lavatories were well designed but stingily provided. A few of
the brake-thirds had end lavatories reached by central passageways.
Inter-partition lengths of the compartments were: first-class, 7 ft 3 in.;
second-class, 6 ft 2 in.; third-class, 5 ft 10½ in. Weight slightly
varied, but the tare was generally about 24 tons. For the business express,
the 8.45 a.m. up and the 5.0 p.m. down, which now became the 'City Limited',
specially spacious coaches began to be provided in 1907. They might
have been called 'blown-out balloon', for the bodies were of clipper section,
9 ft wide at waist and 8 ft 6 in. at cantrail. The first three had vestibule
entrance instead of the usual side-doors. Of these, one was a 54-ft saloon-brake
with lighting dynamo and end lavatory, then there were a parlous saloon and
a unique side-corridor coach, the former with two saloons internally subdivided,
with central lavatory, and the latter with six very roomy compartments and
two lavatories. The saloon compartments were furiaished with a limited number
of fixed seats of superior first-class type, and with upholstered basket
chairs creaking abominations which the North Eastern Railway also was essaying
about that time. These last were later replaced by more substantial aids
to comfort. Decoration was of the richly-restrained sort. Further carriages
for the 'City Limited' were more like the new standard stock, but with the
doors recessed to allow for the 9 ft width at waist. The three vehicles
first-mentioned were gangwayed to one another and to an adjacent Pullman
car. This was the nearest approach the Brighton company made to having a
'corridor train', On formation of Southern Railway he
was appointed deputy to S.
Warner Locomotive Mag.,
1 923, 29, 220.
Source:
Ellis, C.H. London,
Brighton...
Panter, William
Ex-LNWR at Wolverton, joined LSWR in 1885, and retired in 1905.
Dictinctive style, especially the tricomposites with lavatories used for
West Country destinations. Succeeded by Surrey
Warner..
Portrait, Rly Mag.,
2, 417.
Ellis: South Western
Railway.
Park, Charles A.
Superintendent of Wolverton Works where succeeded
Richard Bore.. Rutherford
(Backtrack, 2003, 17, 6) stated that was son of John Carter
Park. Had joined LNWR from NER where he had been a locomotive engineer. Although
his early work continued the conservative policy of his predecessors it was
Park who introduced the magnificent late Victorian luxurious bogie stock
Awarded Gold Medal at Paris Exhibition.
Locomotive Mag., 1900,
5, 145. In 1911 had become late carriage superintendent
of the London & North Western Ry., but had been appointed managing director
of the British Westinghouse Electric Manufacturing Co.,
Ltd. Locomotive Mag., 1911,
17, 26. V.L. Whitchurch. Rly
Mag., 1, 449.
Park, John Carter
Born Aberdeen 2 January 1822: died Bournemouth on 28 October
1896. Educated in Italy and then went to sea as an engineer. In 1853 appointed
Locomotive Superintendent of the Lucca Pisa & Pistoja Railway, but resigned
in 1854 to take part in Crimean War. Following some time at Longsight works
under Ramsbottom he became Locomotive Superintendent of the Buffalo &
Lake Huron Railway in Canada in 1859, In 1865 he became Works Manager at
Inchicore works in Dublin until 1873 when he became Locomotive Superintendent
of the North London Railway until retirement in 1893. See
also Webb page for patents relating to chain
brake. Marshall.
Parker, Thomas
Marshall: born
in Ayrshire on 11 July 1829; apprenticed under Robert Sinclair in Greenock
Works of Caledonian Railway. In 1851 served under J. Beattie before returning
to CR to inspect materials and rolling stock from outside manufacturers.
In 1858 appointed Carriage & Wagon Superintendent of MSLR and supervised
erection of works. In 1886 he became Locomotive, Carriage & Wagon
Superintendent. He introduced the Belpaire firebox to Britain and remodelled
the locomotive workshops at Gorton. He retired in 1893 and died in Gorton,
Manchester on 25 November 1903. See Dow's
GCR history V.2 pp. 257-78.
Parsons, Charles Algernon
Sixth and youngest son of third Earl of Rosse. Born at Birr Castle,
Parsonstow, Ireland. Educated by brilliant tutors: Dr Johnstone Stoney,
mathematician and physicist and Sir Robert Ball, scientist. His father was
a leading astronomer. He entered Trinity College, Dublin when aged 17 and
afetr two years onto Cambridge where he studied the rotary engine. He worked
with Clarke, Chapman & Co on Tyneside, and later with his own companies,
notably C.A. Parsons at Heaton. His turbines were developed for Forth Bank
Power Station in Newcastle and exploited in the famous Turbania which
ran through the Spithead Review.
Ian Muir: Archive (31)
17 (includes portrait)
Parsons, Keith
Depot Engineer at Stewarts Lane in 1979: letter re Earl Mountbatten's
funeral train. Backtrack, 2021,
35, 390
Paterson, Robert
Died Kilmarrnock 3 February 1926, Had worked at Kilmarnock GSWR Works
for 41 years and was in charge of turning and machinery for 25 years. Obit.
J. Instn Loco. Engrs., 1926, 16, 406.
Paton, William
First locomotive superintendent of the Edinburgh & Glasgow Railway
and related to William Paton Reid. He was sentenced to prison for one year
on 3 April 1845 for culpable homicide as the result of an accident at Gogar.
For most information see Campbell Highet's
Scottish locomotive history. See also Paton's locomotive
policy.
Pearson, Geoffrey Hope
Born Tottenham on 10 October 1875; died Sennen, Cornwall on 25 November
1960. He was a locomotive apprentice at Swindon from 1892. Pearson became
the Carriage & Wagon Works Manager at Swindon, but in 1914 was appointed
Assistant CME and Works Manager Ashford under Maunsell on the SECR
(recorded Locomotive Mag., 1914,
20, 49). Retirement noted in
Locomotive Mag., 1938,
44, 205. According to Holcroft it was Pearson who favoured the
development of tank locomotives as the primary source of motive power and
wished to base this on the 43xx design, but Clayton sought to introduce ideas
from Derby. Atkins LMS Journal,
2008 (21) 12 notes that was son of James Pearson, but this is incorrect:
he was son of Cecil Hope Pearson (1848-1924) and Sarah Emily née Gibson
(born 1848). Possibly in group photograph with Hawksworth at Swindon
Backtrack, 2013, 27,
278. Additional information on Pearson's parentage from Gerry Nichols,
SLS Librarian.
Bradley, D.L. The locomotive history
of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway. rev. ed. 1980.
Holcroft, H. Locomotive
adventure.
Pearson, James
Locomotive superintendent of the Bristol & Exeter Railway
(Lowe): designer of remarkable 4-2-4Ts
with rubber primary suspension and had a propensity for very high speeds.
Fitted with Gooch bogies. These were built by
Rothwell in 1853.
Atkins LMS Journal, 2008 (21)
12 notes that was father of G.H. Pearson. Gerry Nichols, SLS Librarian,
states that this statement by Atkins is incorrect and has traced no children
of his marriage to Jessy Agnes Mudge (1831-1906) on 26 December 1850 at Brampford
Speke in Devon. Armin (Rly
Arch., 2015 (46), 48) states that. Pearson was a very competent engineer
and made the atmospheric system in South Devon. He was deeply religeous,
but Puritanical and a just and considerate leader.
Perrett, Edward
Inventor of a twin-boiler tramway locomotive manufactured by Manlove,
Alliott & Fryer of Nottingham and assessed on the Nottingham street tramways
and used by the Dublin & Lucan Tramway. Lowe
and Middlemass.
Phillips, James D.R.
Born 30 August 1855; died Hereford on 8 September 1925. Apprenticed
under Joseph Armstrong at Swindon fro, 1871-6. Chief Assistant to Works Manager,
Doncaster, GNR from 1896 to 1907. In 1907 became General Manager of the Yorkshire
Engine Co., and from 1913 until his death managed Manning Wardle. Obit J.
Instn Loco. Engrs., 1926, 16, 222..
Phipps, G.H.
Chief draughtsman at Robert Stephenson at time of construction of
Rocket: see Warren Trans
Newcomen Soc., 10, 91 and
Skeat's George
Stephenson..
Piercy, Robert
Resident engineer and general manager WMCQR responsible for locomotive
stock in 1867/8 whilst Walker, Locomotive Superintendent Cambrian Railways
kept an eye on things. See Dunn's
Wrexham, Mold & Connah's Quay Railway, Oakwood Railway History 14.
Playford, Frank Douglas
Member of old Norfolk family which had lived at Northrepps until moving
to London. Born in 1888, educated at Sherborne. Apprenticed to G.D. Peters,
then joined Ferguson Furnaces, and later Cammell Laird. In 1922 joined
Superheater Co. Retired at end of 1949
(Loco. Rly Carr. Wagon Rev.,
1949, 55, 191). Died 23 January 1956. Remainder from Obituary:
J. Instn Loco. Engrs., 1955, 45, 701..
Pollitt, Harry
Born on 26 December 1864, in Ashton-under-Lyne; died in Bournemouth
on 23 January 1945: See Hughes
and Jackson: Harry Pollitt: GCR locomotive engineer (1995). Son
of Sir William Pollitt, eventual General
Manager of the GCR. He was apprenticed under Sacré and then Thomas
Parker at Gorton Works. In 1893 he was appointed Works Manager and from 1
January 1894 became Locomotive Superintendent following Parker's retirement.
Hughes and Jackson (above) allege nepotism, but by the turn of the
century far too many locomotives were awaiting repair and Pollitt had to
resign to be replaced by Robinson.
Pertinent paragraph in Rly
Mag., 1900, 7, 191 notes that Edward Chapman, Deputy Chairman
GCR presented Pollitt with a beautifully engraved silver matchbox (not quite
a silver thimble).
Preston, Algernon
Chief Draughtsman & Works Manager, Gorton, MS&LR, following
resignation of Sacré: designed 6D class 2-4-0. Sent to Mexborough
locomotive depot due to misunderstandings with Thomas Parker.
See Dow's GCR history V.2 pp.
257.
Price, Joseph Tregelles and Peter Price
Peter Price (born Madeley in 1739) who with members of the Cornish
Fox family and Henry Taylor founded
Neath Abbey Ironworks: main
entry in ODNB biography by Lawrence
Ince is for Peter, but son Joseph Tregelles (born Penryn in 1784 and died
Cadoxton in 1854) may have been more involved in firm's period of locomotive
production and according to Ince was holder of two patents..
Price, Samuel T.
According to Lowe brought experience
to Bagnall's of Stafford.
Formerly with Lilleshall Co. and Midland Railway at Derby. The death occurred
on 5 December of S.T. Price. a former Works Manager of W.C. Bagnall,
Ltd. Price joined W.C. Bagnall in 1875 when the first locomotive was being
built at Castle Engine Works. The business was later formed into a limited
company and eventually Price was appointed Works Manager. a position which
he held until he left the employment of the company in 1915. after forty
years service. Price will be remembered particularly as the inventor and
patentee of the Bagnall-Price locomotive valve gear. 'This gear was illustrated
and described in Engineering on 9 September 1904 where it was stated
that. up to that date some thirty locomotives had been fitted with it by
the makers. Hundreds were fitted with it in the years that followed and the
gear is still to be seen on plantation and industrial locomotives in many
parts of the world. While the gear was designed specifically for narrow gauge
locomotives with outside cylinders. there is evidence that it was also applied
to stationary steam engines. Only one eccentric was required for each cylinder
in place of the two required by the Stephenson gear then in general use in
this country. Despite failing health and his great age Price retained all
his faculties to the end and continued to take a keen interest in the company
he had served so well. He died a few days after attaining his ninety-third
birthday.Obituary Locomotive Mag.,
1955, 61, .
Prosser, William
Patented in 1844 a system of angular wheels which was capable of keeping
locomotives and rolling stock on the rails without the need for flanges.
Used for a time on the Guildford & Woking Railway: described and illustrated
in. Aspinall Thomas Hawkesley
Lecture System mentioned in Rails on Wimbledon Common,
Railway Wld., 1960, 21,
219
Pryce, Henry James
Locomotive Superintendent NLR 1893-1903
(Lowe). According to
Marshall born Shrewsbury in 1852, educated
in Hereford (Sekon) and died in Hampstead on 13 August 1918
(obituary Loco. Mag., 1918,
24, 141). Father occupied a senior position at Inchicore on
GS&WR where son served his apprenticeship. Followed J.C.
Park to NLR in 1874 where he was an inventive signal engineer until Park
retired when he succeeded him, but covered both locomotives and signalling.
He retired when LNWR took over NLR. Very
extensive "Illustrated interview" by G.A. Sekon in Rly Mag, 1900,
7, 193 including portrait and on page 196 the Locomotive
Superintendent's Office at Bow Works lined with official photographs of
locomotives and bookcases full of leather-bound volumes: in everyway the
paradigm office..
Pugson, Ernest
Died 6 March 1953 at Torquay. (obit: J. Instn Loco. Engrs, 1953,
43, 150); had been awarded OBE. Man in charge of rolling stock under
Riddles on British Railways: hence an LMS man. Mentioned by
Rogers' Last steam locomotive
engineer whom Riddles considered to be "the most knowledgeable and
practical carriage and engineer whom Riddles had ever encountered". Pugson
is illustrated in Plate 19 (along with Cox and Peppercorn) in
Cox's Locomotive panorama, Vol. 2. He
contributed to paper by Fancutt on paint
research on LMS (J. Instn Civ. Engrs, 1938, 9, 143. Formerly
Chief Officer (Carriage and Wagon Construction and Maintenance) Railway
Executive. Pugson had been a Member of the Institution of Locomotive Engineers
since 1943 and served on the Council since 1950. He was an outstanding authority
on wagon stock in Britain. He received his technical education at the Derby
Technical College and entered Derby Carriage and Wagon works, Midland Railway,
in 1910. After passing through the Works as a Privileged Apprenticc he was
appointed Works Inspector in charge of the Progress Department in 1915, a
position he held until 1922. In 1923 he became Assistant Works Manager, in
1927 Works Manager, and in 1931 Works Superintendent, Derby C. & W. Works,
L.M.S.R., where the first all-steel welded lightweight carriage stock for
Liverpool-Southport services was produced in 1937 under his direction to
Sir William Stanier's designs. He was appointed Principal Assistant for
Carriages, and Wagons to the Chief Mechanical Engineer in August 1941 and
Mechanical Engineer (Carriages and Wagons) in February 1946 (
Locomotive Mag, 1946,
52, 25 ), during which time the 16-ton all-steel mineral wagons,
at present in use, were first built at Derby under his direction and design.
During WW2 in addition to his Railway responsibilitics hc was responsible
for repairs to and production of aircraft components for the Government.
For his work in connection with these responsibilities he was awarded the
O.B.E. At the nationalisation of Railways on 1 January 1948, and the formation
of the Railway Executive, he was appointed Chief Officer (Carriage and Wagon
Construction and Maintenance) to Mr. R. A. Riddles, the Member for Mechanical
and Electrical Engineering. He would have been 59 years of age in April 1953,
but he suffered failing health during his last three years of service and
was prematurely retired for health reasons as from 1 March 1953.
Radcliffe, Augustus Gillespie
Born in India in 1884. Educated St. Joseph's College. Apprenticed
Bombay, Baroda & Central India Railway at Ajmer. Became a chargeman at
Pahartali erecting shops of Assam Bengal Railway. In 1916 became a locomotive
foreman on the Baraset Basirhat Railway. In 1919 he became the Works Manager
of Messrs Martin & Co at Banra. He died in Calcutta on 31 January
1935.
Rae, Minard C. (possibly Rea)
Works Manager at Swindon in succession to Sturrock. Had previously
been locomotive superintendent of the Bristol & Exeter Railway. The spelling
of the name is considered at some length by J.B.
Wilson.
Ramsay. David MacNab
Patentee (with Hugh Reid) of turbine-condensing electric
locomotive
Patents
19664/1905 Improvements in locomotives,
with Hugh Reid. Applied 29 September 1905. Published 13
September 1906.
10311/1904 Improvements in locomotives with Hugh Reid. Applied
5 May 1904. Published 4 May 1905.
See also Michael C. Duffy.
Electric railways, 1880-1990
Tufnell, Robert. Prototype
locomotives.
Ramsden, James
Biography by Aidan C.J. Jones in
Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography from which vital statistics were gleaned. Born in Bolton
on 25 February 1822. Appointed Locomotive Superintendent of the Furness Railway
on 1 January 1846 when aged 23. Had served apprenticeship with Bury, Curtis
& Kennedy and later at Wolverton under Bury on the London & Birmingham
Railway. Thus the reason for the initial FR locomotives being of the Bury
type is obvious. He subsequently became General Manager of the railway. Died
on 19 October 1896.. Statue in Ramsden
Square Barrow-in-Furness see Backtrack, 2011, 25, 740.
David Joy Two dukes and a lord.
Backtrack, 2018, 32, 292. Rush: Furness
Railway., Oakwood Railway History 35.
Ransome, James Allen
Moffat East Anglia's first railways
shows Ransome's involvement in obtaining locomotives from Charles
Sharp for Eastern Union Railway. Family originated in Wells, Norfolk, were
Quakers. Firm moved to Ipswich in 1789. Patent GB 8847/1841
Manufacture of railway-chairs, railway and other pins or bollts, and wood
fastenings and trenails, with Charles May.. 15 February 1841
(Woodcroft).
Andrew Dow p. 114.
Family entry in ODNB.
Rapier, Richard Christopher
Marshall notes that he was born
in Morpeth on 7 June 1836 and died in Folkestone on 28 May 1897. He was educated
at Christ's Hospital in London and apprenticed for seven years at Robert
Stephenson & Co.In 1862 he entered the service of Ransomes of Ipswich
and in 1868 he became a Partner in Ransomes & Rapier. During the 1870s
the firm supplied equipment to the narrow gauge railways of Wales. The firm
became noted for its steam brakedown cranes and also supplied a small
narrow-gauge locomotive for the first railway in China which linked Shanghai
with Woosung (Locomotive Mag.,
1939, 45, 112). Rapier helped to promote the Southwold Railway.
Patents
2523 12 August 1868: Improvements in electric
clocks and in apparatus connected therewith
1208 20 April 1869 Improvements in railway signals and in apparatus
for working the same.
2415 12 August 1869 Lifting jacks for lifting railway rails.
2550 27 August 1869 Railway water cranes.
3575 10 December 1869 Tramways
Ransom, P.J.G. Narrow gauge
steam. 1996
Reid, George W.
Locomotive Superintendent of the Natal Government Railways 1896-1903
where responsible for some large tank engines, including 4-8-2T and 4-10-2T
designs, supplied by Dubs & Co. of Glasgow.
Both types descibed in Locomotive
Mag., 1902, 7, 74. See assessment of 4-10-2T in paper by John
Hogg (Proc. Instn Mech.
Engrs., 1905, 68, 369). He was ex-Works Manager, Highland
Railway, Lochgorm. Had begun railway service on the North British Railway
(Edinburgh & Glasgow Railway) where he had completed his apprenticeship
in 1863. He retired in 1902 and returned to Scotland where he became the
inspector of locomotives supplied to the South African Railways. He died
in 1919. at his residence in Bearsden, Glasgow see obituary
Locomotive Mag., 1919,
25, 64 and Sinclair, Neil
T. Beyond the Highland Railway - Part Two. Backtrack, 2010,
24, 348-51. See Rly
Mag., 1901, 8, 385: includes portrait and Rutherford:
Backtrack, 2007, 21, 44;
also 22, 686. Further information
from W.T. Scott in Backtrack,
2010, 24, 637 which establishes that he was elder brother of
W.P. Reid and uncle of R.W. Reid, Vice President of
the Natal Government Railways. Letter about Dunrobin locomotives
Loco. Mag., 1917, 23,
194.
Reid, John
The Locomotive Mag.,
1908, 14 (14 September) reported the death of John Reid, this company's
inspector of materials for the mechanical department in the Scottish district.
Reid was formerly with the GER, and had moved to the LSWR 22 years (c 1886)
before as the chief draughtsman under William. Adams and Dugald Drummond.
Six years before his death he had been transferred to Glasgow.
(see also Rutherford, Backtrack,
2005, 19, 102 (p. 189).
Reidinger, Albert
Employed by Associated Locomotive Equipment Ltd.
Locomotive Mag., 1937,
43, 394 states that "having resigned from Associated Locomotive
Equipment Ltd. he had joined Board of Directors of Locomotive Valve Gears
Ltd of 58 Victoria Street, London SW1". Valve gear applied to five Hughes
Horwich Class 5 2-6-0s Locomotive
Mag., 1953, 59, 54
Book.
Locomotive valves and valve gears with
Charles S. Lake.
Patents
413,708 Applied 20 January 1933, Accepted 20 July 1934. Improvements
relating to valve gears for steam and other engines
436,518 Applied 12 March 1934, Accepted 14 October 1935. Improvements
in steam locomotives
491,729 Applied 11 March 1937, Accepted 8 September 1938.
Improvements relating to valve gears for steam and other reversible
engines
628,107 Applied 25 October 1949, Accepted 23 August 1949.
Improvements in or relating to the actuating gear of steam-engine distributing
valves
628,172 Applied 12 May 1948, Published 23 August 1949. Improvements
in or relating to the actuating gear of steam-engine distributing
valves
Contributions to discussion on:
Carling, D.R. Locomotive testing
on British Railways. J. Instn Loco. Engrs., 1950, 40, 496.
(Paper 497)
Pages
540-3 written communication that mentioned
class 5 No. 45218 with experimental Walschaerts valve gear that attempted
to modify lead to match that obtainable via poppet valves as on Reidinger
gear fitted to D49/2 62764.
Rennie, G. & J.
Early locomotive builders located at Blackfriars in London: built
locomotives for the London & Croydon Railway and London & Southampton
Railway.
Buchanan, R. Angus.
Engineering dynasties in transport history. J. Rly Canal Hist.
Soc., 2004, 34, 654.
Includes a very useful family tree.
Richards, Rupert Peel
Born 1872; died 13 April 1941. Pupil of F.W. Webb at Crewe Works,
LNWR, 188894; afterwards an Inspector under Sir Alexander Rendle, until
he joined the Vulcan Foundry as Assistant Manager in 1899; Locomotive Building,
Manager, 190414; Assistant General Manager, 191417; General Manager,
191723. Subsequently a Director of the Vulcan Foundry.. Created CBE
in 1920
Riekie, John
Former Locomotive Superintendent of Indian State Railways. Joint patentee
with John F. Mcintosh; contributor to Institution of Locomotive Engineers
and as some of following patents show with an interest in a wide variety
of topics, some developed in association with the North British Locomotive
Company, and some not apparently applicable to railways
Patents (some)
7009/1902: Applied 22 March 1902, accepted 22 April 1903:
Improvements in and connected with engine valve gear with John F. McIntosh
22067/1908. An improved spring wheel. with Andrew Thomson Reid.
Applied 19 October 1908. Published 2 September 1909.
26114/1915. Improvements in single acting compound steam engines.
with Hugh Reid, Andrew Thomson Reid and John Edward Gibbs. Applied 15 December
1905. Published 6 December 1906.
356,328. Improvements in steam generators.
Published 10 September 1931. Applied 16 June 1930.
Ritchie, Charles
Patented GB 12078/1848 Locomotive and other engines.
(2 March 1848) (via Woodcroft) a
non-oscillating engine: Sekon Evolution
of the steam locomotive
Ritson, Derrick Gower
After leaving Stockport Grammar School, commenced apprenticeship at
Crewe in 1923 and after serving six years in the shops entered the drawing
office. In 1930 he was transferred to the Progress Office and in 1933 to
the Central Order Office. He was tranferred to Derby as a piecework assistant
in 1934, which post he held until his appointment as Mechanical Inspector
in 1944 at Derby Headquarters. In 1947 he became Senior Mechanical Inspector
and a year later was appointed as Senior Technical Assistant. He was only
44 years of age at the time of his death, which occurred in December 1950.
A.J. Powell's first boss and succeeded by Jack Smith
(Living with London Midland locomotives. and ILE Obit). Contributed
to discussion in paper on casual repairs.
J. Instn Loco. Engrs., 1939,
29, 334
Roberts, G.
Works Manager, Bury, 1850-88. Portrait fp. 16
Nock: Lancashire & Yorkshire
Railway, but not in text, nor in Marshall.
Robertson, L.W.R.
Appointed General Manager of Kitson & Co. in 1927. Following army
service in WW1 became a pupil of Sir Henry Fowler at Derby.
Loco. Rly Carr. Wagon Rev.,
1927, 33, 306.
Robertson, Peter
Locomotive Superintendent Glasgow Paisley, Kilmarnock & Ayr Railway
1840 to 1853 whilst works still at Cook Street Glasgow.
(Lowe). Inventor (patented) of steam brake
(Sekon Evolution of the steam
locomotive). See also Highet's
The Glasgow & South-Western Railway.
Robertson, William
Locomotive superintendent of the Maryport & Carlisle Railway from
1893 to 1898. (Lowe)
Robson, George
Locomotive superintendent at
Guest, Keen & Nettlefolds
when they designed and constructed locomotives at the Ifor Works in Dowlais.
Designs included a heavy (57½ ton) 0-6-0T and proportionately even heavier
(40 ton) 0-4-0T. Robson had formerly worked for the TVR and at Swindon. These
monsters had Belpaire fireboxes. See
Lowe and Loco. Mag., 1913,
19, 121.
Robson, Ralph John.
Born on 24 August 1867; died on the 6 January 1933. Commenced his
engineering training with R. Stephenson and Co., Ltd., at Newcastle, in 1882
as an apprentice. After passing through the various shops, including the
marine erecting shops, he graduated into the drawing office. To gain experience
he moved to Neilson and Co., Glasgow, as a draughtsman, but returned later
to R. Stephenson and Co. as a leading draughtsman. After three years in this
position he went to London and joined Babcock and Wi1cox, the boiler makers.
In 1894 he left them to become a draughtsman with the North Eastern Railway,
being promoted to chief locomotive draughtsman in 1919. Chief locomotive
draughtsman Darlington, Drawing Office under Raven aand then Gresley. He
was responsible for the preparation of the drawings of a number of main line
locomotives, including the 4-6-4 type electric high-speed passenger locomotive
engine; No. 10000 and the three-cylinder 4-4-0 D49 type, fitted with Lentz
rotary cam gear and poppet valves. In connection with his duties he visited
the United States, Switzerland and Sweden. He retired in August, 1932. See
RCTS Locomotives of the LNER Part
4), notably the individual version of the derived valve gear.
Atkins, Philip. Br. Rly. J. North
Eastern Rly Spec. Issue, 2005?, 8-21. noted that followed Heppell,
but was intimidated by Raven as he was gentler than the robust Heppell and
I Loco E obituary (23, 160).
Loco Rly Carr. Wagon Rev.,
1933, 39, 66.
Rodgers
Test engineer, Southern Railway. Retired in June
1935. See Holcroft Locomotive
Adventure
Roscoe, James
Ahrons (page 166) states
that Roscoe was District Superintendent at Leicester on MR. Inventor of
displacement lubricator: author of Roscoe's Patent improved lubraicator
for steam engines. Leicester 1862 (blpc). Patent: 1337/1862 (5
May) (Skellon). White Some notes on early
railway lubrication. Trans Newcomen
Soc., 2004, 74, 293.
Ross, Robert Lighton
Fitter at Coleraine shed on BNCR: inventor of Ross pop safety valve
patented originally as 4752 (applied 6 March 1901; accepted 30 November
1901). First valve manufactured in NCC Belfast
Workshops: see Wallace Locomotive
Mag., 1927, 33, 369. First fitted to BNCR 2-4-0 No. 57 in
1908 and to new 3ft gauge 2-4-2T compound No. 112. Subsequently, Ross improved
his safety valve and invented lubricating systems and trolley arms for electric
traction systems. Ross & Co. of Stockport advertised in The
Locomotive as suppliers of pop saftey valves..
Patents (where R.L. Ross & Co also named
marked with asterisk after title)
12667/1915 Improvements in and relating to safety valves. * Applied
3 September 1915. Published 13 April 1916
12605/1913 Improvements in and applicable to safety valves.* Applied
30 May 1913. Published 19 February 1914
26626/1912 Mechanical lubricators. * Applied 20 November 1912.
Published 14 August 1913
22289/1912 Mechanical lubricators.* Applied 1 October 1912.
Published 19 June 1913
19888/1912 Improvements in safety valves.* Applied 31
August 1912. Published 26 June 1913
24547/1907 Improvements in or connected with lubricators. with Isaac
Bennett. Applied 6 November 1907. Published 23 July 1908
23077/1907 Improvements in or connected with automatic lubricators.
Applied 19 October 1907. Published 16 July 1908
14104/1907 Improvements in or connected with lubricators. Applied
19 June 1907. Published 27 February 1908
12471/1904 Improvements in and connected with safety valves. with
John Ernest Walthew. Applied 2 June 1904 . Published 6 April 1905
22218/1902 Improvements in and connected with safety valves. Applied
13 October 1902. Published 3 September 1903
4752/1901 A safety valve. Applied 6 March 1901. Published 30
November 1901
Rothwell, Peter
Marshall records
that Peter Rothwell was born in Bolton in October 1792 and died in Glasgow
on 27 February 1849. Inventor of the variable blast pipe. His father had
founded the Union Foundry in Bolton. Father and son were joined briefly by
Benjamin Hick and the firm became
Rothwell, Hick & Rothwell,
but on the death of the senior Rothwell it became Rothwell & Hick. Locomotive
manufacture started before Hick left to set up his own business at the
Soho Foundry. Rothwell was one
of the promoters of the Bolton & Leigh Railway which opened in
1838.
Routledge, John
Locomotive Superintendent of the Llynvi & Ogmore Railway which
operated twelve locomotives. . McDermot
History of the Great Western Railway rev. Clinker
Royce, Henry
Born on 27 March 1863 at Alwalton, near Peterborough, youngest of
five children of James Royce (18301872), flour miller, and his wife,
Mary (died 1904). When aged four his father took his sons to London, intent
upon running a metropolitan flour mill. Financial trouble followed and the
young Royce became a W.H. Smith newspaper boy. His father died, when Henry
was nine leaving under £20 and his schooling became irregular. For a
time he was a Post Office telegraph boy in Mayfair. When Royce was fourteen
an aunt paid £20 per annum for him to be apprenticed in the Great Northern
Railway Company's locomotive works in Peterborough. After three years his
aunt's funds ran out but the enthusiasm and skill of a railway workshop
craftsman, with whom he boarded and who taught him much about the arts of
fitting and filing, had given Royce a fascination with engineering which
lasted all his life. He tramped in search of work and found it with a machine
tool firm in Leeds, but soon decided that London held better prospects. In
1882 he became a tester with the London Electric Light and Power Company,
which was installing electric arc and incandescent lighting in London's streets.
Simultaneously he attended evening classes run by the City and Guilds Institute
and others at Quintin Hogg's Polytechnic Day School in Regent Street. He
sufficiently impressed his employers for them to appoint him chief electrical
engineer of a subsidiary, the Lancashire Maxim and Western Electric Company,
set up to introduce electric lighting to Liverpool. Royce worked on theatre
lighting until, months later, the company went into liquidation and he was
thrown onto his own resources once more. Meanwhile Royce's Liverpool work
had introduced him to Ernest Albert Claremont (d. 1921), a young man with
£50 capital to add to Royce's £25, and some electrical experience.
In 1884 they formed F.H. Royce &Co., manufacturers of electric bell sets,
lampholders, switches, fuses, and registering instruments, at Cooke Street,
Manchester. Royce designed a drum-wound armature for a dynamo with sparkless
commutation which was widely used to light cotton mills, factories, and ships
and gained a strong reputation for reliability and longevity. The partnership
was strengthened by ties of kinship and an additional £1500 capital
on 16 March 1893 when Royce and Claremont married two sisters, daughters
of Alfred Punt, a licensed victualler of London. With his wife, Minnie Grace
(d. 1936), Royce set up home in Knutsford, in a house with a fine garden
of which Royce, a dedicated rose and fruit tree grower all his life, was
very proud. In 1894 the partners converted their business into a limited
company, Royce Ltd, bringing a friend with capital into the firm and appointing
a young cashier and accountant, John De Looze, company secretary. De Looze
freed Royce from the minutiae of paperwork so that he could concentrate on
new technical ideas. Among these were electric cranes and motors for lock
gates. Royce took out an early patent for a governor to control the downward
speed of the crane arm, a project prompted by his horror of accidents, but
Royce's interest was shifting from cranes to road vehicles. Royce bought
a second-hand 10 hp Decauville, his first motor car, early in 1903 and set
out to rebuild it in his spare time. He ended up redesigning it and in autumn
1903 announced to his associates that he intended to build his own motor
car. The two-cylinder 10 hp model emerged from the Cooke Street works on
1 April 1904 after months of overtime in which components were ruthlessly
tested. Royce made most of it himself, aided by two apprentices, T.S. Haldenby
and Eric Platford, and a toolmaker, Arthur Wormald, recruited from the
Westinghouse works in Trafford Park. Three examples of this model were built.
In the first months they tended to break down frequently but Royce, furiously
insisting on high standards all round, persisted with his improvising,
innovating, testing, and fitting so that, for their day, they became unusually
reliable. Claremont bought one. A newcomer to the Royce board, Henry Edmunds,
who was also a member of the Automobile Club committee, saw it and sent a
photograph and specifications to his friend, Charles Stewart Rolls, who with
Claude Goodman Johnson then ran an agency for French cars in London's West
End. In the first week of May 1904 Rolls (who had previously approached William
Weir (18771959) to supply a British-built car) and Edmunds went to
Manchester, Royce having refused to go to London. Rolls was so impressed
by the car that he agreed with Royce to become his sole agent and in this
manner the famous partnership, echoing that of S. F. Edge and Montague Napier,
began.
To cope with demand for the Silver Ghost, in June 1908 the motor section
of the firm was separated from Cooke Street, Manchester, and transferred
to Derby. By this time Royce, so long oblivious to the discipline of the
balance sheet, was well recognized by the company's board as a poor production
engineer but a brilliant designer. When he fell seriously ill in September
1908, Johnson persuaded him to work in a drawing office at home with the
assistance of a team of draughtsmen. News of Rolls's death in 1910 triggered
a breakdown in Royce's health and in 1911 he underwent a major operation.
Johnson, who realized that Royce's talents were the firm's greatest asset,
persuaded him to live in a villa in the south of France with a drawing office
and a personal staff of eight in adjacent premises. This unusual (for that
time) separation of design and production lasted for the remainder of Royce's
career: he divided his time between his homes at St Margaret's Bay, Kent
(to which he moved in 1912) or West Wittering in Sussex (to which he moved
during the First World War) in summer, and the villa at Le Canadel on the
French riviera in winter, and never again came within a hundred miles of
Derby. He nevertheless continued to control the main designs, keeping in
close contact with experiments and other activities for another twenty years.
In motor car design the original features of his work were the silent cam
form of the valve-gear, the friction-damped slipper flywheel and spring drive
for the timing gears, his battery ignition, the Royce expanding carburettor,
and the wear-proof steering. Although Rolls had often pressed him to design
an aero-engine, he took no practical interest in the matter until the outbreak
of war in 1914. Then he was persuaded by the sight of an airship struggling
across the channel to modify the Silver Ghost engine for use in aeroplanes.
After investigating various types of air-cooled engine, he at length
characteristically made up his mind not to deviate from liquid cooling. Starting
from a 12-cylinder V engine, he produced the 200 hp Eagle for the Admiralty
early in 1915. This was one of two aero-engines that were neither a technical
nor a production failure during the war (the other was the Hispano-Suiza).
Some 6100 were ordered and it played an important part in the war. The Eagle
was followed by the Falcon (2175 ordered), the Hawk in 1915, and later the
Condor. Eagle engines powered the Vickers Vimy bomber which took Alcock and
Brown on the first west-to-east crossing of the Atlantic in 1919. At Royce's
instigation the company entered the Schneider Trophy competitions in 1929.
With Ernest Walter Hives in charge of development, Royce modified the 850
hp Kestrel engine (which he designed in 1925) into the R engine.
Installed in the Supermarine S6 seaplane designed by R. J. Mitchell, it won
the trophy. Further design work by Royce and metallurgical research at Derby
improved the engine again and allowed Britain to win and keep the Schneider
Trophy in 1931 (with a world speed record at 408 m.p.h.). Out of the experience
gained from transatlantic and Schneider competitions, Royce laid down the
prototype for the Merlin, a twelve-cylinder V engine, 'an exact scale-up
of the Kestrel' (Lloyd, 2.160), which powered Spitfires and Hurricanes in
the Second World War. Royce remained jealous of his position to the last.
When the firm acquired Bentley Motors in 1931 he harshly subordinated
W.O. Bentley, a rival designer and engineer, to the
position of sales assistant in the Rolls-Royce London showroom. Royce was
a member of the institutions of mechanical, electrical, and aeronautical
engineers. He was appointed OBE in 1918 and created a baronet in 1930. Royce
died at Elmstead, his West Wittering home, on 22 April 1933. He was survived
by his wife. David J. Jeremy ODNB also
Bobbitt Archive, 2020 (107)
42
Surnames beginning letter "Ru"
Russell, John Scott
Born in Parkhead, Glasgow on 8 May 1808 and died in Ventnor on 8 June
1882. Educated St. Andrews and Glasgow Universities. In 1834 he operated
a steam carriage between Glasgow and Paisley which was capable of running
at 14 mile/h. Most of his major contributions were as a naval architect:
in 1835 he studied the effect of velocity on barges on the "Edinburgh to
Glasgow canal": on Union Canal at Hermiston
(see J.Rly Canal Hist. Soc., 2003,
34, 289 and letters which
followed especially one from A.I. Stirling, j34-376 on Russell's biographers),
he assisted Brunel in the design of the Great Eastern and designed
a shallow draught train ferry to operate on Lake Constance. He contributed
to the discussion sessions on several early papers on railway dynamics.
R.B. Schofield in Chrimes and
Schofield and Martin in Trans.
Newcomen Soc., 2004, 74, 109.
David K. Brown ODNB.
Russell, Norman Scott
In 1883 took control of
Henry Hughes' Falcon Works
in Loughborough, He developed an air condensing tramway locomotive and
a speed regulating governor.
Rutherford, David L.
Successor to Pettigrew as Locomotive Superintendent, Furness Railway:
designer (with Sharples) of 4-6-4T. Born April 1879. Apprenticed to James Bell, Engineer to the North British
Railway from 1890; Chief Assistant, New Works Department from 1905; District
Engineer, Northern Division' from 1907; Engineer, Furness Railway from 1
June 1909, also Locomotive, Carriage & Wagon Superintendent from 1 April
1918. Left railway service September 1923.
(Peter Robinson, Backtrack, 2005,
19, 762). Rutherford was responsible, according to Rush, of renewing
the permanent way and many of the bridges. He also did a considerable amount
of work on the dock fascilities. Robinson suggests that conflict between
Rutherford and Pettigrew led to the latter's early retirement. Rutherford,
himself retired to practise as a consulting engineer in Edinburgh
see Locomotive Mag., 1923,
29, 256.
Rutherford, Joseph
Briefly Locomotive Superintendent on Birmingham & Gloucester Railway
at Bromsgrove: killed in boiler explosion:: see
Hunt and Essery. LMS Journal, 2007 (20)
52. Driver of Surprise which blew up at Bromsgrove
during teests on Lickey Incline. Photograph of renovated tomstone in Bromsgrove
churchyard. See Backtrack, 2020,
34, 53
Ryan, Mervyn Frederick
Born Valetta, Malta on 22 December 1883. Died 28 April 1952. Obituary:
Locomotive Mag., 1952,
58, 80. Educated at Stonyhurst and University College Nottingham.
Apprenticed to Midland Railway. Worked General Electric Co., Schenectady
& Pennsylvania RR, Assistant Locomotive Works Manager, MR, briefly Resident
Locomotive Engineer, SDJR: 1911-13 Keith Miles
(Midland Record, (33), 69)
states that pressed Midland Railway for 2-8-0 for Somerset & Dorset).
. Barrie and Clinker The Somerset
& Dorset Railway, Oakwood Railway Histories 6, 1978.Assistant Locomotive Works Manager, LSWR,
and following WW1 briefly Deputy CME of LSWR. Soon after the outbreak of
the 1914-1918 war he was transferred to the Ministry of Munitions and shortly
afterwards succeeded Sir Henry Fowler as Director of Munitions Gauges; his
services in this capacity were recognized in 1918 by his appointment as a
Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Following WW1 Chief Mechanical
Engineer Central Argentine Railway
(appointment Locomotive Mag.,
1919, 25, 107). South American railway career culminated with
being General Manager Buenos Ayres & Pacific Railway. Climbed Mount Aconcagua
(23,080 ft) in Andes in 1925. Mainly Who Was Who/Instn Civ. Engrs.
obituary...
Sacré, Alfred Louis
Marshall
states born London 6 April 1841 and died there on 25 July
1897. Younger brother of Charles Reboul. Articled to Archibald Sturrock at
Peterborough Works of GNR. In 1865 became Works Manager of Yorkshire Engine
Co.. In 1871 he moved to the Avonside Engine Works as Manager, but in 1877
he established himself as a consulting engineer in London. In 1882 he became
Manager, later Managing Director of the Vacuum Brake Co.
Sacré, Charles Reboul
Marshall states
born London 4 September 1831 and died by shooting himself on 3 August 1889.
Articled to Archibald Sturrock at Boston in 1846. He had been appointed Chief
engineer and Locomotive Engineer at Gorton on the MSLR in 1858. His death
is usually attributed to the Penistone accident in which
Massey Bromley died. Covered in Volume 2 of Dow's magesterial
history of GCR: pp. 75-97.
Sanders, Thomas Henry
Born in London in 1883. He had attended the Regent Street Polytechnic.
In 1902 he joined George Cawley, then Consulting Engineer to the Imperial
Japanese Railways as a materials inspector. He was an expert on the manufacture
and performance of springs working for steel spring manufacturers in Leeds
and Sheffield...Died on 2 January 1943: author of several books and papers
on locomotive suspension systems and their effect upon derailments, notably
at Buchlyvie (LNER N2) and River class 2-6-4T near Sevenoaks. Obituary: J.
Instn Loco Engrs, 1942, 32, 286-8 and very full one in
Locomotive
Mag., 1943, 49, 4. .
Technical director of Jonas Woodhead & Sons, Leeds snd of Willford &
Co. of Sheffield Freeman of the University Spring Trades Society of Sheffield
see Loco. Rly Carr. Wagon Rev.,
1931, 37, 142.
Books
Laminated springs. 1923.
Reviewed Locomotive
Mag, 1823, 29,
315
Springs and suspension. Locomotive Publishing Co., 1930. 788 pp. (details
York Univ. OPAC: KPJ remember handling it in old Patent Office Library, but
not in Jones) Reviewed Locomotive
Mag., 1931, 37, 35.
Springs: a miscellany. Locomotive Publishing Co., 1941. 2 v
Articles: Locomotive Mag. on springs and rolling stock suspension
Patents:
535722. Improvements in or relating to drawbar springs for road and rail
vehicles. applied 29 November 1939
Scott, George
Second locomotive superintendent (until 1848) of Maryport & Carlisle
Railway. He was with the M&CR before October 1846, when Mr Scott acted
as engineer whilst the permanent replacement of the previous engineer served
his notice elsewhere,[77] but the permanent post Scott held then is unknown.
He left, or was given a leaving presen, when Hudson leased the M&CR in
October 1848 (Lowe) & Wikipedia
(mainly latter)
Searle, Frank
Ex-Swindon, GWR, engineer who became Chief Motor Engineer to the London
General Omnibus Co. and designed the B-type bus: see
Archive Issue 19 page 55 et
seq.
Selby, E.W. (Bill)
Encountered by E.S. Cox (Chronicles
of steam) at Horwich where he was an advocate of all things Great
Western, notably valve events, and later worked for Crown Agents. Comment
on C.J. Allen's ILocoE Paper gives his attitude
towards Swindon design. Paper on compounding
(J. Instn Loco. Engrs, 1930,
20, 287 et seq Paper No. 257). He was very active in ILocoE affairs:
attending many lunches and dinners and making many visits and contributing
to discussions including that on Paper
245 on doomed Clayton railcar where he advocated compounding and
on Kyffin's paper on axleboxes.
Shawcross, George Nuttall
Appointed divisional mechanical engineer at Horwich during amalgamation
with LNWR in 1922 (Locomotive Mag.,
1922, 28, 17). Reorganized locomotive repairs at Horwich in 1930s.
Expert on crank axles: see ILocoE Paper
204. Shawcross was author of one of the chapters in
Railway Mechanical
Engineering.Cited in Cox's paper
No. 346 on wheels and axles. MBE. Shawcross retired on 1 May 1936. He
had joined the L. & Y.R. as an apprentice in 1890; had acted as Works
Manager at Horwich during WW1 and was Mechanical Engineer thereat when he
retired. He was a Vice President of the Institution of Locomotive Engineers
between 1925 and 1931. Locomotive
Mag., 1936, 42, 145
Shepherd, Charles Anthony
Shepherd, a former mechanical foreman at Derby running shed, was appointed
by Clayton to investigate mechanical failures, especially those on the Western
Section: Holcroft. Locomotive
adventure. Charles Anthony Shepherd was works manager at the Carriage
& Wagon Works at Eastleigh in 1947 and very active in ILocoE social
activities, but unclear whether he was Clayton's man.
See ILocoE Paper 474 on steel rolling
stock with Lynes.
Shields, Thomas Hamilton
Born in 1894, commenced his Railway employment on 18 September 1909
on the GSWR. He served an apprenticeship as a fitter and in 1914 was transferred
to apprentice draughtsman, from which position he was called to HM Forces
in 1915. He returned to railway employment as a fitter at Hurlford in 1921
and was transferred to the supervisory staff list as a running foreman. in
1934. In 1940, he was promoted foreman fitter at St. Rollox and after holding
positions at Watford, Glasgow and the Railway Executive Headquarters, was
appointed as Assistant to the Motive Power Superintendent (Mechanical) ,
Southern Region, Waterloo, on 30 May 1950. He received awards in February
1933, October 1938, October 1942, March, April and May 1945, for suggestions
which he put put forward in connection with furthering the efficiency of
the railways. Shields took a Mechanical Engineers Course at the Royal
Technical College, Glasgow, and was awarded three years scholarship
1919-1921. He read several papers before this Institution, the last being
The Giffard Centenary -A Survey of Locomotive Injector Development
which was published in Journal No. 218. He received awards for his
papers Locomotive Regulator Valves
and The Evolution of Locomotive
Valve Gears. (Paper No. 443) He died after a short illness
on 21 February 1952 (J. Instn Loco Engrs., 1952, 42, 387).
1894-1952 (J. Instn Loco. Engrs) When historical paper on locomotive
regulators (J.Instn Loco. Engrs,
1930, 20, 49. Paper 254) was written Shields was at Muirkirk
(presumably in charge of MPD). Author of Giffard Centerary paper (review):
J. Instn Loco Engrs, 1950, 40, 597 (Paper 498).
Locomotive Mag. articles on indicator
diagrams . Obituary.
Locomotive Mag., 1952,
58, 63.
Sisterson, George Robert
Chief designing draughtsman to Dugald Drummond at Nine Elms: ceased
to be in 1904 (Rutherford,
Backtrack, 2005, 19, 102 (p. 189).Sisterson was author
of article on compound locomotives in The Engineer, 1906, pp414-15.
And contributed patents on superheaters (both for locomotives and stationary
boilers, and one on compounding, as well as patents on diverse
inventions.
Patents
27727/1908 Improvements in ventilators and
cowls. Applied 21 December 1908. Published 22 April 1909
2471/1907 Improvements in and connected with tea pots, coffee pots,
and the like. Applied 31 January 1907. Published 3 October 1907.
11185/1909 Improvements relating to steam generators and steam
superheaters. Applied 11 May 1909. Published 11 May 1909.
1501/1908. Improvements in steam generators. Applied 22 January
1908. Published 12 November 1908.
810/1907. Improvements in and connected with the treatment of steam
for steam engines. Applied 11 January 1907. Published 10 October 1907.
Treatment of steam for steam engines, particularly locomotives: object
being to separate the water carried over with the steam from the boiler so
that only dry steam is allowed to go to the cylinders of the engine and further
to vapourise the separated water so that economy is effected.
26175/1906. Improvements in and connected with steam
superheaters. Applied 19 November 1906. Published 14 November 1907.
21047/1905. Improvements in connection with brake cylinders for
vacuum & other fluid-pressure brakes. Applied 17 October 1905. Published
11 October 1906.
28761/1904. Improvements in connection with cylinders and valves
for locomotive and other engines. Applied 29 December 1904. Published
29 December 1905. with George Mitchell
Construction and arrangement of cylinders and valves for use particularly
upon steam locomotives, but also applicable to other engines, the object
being to obtain increased economy by compounding of the steam cylinders upon
engines where such cylinders of equal area are used. Improved valves cause
steam to be admitted to the high pressure cylinder in the usual manner but
when the cut off occurs the supplementary port communicating with the steam
ports in the low pressure valve permits the steam from the high pressure
cylinder to flow freely into the low pressure cylinder when steam continues
to expand in both cylinders together.
Slaughter, Edward
Born in Turnham Green on 1 December 1814 (Grace's Guide); died
in Bristol on 13 May 1891. He served a pupilage of five years to Mr. John
Seaward of the Canal Ironworks, Limehouse. After two years of travel
(1836 and 1837), he joined I.K. Brunel in 1837 as Assistant Engineer, and
took part in the construction of the London end of the Great Western Railway,
especially in laying the permanent way over a large portion of the line,
building stations, and general work. Slaughters ability was highly
esteemed by Brunel, who subsequently gave him a post at the Bristol end of
the lineIn 1841 Edward Slaughter joined Henry Stothert
& Co. in Bristol and the firm became Stothert Slaughter & Co.
From 1851 Stothert left to involve his family in shipbuilding at Hotwells.
By this time the locomotive works were known as Avonside. Slaughter appears
to have invented with Caillet control
springs to provide side play on the leading and trailing axles of an 0-8-0T.
(Lowe).
Patents
GB 11801/1847 Locomotive-engines 19 July 1847.
GB 12433/1849 Marine steam-engines. 23 January 1849 (both via
Woodcroft)
GB 2451/1863 Locomotives.
7 October 1863.
Condensing mechanism as fitted to 0-8-0Ts supplied to GNR (Lowe)
GB 2285/1864 Locomotive with F.L. Caillet 17 September
1864
Full description in Ahrons
Bristish steam railway locomotive. pp. 161-2
Slessor, Frederick George
Engineer of the Somerset Central Railway "since early days", and was
in sole charge of mechanical engineering between the departure of
Andrews in 1868 until the appointment of B.S. Fisher
as Locomotive Superintendent in 1874.
Barrie and Clinker The Somerset
& Dorset Railway. 1978 and
Locomotive Mag., 1938, 44, 81-3.
Surnames beginning letter "Sm"
Smeddle, John Henry
Divisional Locomotive Superintendent, York, on the NER was a Major
in the Territorials, and was immediately called to the colours, and went
to France in 1915, but the NER secured his release and he worked in conjunction
with Stamer which according to
Nock was a very happy relationship.
Portrait page 145 in Nock, Locomotives of the North Eastern Railway. Appointed
Locomotive Running Superintendent, North Eastern Area, LNER. On the running
side J .H. Smeddle was the natural man for the job, having held the same
appointment on the North Eastern Railway. Contribution to ILocoE discussions:
Kyffin paper on axleboxes. He was
the father of R.A. Smeddle, who 30 years later became Chief Mechanical Engineer
of the Western Region of the nationalised British Railways.
Nock Great Northern 4-4-2
Smeddle, Robert Alfred
Obituary (J. Instn Loco Engrs, 1964, 54, 281-2) notes
that he died on 2 October 1964. He was educated at Aysgarth and Harrow and
joined North Eastern Railway at Darlington Works as a pupil in 1919, following
service in the RFA during WW1. Appointed Assistant Works Manager at Cowlairs
in 1925, later Assistant Carriage & Wagon Works Manager at York. Briefly
at King's Cross before returning to Cowlairs as Works Manager in 1931. Between
1936 and 1941 he was Locomotive Works Manager at Darlington, subsequently
becoming Mechanical Engineer, Darlington. In 1949 became Deputy Mechanical
& Electrical Engineer Southern Region. In 1951 he became Mechanical &
Electrical Engineer, Western Region.
Bond, Roland C. A
lifetime with locomotives. Cambridge: Goose, 1975. page 190: "At
Swindon, Smeddle soon found himself absorbed into the Western Family presided
over by Keith Grand, the Chief Regional Officer at Paddington. It was not
in Alfred Smeddle's nature to tear up trees or bash his head against brick
walls, but for all that, to him should go much of the credit for pressing
on with the work of equipping Castles and Kings with high degree superheaters
and double blast pipes which improved their performance so much during the
last days of steam on the Western Region". See also extensive contribution
to discussion on Bond's paper Organisation and control of locomomotive
repairs J. Instn Loc. Engrs., 1953,
43, 220-1 in which he strongly supported Swindon's excellence.
Presidential Address (Instn Loco. Engrs,
1959, p. 605 et seq). Portrait: photograph taken at annual dinner
of British Railways Chief Mecanical & Electrical Engineers on 11 December
1961: Clements The GWR
exposed page 163..
Smellie, John Hugh
Born on 15 February 1874. Son of Hugh
Smellie Apprenticed GSWR. In 1900 he became Assistant Locomotive
Superintendent of the Rohilkund & Kumaan Raliway in India; in 1905 the
Locomotive & Carriage Superintendent of the Kahla-Simla Railway; in 1908
the Deputy Locomotive Superintendent of the North West Railway in India.
During WW1 he was involved in the Afghan War. In 1920 he became General Manager
of R.Y. Pickering. He died on 17 July 1931 at St. Annes-on-Sea.. Obit. J.
Instn Loco. Engrs., 1931, 21, 624.
Smith, Frederick George
Marshall states that Smith was
both born and died in Newcastle upon Tyne on 20 April 1872 and 25 February
1956, respectively. He was the son of a District Passengerc Superintendent
on the North Eastern Railway. He served his apprenticeship under T.W. and
W. Worsdell at the Gateshead Works of the NER. He then worked on the running
side of the NER. Following this he had a varied career, working for a Shropshire
manufacturer of tramcars and being a partner in the Crown Iron Foundry in
Birmingham. In December 1903 he became Works Manager at Lochgorm Works in
Inverness and following the departure of Peter Drummond he became the unfortunate
Locomotive Superintendent of the Highland Railway in February 1912. He was
responsible for the River class 4-6-0s which were over-weight, although
otherwise ideal for the Highland mainline.
Atkins implies that all was not well before this major incident which
also involved the builders Hawthorn Leslie, the Chief Engineer of the HR
Newlands (Smith had criticised his
track) and the Deputy Chairman William
Whitelaw. It also needs to be stressed that this cause celebre
happened during WW1 when the HR was desparately short of motive power,
and when traffic speeds must have been very low. Smith was forced to resign
on 24 September 1915, and he then worked for the Ministry of Munitions, returned
to Newcastle to run a steel-importing business which closed in 1932 when
he was aged 61. Philip Atkins has specialized in the biography of Smith.
Middlemass also contributes to the
Smith controversy by noting his meagre salary and by noting than the final
4-4-0s (Durn and Snaigow of advanced design) produced for the
HR were really his design rather than his successor's Cumming. An article
by Willans in Locomotive Mag.,
1921, 27, 179 describes with diagram Smith's feed water
heater which Cormack and Stevenson note was quickly removed by the Caledonian (unfortunately Willans adds to
the confusion by giving Smith the initials F.W.!
See The Highland Railway and its locomotive,
Locomotive Mag., 1920, 26,
144..
Atkins, C.P. Scottish 4-6-0
classes.
Photographs of him at Lochgorm:
Backtrack 1995, 9,
335.
Smith's patents
28512/1912. Improved feed water heater for
locomotives and the like. Applied 10 December 1912. Published 6 November
1913.
2696/1913. An improved exhaust-muffler or silencer. with Vacuum
Brake Co. Applied 1 February 1913. Published 27 November 1913.
Smith, H.J.
Joined LD&ECR in 1896 as driver: then advanced to inspector and
foreman. In 1905 became locomotive inspector on the Manchester & Milford
Haven Railway. In 1908 took charge of locomotives on Isle of White
Central Railway. Last post on LNER at Nottingham. Died 8 April 1930. J.
Instn Loco. Engrs, 1931, 21, 458.
Smith, John Y.
Inventor of Smith's vacuum brake: Smith was a Cumberland man who emigrated
to America. and there invented his brake, which was for a time was used fairly
widely in America. He used an ejector on the engine and air pumps in the
vans. The brakes were applied by collapsible India rubber bags below each
vehicle. There were two train pipes, one of which went straight to the end
of the train so that the vacuum was created on all vehicles, more or less,
simultaneously. This brake met with considerable success in Britain and was
used on the Great Northern, on the Metropolitan and St. John's Wood. and
on the Midland Railways. It was not automatic. Smith obtained several patents
improving the idea, and his brake was soon being used on several US Eastern
railroads. It provided sufficient competition that George Westinghouse bought
Smiths patents in 1875 or 1876 and produced vacuum brakes of Smiths
design for several years under his own name.
Rowatt, T. Railway brakes.Trans
Newcomen Soc.,1927, 8, 19-32.
Snowball, Edward
According to John Thomas in The Springburn Story,
born in Northumberland in 1830 and calls him a "perfectionist". Chief
Draughtsman at Neilson & Co. (ex-Robert Stephenson & Co's Chief
Locomotive Draughtsman.where he had been responsible for
Midland Railway's 130 class
2-2-2s) and designer of the celebrated "Drummond" CR 4-2-2 No. 123.
Rutherford (BackTrack, 13,
200) describes how Snowball's name became public knowledge in 1890.
John Thomas p. 141 was
more sceptical of Snowball's claims.
Adrian Tester (letter Backtrack,
2008, 22, 61 suggests that Snowball's influence may have extended
to the Adams' 395 class of 0-6-0.
Speck, Thomas [Tom] Samuel
Marshall notes
that he was born in 1836 and died in London on 3 November 1883. He had been
a pupil of F.H. Trevithick and went with him to the Grand Trunk Railway in
Canada where he prepared the drawings for the first Canadian locomotive.
He returned to the UK in 1860 and became an assistant to W. Martley on the
LCDR. In 1868 he became the Locomotive Carriage & Wagon Superintendent
to the Scind Railway in India. In 1871 he became the Resident Engineer and
Locomotive Carriage & Wagon Superintendent to the Metropolitan District
Railway (until 1881). Locomotive
Mag., 1906, 12, 3 states period of office on Metropolitan
District was July 1871 to December 1879. He was succeeded by the
Hon. S.A. Cecil.
Ellis, C.H. Some classic
locomotives. 1949.
Spencer, Bert
Died 1967 (Atkins' Flying
Scotsman p. 30) Gresley's right-hand man on the design side,
and might have saved the LNER much embarrasment if his ideas on long-travel
valves had been heeded. Member of the committee formed under British Railways
to organize Interchange trials in 1948. Author of seminal paper on Gresley's
designs: The development of L.N.E.R. locomotive design, 1923-1941.
J. Instn Loco. Engrs., 1947,
37, 164-210. Disc. 210-43, 524-41. (Paper No. 465) Portrait on page 533 (bottom) of Bert Spencer
in Rutherford's Heroes, villains and ordinary men. BackTrack 9,
528.
Stark, Dugald Bannatyne
Stark was both first locomotive superintendent and supplier
(Stark & Fulton) of locomotives
to the Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway
(Smith, Locomotives of the Glasgow & South Western Railway).
Statham, T.
According to Lowe was locomotive superintendent of the London &
Brighton Railway from 1840 to 1845, by which time it was the LBSCR.
Steel(e), John
Apprenticed to John Whinfield and was involved
with constructing the Trevithick Gateshead locomotive.
See Rly Arch.., 2007 (15),
4. Also mentioned in Nock's The
railway engineers page 43 who did not give his source, but may have
assisted Trevithick in the construction of the Penydaren locomotive and "then
returned north to build the very first ever constructed on the banks of the
Tyne... in Whinfield's yard". Andy Guy is far nore authorative see
Early Railways 1 page
117. Anthony Burton's Richard
Trevithick spells the name without a terminal "e".
Stenning, Henry [Harry] Alexander
Managing Director Superheater Company. Born 1871. Educated Sherborne
School and City & Guilds Technical Institute. Apprenticed Ashford Works
under James Stirling 1888-1891. Moved to LSWR at Nine Elms in 1891. Took
over agency for Schmidt Superheaters in 1905 and retired in 1934.
(Locomotve Mag., 1934,
40, 350) Initial success with George Hughes and later with
H.A. Ivatt, Marsh and J.G. Robinson. Obit: J. Instn. Loco. Engrs.,
1945, 35, 390
Stephens, Adrian
Inventor of steam whistle. Cornishman who invented whistle in South
Wales. See Charles E. Lee. Trans.
Newcomen Soc., 27, 163: a footnote in this reference cites
Engineering, 1871, 31, p. 111 noting that at time Stephens
was still alive and aged 65 and had failed to patent his invention. Stephens
died Merthyr Tydfil 25 December 1876. See
also Locomotive Mag., 1932, 38, 378 where names of William
Stephens of Dowlais and Thomas Turner of Sharp, Roberts are introduced, but
states that Adrian Strephens was chief engineer of works in Plymouth and
used a whistle to alert that safety valve blowing off..
Stephenson, John
Divisional Superintendent, presumably of locomotives, at York and
member of Tennant's Committee to design locomotives following departure of
McDonnell: Nock. Locomotives of
the North Eastern Railway. According to Maclean was responsible for
converting 2-2-2 No. 162 to a 2-4-0 at York in 1879.
Stewart, William
Pioneer locomotive constructor: in 1814 constructed one for the Park
End Colliery Company which was tried on Lydney Railway. Although the locomotive
appeared to work, but dissent over payment led to Stewart moving his locomotive
to Newport (Mon.). Sekon Evolution of the
steam locomotive; also C.F.
Dendy Marshall History of the railway locomotive down to the year
1831. Dendy Marshall (p. 99) cites letter of 14 September 1844 from
William Stewart to Practical Mechanic and Engineers Magazine, 1844,
4 (Oct), p.24 wherein he claimed to have constructed a locomotive
at Newport (Mon.) for the Lidney Railway and ends his letter with: "The
construction and trial of the engine is well known to many persons now residing
in Newport and in Chepstow". The letter was sent from Drogheda. He also cited
a letter from the GWR Archives to the Chairman of the Monmouth Shire Canal
Co of 8 January 1816 wherein he claimed to be erecting a locomotive engine,
and another of 13 February 1816. Both appear to have been reproduced in Rly
Gaz., 1933, 20 January.
Stoar, Hubert
Born Darlington in 1901. Educated Queen Elizabeth Grammar School.
Apprenticed Rober Stephenson & Sons. Then joined Beyer Peacock followed
by working for Kenya & Uganda Railways. Died 4 January 1938. Obituary
J. Instn Loco. Engrs., 1939, 29, 186.
Stokes, Sir (Frederick) Wilfrid Scott
Born 9 April 1860; educated Kensington Catholic Public School; Catholic
University College, Kensington; knighted 1917; died 7 Februarry 1927. Chairman
of Ransomes & Rapier Ltd.
Past President British Engineers Association. (Who Was Who).
Many patents including many on sluice gates and on railway items like turntables
See also Tatlow, Peter. LMS 35/50 ton steam breakdown cranes.
LMS Journal, 2007 (18), 7-27, Several patents including:
12927/1904 Improvements relating to the distribution of the weight
of travelling cranes and other heavy bodies upon a temporarily extended wheel
base. Published 6 April 1905; GB 183,050. Improvements
in or relating to inspection pits or wheel drops for locomotives or the
like Applied 6 August 1921. Published 20 July 1922; GB 184116.
Improvements in or relating to mechanically operated railway and like
turntables. Applied 15 December 1921. Published 10 August 1922.
Stothert, Henry
Founder of Henry Stothert & Co. in Bristol. In 1841 joined by
Edward Slaughter and firm became Stothert Slaughter
& Co. From 1851 Stothert left to involve his family in shipbuilding at
Hotwells. By this time the locomotive works were known as Avonside.
Stubbs, W.
Locomotive superintendent Llanelly Railway & Dock Co., 1843-8
(Lowe)
Summers, William Altoft
Page 131 of H.W. Dickinson's A
short history of the steam engine refers to a combined fire-tube
and water-tube for steam carriages designed in association with Nathaniel
Ogle.
Surtees, Robert R.
Probably born in Newcastle and served his apprenticeship with Robert
Stephenson & Co. (Atkins
Southern Way Issue 13 page 16) Former LCDR Locomotive Draughtsman
who became Chief Locomotive Draughtsman on SECR and was effective designer
of "Wainwright locomotives" that is the D and E class 4-4-0s, the C class
0-6-0, H class 0-4-4T, P class 0-6-0T and J class 0-6-4T. See
Holcroft's Locomotive adventure
(page 77) and Nock's South
Eastern and Chatham Railway. Letter from him in
Locomotive Mag., 1905,
11, 128.
Sutton, Robert
Subordinate of Jack Armstrong at Hawthorn, Leslie: responsible for
distinctive style of Cumming Highland Railway locomotives. Left to join Scarab
in 1919. Atkins, Philip. Hawthorn, Leslie
and the Highland Railway.
Backtrack, 1998, 12, 141-4.
Swainson, Taylor
Taylor Swainson (1761-1839) was engineer for Lonsdale's pits, and
built a locomotive Iron Horse for use at Whitehaven Collieries, but
it damaged the track. Lowe cited
Dendy Marshall: History of railway
locomotives.... See also Rees, Jim and Guy, Andy. Richard
Trevithick and pioneer locomotives.
Early railways 3.
191-220.
Symes, Sandham John
Symes was born on 25 February 25 1877
(Radford) and served his apprenticeship
at the Inchicore Works of the Great Southern and Western Railway Company
in Dublin. In February, 1894 he became an apprentice draughtsman and early
in 1903 was put in charge of the erection of new engines in the works. It
is recorded that he was "painstaking and reliable" and his work was "always
done in most accurate manner". (Radford
p. 146) He left to gain further experience with the North British Locomotive
Co at their Atlas Works in Glasgow where he was a draughtsman for five months
up until the time he left to join the Midland Company. This firm too recorded
a similar tribute to his painstaking care. He joined the Midland Company
as a draughtsman on January 4, 1904, and was appointed to the salary list
at £145 per annum in March the following year.
On 31 July, 1913 S.J. Symes was promoted to Chief Draughtsman at Derby
(Loco Mag., 1913, 19,
203), where he was known as "Sammy" to close colleagues.. In October
1925. Symes took charge of Derby Works as Works Manager where he was very
much respected. He had about him the air of a perfect gentleman, and would
always remove his hat on entering any of the workshops "out of respect for
the men who work here" he would say. At the end of April, 1928, S. J. Symes
became personal assistant to Sir Henry Fowler. In 1931 appointed as personal
assistant to the chief mechanical engineer, Euston
(Locomotive
Mag., 1931, 37, 5).
Aspinwall states was responsible
for design of NCC W class 2-6-0, He was promoted to become the Company's
Chief Stores Superintendent and retired in 1943. Cox
(Locomotive panorama Vol 1) noted that Symes was a delightful
person, unruffled and courteous... He only lacked strong convictions as to
the directions new design should take. Present in group photograph taken
at Railway Centenary in Darlington: J.
Instn Loco, Engrs, 1925, 15, 576
Tarrant, W.J.
Died Poole, on 13 June 1928, aged 82. Associated with once flourishing
locomotive works of S.J. Lewin in
Mount Street, Poole. A native of Devizes, Tarrant was apprenticed to
a foundry in that town, and after two years' experience in America, he returned
to the shops in which he served his apprenticeship. In 1873 he became foreman
at Lewin's works at Poole, which were on a site now occupied by Messrs. Butler
and the South Road schools. When Lewin retired from business in 1879, Tarrant
established the Dorset Iron
Foundry Co. Ltd., and held the position of managing director up to the
time of his death. Tarrant was a very capable foundry engineer, and also
interested in locomotive work.See
Locomotive Mag., 1928,
34, 236
Taylor, Henry
C.F. Dendy Marshall
History of the railway lcomotive down to the year 1831 includes
Henry Taylor within Chapter 18 (p. 208 et seq) under Neath Abbey,
and Lowe has an extensive
entry for this firm, but relatively
little about the locomotive designer. CFDM added that an article in
Engineering, 1867, 15 Nov illustrated four locomotives built between
1829 and 1837. See also Oxford Dictionary
of National Biography entry for Peter Price (mentioned by CFDM as
founder of Neath Abbey) and includes one for his son Joseph Tregelles Price
who was also involved in firm according to Lawrence Ince writer of the ODNB
entry..
Taylor, Robert
Locomotive superintendent Eastern Union Railway:
Moffat East Anglia's first railways
Thorley, William George Foster
Born in 1910; died c1975. Author of
A breath of steam (which sadly
remained incomplete as the Author died before Volume 2 was completed) and
of paper on work study (with G.O.B. Clarke): Work study and its application
to motive power activities. J. Instn
Loco. Engrs, 1961, 51, 256-327. (Paper 620). He also produced some
searching responses to Tuplin's Some questions about the steam locomotive.
J. Instn Loco. Engrs, 1953,
43,. 698. (Paper No. 528). George Glover
(letter Steam Wld, 2007,
(240), 24 who was a lowly clerk encountered Thorley in Derby and he permitted
the writer to drive a Midland 0-6-0 within the shed
limits. Commented on Cocks' History of Southern
Railway locomotives paper. Harvey, D.W. Bill Harvey's
60 years in steam. includes a report made by
Thorley to Col. Rudgard on
the condition of the Neasden L1 2-6-4Ts. His
Class 47 diesels (1979) was completed by Arthur Tayler..
Thorneley, William
Recruited to the MSLR at Gorton from Beyer Peacock in 1890 by
Thomas Parker, who was essentially a carriage & wagon man as Chief
Draughtsman and according to Hughes
and Jackson: Harry Pollitt: GCR locomotive engineer (1995) was
responsible for introducing Belpaire firebox to Britain. When Pollitt achieved
his supersonic promotion Thorneley also became Works Manager at Gorton. According
to Hughes he was probably responsibe for introducing piston vlves to the
GCR and for replacing Joy's valve gear by Stephenson link motion. He retired
due to ill health in 1906. David Jackson's
J.G. Robinson notes that he had started at Beyer Peacock, moved
to Sharp Stewart, left when that firm moved to Glasgow and joined L&YR
at the new Horwich Works, before moving back to Beyer Peacock.
See also Atkins Backtrack, 2010,
24, 634.
Thornton, Robert
Locomotive Superintendent of NBR: appointed 6 January 1846. Resigned
October 1851. Used Hawthorn designs, notably 0-4-2 type. Locomotives suffered
from broken crank axles. See T. Middlemass:
Scottish 4-4-0 Stephenson Locomotive
Society stated "locomotive department starved of money, and Thornton
could never get enough to maintain th e enginnes in decent working
order. See North British Railway Study Group, j140-18, locomotive derailment at Markle and
"chaufer" to General Pasley.
Thow, William
Born on 29 June 1842 at West Derby in Lancashire, son of John Thow
who worked on the Lancaster & Carlisle Railway. Educated in Carlisle
then began work on Lancaster & Canal Railway; then moved to Scottish
Central Railway and became a pupil of Alexander Allen. Draughtsman at Dübs
& Co beginning in about 1865. Moved to Worcester Engine Co. under Allen
where rose to chief draughtsman. Moved to Crewe and then to Egypt under John
Fowler as inspector and assistant. In 1876 moved to South Australian Railways
and thence eventually to NSWGR where succeeded by Ernest E. Lucy. Died
in Sydney on 10 March 1926. Letter
by Darryl Grant Backtrack, 2004, 18, 125. Thow has a place in the development of
the HR Jones goods 4-6-0: see Rutherford. Backtrack, 2007, 21,
99.; also 22, 686.
Todd, Charles
Born c1796 in Yorkshire; died 30 September 1852 (Grace's Guide).
Apprenticed to Matthew Murray at the Round Foundry.
Left his name on several locomotive building companies, incluing Todd, Kitson
& Laird (formed 1835) and Shepherd & Todd (formed 1839)..
Todd, John
Locomotive Superintendent of the Manchester & Leeds Railway from
1 April 1839 until his resignation on 8 June 1840: salary £260 per annum
rising to £300. Marshall:
Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway.
Todd, Leonard Jennett
One of the several inventors of the uniflow cylinder system. Patent
7801/1885. See Wikipedia. System improved by
Stumpf and T.B. Perry Proc.
Inst. Mech. Eng., 1920, 99,
731..
Tosh, George
According to Grace's Guide Tosh was a Scot, born in 1813, and
died in Scunthorpe in 1900. Locomotive superintendent of Maryport
& Carlisle Railway form 1854 to 1870.
Lowe notes that "George Tosh was a progressive
man and introduced coal firing at an early date. During his term the company's
locomotives were fitted with steel tyres and, equally as important, the first
steel boiler supplied by Adamson of Hyde
(Ahrons British Steam, p. 166) was fitted
to a M&C locomotive in 1862, a year before the LNWR fitted their first
one." Steel rails were also introduced as an experiment in 1867. This was
a pioneering use of steel. Most Tosh locomotives had domeless boilers. He
left Maryport to become the manager of the North Lincolnshire Iron Works.
See IMechE paper: 8,
119.
Townroe, Stephen Collingwood.
Born 1911; died 1991. Trained at the Vulcan Foundry. Memories of the
Great Central, Trains Illustrated Annual, 1961 pp. 34-8 describes
how he obtained footplate experience on the LNER in 1931. Joined Southern
Railway in 1932: compiled official manual: Practical hints for footplate
men, and later authored several works
on Southern locomotive classes. Blurb in 'Arthurs', 'Nelsons' &
'Schools' indicates that he was author of British Railways Handbook
for steam locomotive enginemen. which must have grown from his Practical
hints for footplate men disseminated, but not published by the Southern
Railway (see review in Locomotive
Mag., 1947, 53, 148). Early user of colour film. Retired as
a District Motive Power Superintendent. Turner/Joyce
(Backtrack, 2020, 34,
326) describe him as "an extremely clever individual always sought for
his technical advice". Dressed when in shed in pin-stripe trousers and bowler
hat, but when out on breadown work substituted trilby and flying jacket
Books
The Arthurs, Nelsons and Schools of te Southern. Shepperton: Ian
Allan, 1973. 103pp.
Ottley 12515: more detailed version of earlier publications.
The book of the "Schools" class. London, Ian Allan,
1947, 32 p. 15 illus. 2 diagrs., (incl.. s. el.)
A short history. Location : British Library.
Reviewed Locomotive Mag., 1948,
54, 98
The Bullrid Pacifics of the Southern Region. with
C.J. Allen. London, Ian
Allan, 1951. 80 pp.
The 'King Arthurs' and 'Lord Nelsons' of the Southern Rly. London,
Ian Allan, 1949. 47pp.
My best rrailway photographs (Ian Allan booklet)
reviewed in Locomotive Mag.,
1948, 54, 64.
Trask, Eric Darien
Born on 1 October 1895 in Finchley, Middlesex and entered railway
in 1911 (National Archives). Whilst a Premium Apprentice under Gresley he
accompanied Driver Pibworth and A1 Pacific 4474 on the Locomotive Exchange
on the GWR in 1925. Mainly by breaking up the inappropriate large lumps of
coal he ensured that the Cornish Riviera ran to time.
Nock's Gresley Pacifics (1982) notes Gresley's response to Trask's report of the difficulties encountered.
Trask had also suggested to Gresley that a six-wheel tender should have been
fitted (to have saved weight) but this was rejected by Gresley.
(Hughes: Rly Wld, 42,
638). See also R.H.N. Hardy and incident of severe boiler failures on
Great Eastern section (Steam
Wld (219), 36 (actual page 38). Sent to Gateshead as District Running
Superintendent. Motive Power Superintendent Eastern Region.:
See Dunn Reflections. Latterly
Assistant to General Manager Eastern Region. Retired in 1960.
Papers
The smokebox of streamlined engines. Rly Gaz., 1940, 72, 220-2.
2 illus., 2 diagrs.
Reprinted from the London & North Eastern Railway Magazine, 1939
Discussion on Appleyard paper 385 which
shows disquiet between locomotive running men and contract builders
Discussion on Carling paper (1950, 40) on steam consumed in steam heating.
Discussion on McDermid paper on use of Ferodo
brake blocks
Discussion on Rudgard paper (on loading
sand)
Chapter 3 in Peter Townend.
LNER Pacifics remembered: problems on cornish Riviera in 1925;
troubles with buffer beam on former North Eastern; problems with small end
bushes; problems with NER staff; and with lubrication.
Trethene, Benjamin Dixon
Born 1 January 1873 at Wroot in Lincolnshire. Educated Travis Endowed
School and Hull Technical College. Appprenticed under Matthew Stirling on
Hull & Barnsley Railway. Became Chief Draughtsman on HBR in 1902. Died
1 December 1918. In an ILocoE membership list Benjamin Dixon Trethewey is
listed as being in Locomotive & Carriage Dept. of Hull & Barnsley
Railway.. J. Instn Loco Engs. obituary.
Trew, F.H.
Died Avignon 9 December 1931. J. Instn Loco. Engrs., 1931,
21, 865.
Ure, John Miller
Patented a system whereby the driving wheels of a single could be
lifted from the track to assist in coasting: locomotive built by Andrew Barclay
for CR (Lowe).
Urquhart, Thomas
Superintendent of the Grazi and Tsaritsin Railway developed oil-burning
locomotives in 1874 and within a decade had over 140 oil-burners in service:
see Michael Rutherford
Backtrack
Wakefield, Charles Cheers
Established C.C. Wakefield & Co. in London in 1899: supplier of
lubricating oil to railways and involved with improved lubricants to meet
the demands of superheating and later for automobile engines: noted for
Castrol brand. Created a Viscount. Created baronet in 1917
see Locomotive Mag., 1917,
23, 44. Great philanthropist, especially to libraries. Born Liverpool
on 12 December 1859 and died at his home in Beaconsfield on 15 January 1941.
See biography by T.A.B. Corley in
ODNB. See also Locomotive Mag.,
1949. 55, 87.
Walker, Alexander
Locomotive Superintendent of the Cambrian Railways between 1867 and
1879: (different dates shown in RCTS
Locomotives of the Great Western Railway Part 10 page K53, namely
April 1866 until retirement in 1879) had previously been in charge
of Savin's locomotives:
Christiansen and Miller The Cambrian
Railways. V. 1. 1882 given as terminal date for employment by CR
in Loco. Mag., 1913, 19,
208. Reohorn (Backtrack, 2016,
30, 468) states that Walker was locomotive foremman for Savin
at Welshpool then taken on at Oswestry until 1879 when his "tenure was
terminated".
Wallace, Alan Latham
Born 4 December 1914. Died 29 March 1960. Premium apprentice at Eastleigh
Works, where he became a Process Engineer in 1941. In 1950 was appointed
Technical Assistant to Mechanical Engineer, Brighton. Obit.: J. Instn
Loco Engrs., 1960, 50
Wardle, Charles Wetherell
Born Rothwell, near Leeds on 21 January 1821 and died Wetherby on
3 July 1888. Son of former vicar of Beeston near Leeds.
Trained under Matthew Murray then went to Milton
ironworks and later to E B Wilson & Co, R Foundry, Leeds, as general
manager, becoming chief engineer and outdoor representative. On the closure
of the Railway Foundry in 1858 he entered into partnership with Alexander
Campbell and others who held important positions there and established the
Boyne Engine Works on the same site at Hunslet, Leeds. Later he was joined
by John Manning and the firm became Manning, Wardle & Co Ltd. In about
15 years, following the withdrawal or death of the other partners, the business
devolved wholly upon Wardle and his son, Edwin, born in Beeston in about
1850. In 1868 he was engaged by the government in valuing the railways in
Ireland. Senior partner in Manning
Wardle (John Marshall). Weatherell
rather than Weatherall would appear to be correct spelling (see Grace's
Guide)
Warner, Surrey
According to Hamilton Ellis'
South Western Railway became Carriage Superintendent on the LSWR
following the retirement of Panter in 1905. He had
come from Swindon. He was an advocate of electric lighting.
Ellis's South Western Railway
noted that he was a large man and was responsible for introducing
sleeping cars onto the LSWR which featured movable brass bedsteads: these
were sold to the GWR. On formation of Southern Railway he was appointed assistant
mechanical engineer for carriages, wagons and road vehicles
Locomotive Mag., 1923,
29, 220. He was author of a major contribution in
Railway Mechanical Engineering.
Shown poking his walking stick at cylinder of H15
see Rly Wld, 1983, 44,
342. Patents:
26353/1912. Improvements in and relating to vacuum brake apparatus
for railway or like vehicles. Applied 16 November 1911. Published 13
November 1913.
6002/1908 An improved balanced drop light for sliding and other
doors of railway carriages & similar vehicles. Applied 18 March 1908.
Published 7 January 1909.
Watkin, Sir Alfred Mellor
Born 19 August 1846, died at Folkestone on 30 November 1914. Apprenticed
in the locomotive department of the West Midlands Railway; from 1865 qualified
as a driver on the M.S. & L. R.; became a locomotive inspector on the
L.C. & D.R. in 1867 and joined the S.E.R. in 1868. MP for Grimsby 1877
to 1880. Sir Edward
Watkin's son was appointed in 1876 as brief successor
to Cudworth as Locomotive Superintendent of the SER
by his nepotistic father. He was unsuccessful and was forced out by the unhappy
Board (but not that unhappy??) of the South Eastern Railway.
Sekon (Evolution of the steam locomotive
pp. 241-2) called his locomotives (constructed by Sharp Stewart and by
Avonside) as being "very pretty". Apprentice Locomotive Department, West
Midland Railway, 1863; transferred to Manchester and Sheffield Railway, 1864;
express engine-driver, 1865; locomotive inspector, London, Chatham, and Dover
Line, 1867; transferred to South-Eastern Line, 1868; locomotive superintendent,
1873; director, 1878; chairman of Locomotive Committee of South-Eastern
Directors, 18801900. Chevalier Order of Leopold, Belgium. Obituary:
Locomotive Mag., 1914,
20, 325
Watson, William Law
Born 25 February 1883; died 3 July 1958. Educated Aberdeen Grammar
School and Robert Gordons College, Aberdeen. Apprenticed Great North
of Scotland Railway Locomotive Works at Kittybrewster and Inverurie then
Locomotive Works GWR, Swindon from 1905; Technical Staff Crown Agents for
the Colonies, 1912; seconded to Raw Materials Dept, Ministry of Munitions,
191518. Engineer-in-Chief, Crown Agents for the Colonies
(appointment Locomotive Mag.,
1935, 41, 86), retired 1949; (Acting Engineer-in-Chief, 194950.
Awarded CBE in 1942. Who Was Who.
Weatherburn, J.
Author of paper on North Eastern Railway dynamometer car.
J. Instn Loco. Engrs, 11,
443. Paper No. 102) Extract from Cook, K.J. Swindon steam. (page
33): I [Cook] recall a discussion in the GN Hotel at Peterborough during
an interval between dynamometer tests there. Weatherburn, a delightful self-made
man in charge of testing on the North Eastern Railway asked me if we [the
GWR] ever used the pressure we said we did. I told him emphatically "Yes",
most running was done with the safety valve just tending to lift, definitely
between 220 and 2251b; if the pressure could not be maintained well above
200 the engine was regarded as a bad steamer. O.V.S.Bulleid (later CME Southern
Rly) was there and he confirmed, having had several runs on GW locomotives
and said to Weatherburn "You have no idea how those engines really run".
Discussion on Kyffin paper on
axleboxes
Weatherburn, Robert
Formerly London district locomotive superintendent of the Midland
Ry., died on 2 January 1919 at Hermon Hill, Wanstead, Essex the home
of his daughter. His retirement home had bbeen in Torquay. Weatherburn's
father had taken part in the Rainhill trials, and afterwards drove the first
engine on the Leicester and Swannington Railway. Weatherburn served his
apprenticeship partly with Kitson, Thompson & Hewitson, and finished
on the North-Eastern Ry. He next had experience in marine engineering in
Laird's yard at Birkenhead, and then went to the L.&Y. Ry., after which
he re-entered the N.E. service. He again took service with Messrs. Kitson
& Co. and had a varied experience erecting engines and looking after
the interests of the firm in various parts of Britain and for some time in
Russia. In 1874 . Weatherburn superintended the erection of a number of Kitson's
locomotives at Metz for the Alsace-Lorraine Rys. When he returned S.W. Johnson
appointed him inspector of new work for the Midland Ry. loco. department
and he afterwards became district locomotive superintendent at Leicester
and London, from which position he retired in 1905.
Instigated improved sanding, whilst District Locomotive Superintendent
at Leicester on the Midland Railway and is credited with
Holt in enabling the single driving wheel type
to have an Indian summer on the Midland Railway. Subsequently, DLS, Kentish
Town from May 1885. [Weatherburn's father, also Robert] had assisted the
Stephenson's at the opening of the Leicester and Swannington Railway and
afterwards became the regular driver of Comet.
see also Locomotive Mag.,
1933, 38, 272. Author of works on locomotives, railways and
hydraulics. Apprenticed at Kitson's, joined Midland Railway in 1874. Inspector
of new works at R. Stephenson at Newcastle. Appointmentments at Liverpool,
Leicester and London. Author of Ajax Loquitur. (Ottley 7732). Retired
1906: Locomotive Mag., 1906,
12, 18. The Railway Gazette 17 January 1919 contains
an important obituary. He was a member of the Institution of Mechanical
Engineers.
Fryer, Charles:
Single wheeler locomotives: the brief age of perfection
1885-1900. 1993.
Radford, J.B.:
Derby Works and Midland locomotives: the story of the works, its men,
and the locomotives they built. 1971.
Locomotive
Magazine, 1906. 12, 43. (includes
portrait)
Wells, George
Locomotive Superintendent South Staffordshire Railway. Ex Wolverton.
See RCTS, Jack
West, Theodore
Born Leeds 1826 where during boyhood had watched the Blenkinsop/Murray
rack locomotives working on the Middleton railway. Died Darlington March
1898, Chief Draughtsman North Road Works from 1865 until 1892 when he retired.
Published in 1880's several sheets of sketches of locomotives showing their
development from the earliest days; two of these sheets showed locomotives
of the Stockton & Darlington and early North Eastern Railways. Resulting
from this publication, he was asked to present a paper on the development
of the locomotive engine to the Cleveland Institution of Engineers: one on
general development, on 1 March 1886, and second on Stockton & Darlington
and N.E. Railway locomotives and also American locomotives, on 5 April 1886.
These papers were attended by several railway personalities of the day,
including. J.M. Oubridge, who commented on Timothy Hackworth and others,
and W.J. Cudworth, who was connected with the Kitching family and son of
W. Cudworth of the S. & D.R. Quaker. Pearce
pp. 4-5. Paragraph in
Locomotive Mag., 1906,
12, 122 recording reprint by William Dresser & Sons of Darlington.
Short obituary Locomotive Mag.,
1898, 3, 51.
Whinfield, John
Lowe states that according to
J.F. Layson's biography of the Stephensons
a Trevithick designed locomotive was constructed in 1804 on Tyneside,
but was rejected, and a second locomotive was constructed by
Thomas Waters. Forward mentions Whinfield in his
Trans Newcomen Soc. 1951, ,28,
1 paper on Chapman's locomotives.
See also Rly Arch.., 2007 (15),
4.Charlton THe first locomotive
engineers gives a whole chapter.
Whitaker, Alfred
Formerly Resident Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Supt. of the Somerset
and Dorset Joint Railway, died in his 92nd year on the 5 March 1938. at his
residence at Bath.. Whitaker was son of Samual Whitaker whom was born in
Derby in 1819 and wasSolicitor General to the Derbyshire General Hospital,
(via Midland Railway Study Centre). Whitaker joined the Midland Railway in
1860, as a pupil of Matthew Kirtley, then locomotive superintendent. On
completion of his training at Derby, he was given charge of various locomotive
depots on the system, first at Lancaster, and afterwards at Bradford, Carlisle
and Leeds. He was the first District Supt. at Carlisle when the Midland line
was opened in 1875. Subsequently he was given charge of the Leeds district,
where he remained until he was appointed to the S. & D.R. in 1889. He
remained with that railway until his retirement in 1911. During his term
of office at Highbridge he was responsible for the re-building of the shops.
He was the inventor of the tablet changing apparatus for single line working
which bears his name, as well as a water leve1 indicator for locomotive tanks
(obituary Locomotive Mag., 1938,
44, 97). Also in:
Radford. Patented a system for
tablets on single line railways which was used on Somerset & Dorset line
and more surprisingly on the GWR branches from Taunton to Barnstaple and
to Taunton. Website
(www.sdrt.org.uk/resources/whitaker/index.htm)
includes a portrait and excellent photographs of apparatus.
Ahrons (Discussion on ILocE Paper 24) noted that invented ramps for permitting long locomotives to be turned on
turntables of restricted width. Son, A.H. Whitaker, was also a Locomotive
Engineer (below) Barrie and Clinker
The Somerset & Dorset Railway, Oakwood, 1978.The following patent
does not show up on Espacenet and may have been an application (details obtained
off Internet): innovation is dead in
Norfolk
See also Railway Wld., 1983, 44, 93 for Somerset & Dorset
Railway Trust contribution by Peter Cattermole.
Patent: 861/1905. Improvements in
or relating to apparatus for automatically receiving, delivering and exchanging
tablets, staffs, or the like on railways. Applied 16 January 1905. Published
7 December 1905.
Whitaker, Arthur H.
Son of Alfred Whitaker (above), was also a Locomotive Engineer and
contributed to Institution of Locomotive Engineer's meetings:
see 36 pp. 302). and
on Kyffin paper
and on Midland compounds: Was
District Locomotive Superintendent of LMS at Bristol mentioned for success
in Motive Power League in 1938
(Locomotive Mag., 1938,
44,185): appointment: for previous twenty-six years had been in
charge of the locomotive depot of the S. & D.J. Ry. at Bath
see Loco. Mag., 1933,
39, 182. Keith Miles
(Midland Record, 2011 (33),
69) states that pressed Midland Railway for 2-8-0 for Somerset &
Dorset)
Wilkinson, William
Marshall appeared to exclude tramway engineers. In William Wilkinson
developed and manufactured at the Holmehouse Foundry, Wigan, a steam tram
locomotive with a vertical boiler and geared transmission. This was evaluated
on the Wigan & District Tramways. A patent was obtained (USP 280,428:
3 July 1883) and the type was built by Beyer Peacock, Black Hawthorn
and by Thomas Green. as well as sixty at Holmehouse Foundry. Customers included
the Giants Causeway Tramway (1883 and 1896) and the Alford & Sutton Tramway
(in 1883, supplied by Beyer Peacock).
(Lowe)
Willans, Frederick
Locomotive Superintendent of Wrexham Mold & Connahs Quay Railway:
appointed as locomotive foreman in 1877 and redesignated locomotive
superintendent in 1896, subject to supervision to that of MSLR. He had two
sons: John Frederick, who was father's right-hand man at Rhosddu Works and
eventually became district locomotive superintendent on one of major Indian
railways, and George who became locomitive superintendent of the Smyrna Railways:
See Dunn's Wrexham, Mold &
Connah's Quay Railway, Oakwood.
Williams, Charles Edward
Born in 1873. Died 8 November 1955. Had been Chief Inspecting Officer
Crown Agents between 1922 and 1934 (Loco. Rly Carr. Wagon Rev., 1955,
61, 221). Educated at Llandovery College. Apprenticed Vulcan Foundry
under W.F. Gooch. He was appointed by
John Carruthers as Resident Inspector
for the New Zealand and West Australian Railways. In December 1900 he joined
the Crown Agents, but in the following year was appointed Assistant Manager
for the new works in Darlington of Robert Stephenson & Co. He returned
to the Crown Agents as Deputy Chief Inspecting Engineer in 1905. He contributed
to the production of munitions during WW1. Obituary J. Instn Loco.
Engrs., 1955, 45. Portrait: Group photograph at
Swiss Locomotive Works, Winterthur on 2 June 1930.
J. Instn Loco. Engrs., 1930,
20, Plate (between pp 466-7)
Williams, Frederick (b. 1874)
Born on 22 March 1874; educated Manchester Grammar School; apprenticed
Horwich Works 1890-5. Following work in the drawing offices of Vulcan Foundry,
Bagnall and Nasmyth Wilson he joined Beyer Peacock in 1903 as a locomotive
draughtsman. He was actively engaged on the design of the Beyer Garratt
articulated locomotive. Retired 1941 due to ill health: died 26 December
1942. Obituary: J. Instn Loco Engrs, 1942, 32, 286-8.
Williams, Llewellyn George Henry Wynn
Educated University College. Pupil of Raven at Darlington from 1921-4.
Works Manager St Margaret's Work, Edinburgh in 1928. In 1930 appointed as
Assistant to D.R. Edge at Dukinfield and Gorton, then Works Manager at
Dukinfield. He was briefly at Feverdale. Died 26 April 1936, aged 34. J.
Instn Loco. Engrs, 1936, 26, 303.
Williams, William (of Liverpool,
Southport)
Locomotive superintendent of the Liverpool, Crosby & Southport
Railway: dismissed 1 March 1849. Marshall Lancashire & Yorkshire
Railway. V. 3
Wilmot, Harold
Born 14 Aug. 1895, died 12 May 1966. Chairman 194965 and Managing
Director 193860 of Beyer, Peacock and its subsidiary companies including
Beyer Peacock (Hymek) Ltd. Who Was Who
Wilson, John
Wilson of Bantaskine owned colliery at Summerhouse near Falkirk invented
a continuous brake in 1848, iron brake shoes and box containers used to convey
his soft coal gently down to the Edinburgh & Glasgow Union Canal where
it was conveyed to Edinburgh without transhipment.
Rowatt, T. Railway brakes.Trans
Newcomen Soc.,1927, 8, 19-32
Wilson, John
According to Steel and Steel The miniature world of Henry Greenly
this Wilson when a boy, was present at the opening of the Liverpool and
Manchester Railway in 1829. He was apprenticed to
Mather and Dixon for seven
years and thereafter remained with the firm until 1842. The next year he
went to the LNWR works at Crewe. During his railway career he served at Edgehill
and at Nine Elms (LSWR) London. Participant in correspondence in The
Engineer in 1895/6 concerning ten-foot driving wheels on broad gauge
locomotives. In a letter published 3 January 1896 he noted that Mather &
Dixon were marine engineers which accounted for the nautical falavour of
the 10ft single built for the GWR broad gauge. This was designed by
John Grantham (who became a partner in Mather
& Dixon); Robert Hughes, manager of the marine department, afterwards
of the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich and Inspector of steamships; Banks, locomotive
foreman "well known at Derby", Buddicom first locomotive superintendent of
the Grand Junction Railway, and of the locomotive works at Rouen, Josiah
Kearsley, first locomotive superintendent of the Midland Counties, George
Harrison first locomotive superintendent of the Scottish Central and manager
at Brassey's Birkenhead; Mr Potts, afterwards of the firm Jones and Potts;
Newton-in-the-Willows, locomotive builders where the first solid locomotive
wheel was made by the wheelsmith Frost..All of the preceding were apprentices
or journeymen during Wilson's time, William Tait, of the firm Tait and Mirlees,
Scotland Street, Glasgow was the erector of the 10ft wheel locomotive.Wilson
sworked mate with him on the same locomotive. (
Wilson, John C.
Works Manager Avonside Engine Co.: according to E.J. Tyler
(Rly Wld, 1984, 45,
346) was responsible for several patents. In 1882 he set up as a consulting
engineer in Westminster with Massey Bromley. He
was the author of a paper on safety valves:
Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs., 1877,
28, 176-.
Wilson, Robert
Wilson of Gateshead was not a prolific locomotive constructor, but his Chittaprat (apparently
so called because of its characteristic sound when in motion) was notable
in 1826 for its four cylinders and the layout whereby two pistons acted on
each pair of wheels through cranks at right angles to one another. This machine
was the fifth acquired by the Stockton & Darlington Railway. C.F. Dendy
Marshall considers that he was the probable inventor of the plug wheel used
by Hackworth's Royal George.
L.G. Charlton. The first locomotive
engineers.
See: The Engineer, 25 Feb. 1927.
Wilson, Robert (1803-82)
Marshall states
that born in Dunbar in 1803 and died in Matlock on 28 July 1882. In 1832
established a business in Edinburgh, but in 1838 became manager of Bridgewater
Foundry in Patricroft. Worked with Nasmyth on improvements of steam hammer.
In 1856 became a partner in Nasmyth,
Wilson & Co. ODNB entry by C.W.
Sutton (revised Andrew Lambert) argues that he invented screw propeller.
Paper on balanced slide valves to
Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs.
Aves (letter Rly Arch (29) 24
notes that was also General Manager and Engineer-in-Chief of the Midland
New Zealand Railway. .
Wilson, William Law
Born in 1883. Educated Aberdeen Grammar School and Robert Gordon's
College. Apprenticed to GNoSR at Inverurie. Following which he moved to GWR
at Swindon. Joined Crown Agents in 1912. Died 3 July 1958. Obit. J. Instn
Loco. Engrs, 1958, 48, 420.
Winby, Frederick Charles
Inventor of patented (17,849: November 1889) locomotive constructed
by Hawthorn Leslie WN 2226/1891 and exhibited at World's Columbian Exhibition
in Chicago in 1893 and which when tested on the Chicago, Milwaukee &
St Paul Railroad was an utter failure.
Barnes, R. Backtrack, 2001, 15,
356. Also inventor of form of tram rail (patent GB 6537/1877) with George
Levick: see Dow The Railway.
Winchester, Alexander John Leslie
Born 11 April 1899. Died 2 January 1964. Educated City of London School.
Premium apprentice at Brighton Works of LBSCR from May 1916. Various appointments
on motive power side of Southern Railway. Running Shed Superintendent at
Stewarts Lane from 1945. Contributed
to discussion on Shields paper on valve gears. Assistant to Motive
Power Superintendent at Waterloo from 1950. Awarded British Empire Medal
in 1946. Obituary J. Instn Loco. Engrs, 1963, 53, 457.
Windle, Edward [Teddy]
Chief draughtsman at Doncaster Locomotive Plant from about 1935:
supposedly sketched out V2 monobloc cylinder casting. Member of Cox's Standard
locomotive design team Three I Loco E. papers:
The locomotive smokebox. J.
Instn Loco. Engrs, 1929, 19, 171-87. (Paper
241).
Some notes relating to cylinder performance.
J. Instn Loco. Engrs, 1931, 178-97.
(Paper 272)
This paper outlines the development of long lap valves on the
LNER.
Locomotyive valves and valve gears. J.
Instn Loco Engrs., 1933, 23, 450-77. (Paper 305)
Mainly concerned with the design of Walschaerts valve gear, but also
includes the design of piston valves. The advantages of Walschaerts gear
over Stephenson motion were listed as lighter (approximately half the weight);
simple to standardize; inside of the frame is kept free from pipe lines and
subsidiary fittings; the elimination of straps and eccentrics and simpler
manufacture (drop stampings) and assembly outside the frames; simple to inspect
when in service; simpl;er to reverse and power reversers not
required.
Contributions to papers by others
Holcroft, H. (Paper
No. 430): Smoke deflectors for locomotives. J.
Instn Loco. Engrs, 1941, 31, 462-89. Disc.: 490-509.
Windle (pp. 490-9 described the system adopted for the A4, although it was
B. Spencer (p. 503 and 504) who showed how smoke deflection on the A4 class
was greatly enhanced by modifying the rear of the chimney (earlier a continuous
line from the front of the chimney along the boiler casing had been envisaged).
Windle also showed some of the many experimental smokebox/chimney arrangements
had been evaluated on the non-streamlined Pacifics. and on the P2 2-8-2s.
The connection with the Bugatti railcars in the case of the A4 is also mentioned.
Comment on use of copper in boiler tubes:
see J. Instn Loco. Engrs, 1928,
18, 233
Cox British Railways standard steam locomotives noted that "At Doncaster, E. Windle reigned over the design office, a small but active man who had tasted of the asperities of the Thompson régime, but who now came to this work from the more mellow and benign influence of Peppercorn"
Rogers (Express...) noted that Thompson had transferred many matters of locomotive design which were formerly handled by Bert Spencer to Windle who was now Chief Draughtsman at Doncaster. When Peppercorn took over a triumvirate of Harrison, Windle and Spencer presented their ides to the Chief. Windle represented Doncaster (Eastern & North Eastern Regions) on team which designed British Railways standard locomotives. Beavor came into contact with Teddy Windle at Doncaster and in spite of Windle's Darlington background he considered the Doncaster cab to be superior and this was fitted to the rebuilt B16 locomotives.
Portrait on page 533 (bottom) of Teddy Windle in Rutherford's Heroes, villains and ordinary men. BackTrack 9, 528.
Winn, Charles Reginald
Patents
937/1909. Improvements in force feed
lubricators, with Noel Chandler. Published 23 December 1909.
15449/1906. An improved oil distributor with Ernest Ralph Waldo
Hinchley. Published 2 May 1907.
13095/1905. Improvements in safety valves for steam boilers
with Arthur Mousley. Published 5 April 1906.
11190/1903 Water level indicator for locomotive tanks or tenders
with John William Smith. Published 17 March 1904.
13899/1902 Improvements in protectors or safety shields for water
gauge glasses, with Arthur Mousley. Published 28 May 1905.
22717/1900 Improvements in automatic valves for water gauges and
the like, with Arthur Mousley. Published 12 October 1901.
7304/1896 Improvements in water gauge guards. Published 27
February 1897.
9318/1894 Improvements in water gauges, with Arthur Mousley.
Published 20 April 1895.
19167/1893 Improvements in lubricators. Published 25 August
1894.
17668/1893 Improvements in safety valves. Published 5 May
1894.
Wolff, John Frederick
Death on 15 May 1916 of John F. Wolff, senior partner and managing
director of the firm of J.F. Wolff & Co., Ltd., of Tothill Street,
Westminster. Wolff was 64 years old and died at his home at Wandsworth Common.
He was chairman and managing director of the Railway Signal Co. Ltd., and
director of the Horsehay Co., Ltd., the Globe Pneumatic Engineering Co. and
Ransomes & Rapier,
Locomotive
Mag., 1916, 22, 110
Woods, Joseph
Ellis and
Webb agree that Joseph Woods was the initial
Locomotive Superintendent of the London and Southampton Railway and that
the first locomotive was a 2-2-0 Lark. In 1841 he was succeeded by
John Viret Gooch.
Worthington, Edgar
Born Lancaster in 1856: son of Samuel
Barton Worthington.. Educated at Owen's College, Manchester and then
apprenticed between 1875 and 1878 under Webb at Crewe. Worked on machinery
at Holyhead and on LNWR engine shed at Colwick. He then moved to the Altoona
workshops of the Pennsylvania Railroad, but returned to Crewe in 1883. In
1885 he was appointed Chief Assistant Engineer at Beyer Peacock. He was
responsible for the design of locomotives and workshop improvements, and
in connection with the firm's business he travelled extensively in every
continent. He made frequent reports on steel works and machine tools, including
the mechanical exhibits at the Chicago Exhibition of 1893.
Presented paper on compounding to Instn
Civ. Engrs. Between 1898 and 1920 was the Secretary of the Institution
of Mechanical Enngineers. Contributed
to discusssion on paper by Mallet. He died in London on 23 January 1934.
(Marshall)..
Wright, John
John Wright was the Locomotive, Carriage. and Wagon Superinteadent
of the South Devon, Cornwall and West Cornwall Railways at Newton Abbot.
He is noteworthy as having Churchward as one of his pupils. .
Yarrow, Thomas
Locomotive superintendent Scottish North Eastern Railway at Arbroath.
Experimented with coal burning probably using Hall's brick arch.
(Lowe)
(Balkwill in Marshall). According to
Sekon (Evolution of the steam
locomotive) Yarrow was granted a Patent on 18 March 1857 for this
work.
Yates, William
On death of Jenkins in 1867, Yates (formerly Works Manager at Miles
Platting) was appointed Indoor Superintendent at Miles Platting (LYR) and
had some influence on locomotive design. William Hurst was appointed Outdoor
Superintendent. This arrangement lasted until 1878.
(Baxter 3B)
(Griffiths).
See also Locomotive Mag.,
1903, 8, 392 where Yates locomotive actually mentioned. Portrait
p. 16 Nock Lancashire & Yorkshire
Railway.
Younghusband, S.S.
Salary increased to £575
per annum on 1 October 1885: Hoole Rly Wld, 1957, 18,
77
Patents
1304 24 January 1890 Slide-valve-gear abandoned
7197/1890 Applied 8 May 1890. Accepted 13 September 1890.
Slide-valve-gear
Several NER locomotives fitted with this valve gear:
answer to Swain question in
Locomotive Mag., 1903, 8, 105.
Valve gear used on some NER 0-4-4Ts: see
addendum to paper No. 443 (J. Instn Loco. Engrs., 1944, 34,
260.).
Younghusband, William
Works Manager at North Road Works, Darlington: appointed March 1876,
until his death in October 1893. See
Hoole:North Road Locomotive Works,
p. 67
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