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Kevin Jones' Steam Index

James l'Anson Cudworth and other members of Cudworth family

Marshall  was the source for most of this biographiccal material.

James Cudworth was born in Darlington on 12 January 1817 and came from a Quaker family. According to Rly Mag., 1899, 5, 508) he was apprenticed at Robert Stephenson & Co. and then was Locomotive Superintendent of the Great North of England Railway (Maclean). He was the first Locomotive Superintendent of the South Eastern Railway (from 1845). Cudworth was responsible for several innovations that, while not especially successful, provided useful experience and ideas for later engineers. In 1845 he built a 2-2-2 locomotive, The White Horse of Kent, on the uniflow principle (see Stumpf): see Rly Mag, 1907, June, and The Engineer 25 April 1913 p. 450. (Ahrons p. 88), and in 1857 fitted a longitudinal mid-feather (water partition), dividing the firebox and necessitating two firedoors. Apparently this was found to be a very satisfactory way of increasing the effective firebox heating surface, and it was in widespread use on the SER. He also introduced the 0-4-4T type. Letter by G.S. Willoughby in Locomotive Mag., 1931, 37, 106 notes that Craven was very close to James Cudworth and that they shared some locomotive designs..No doubt Cudworth's long term of office, (1845-76) helped in this adoption. Nock (South Eastern and Chatham Railway) notes that Watkin sought advice from Ramsbottom for larger express engines: this led to the unsuccessful Ironclads, and in turn to Cudworth's resignation in 1876 and to his replacement by Watkin's son!. He died on 22 October 1899.

See: E. L. Ahrons, The British Steam Railway Locomotive 1825-1925 (1927)
Fryer, Charles. The locomotives of James Cudworth. 64pp.

Cudworth, William
Brother of James Cudworth, Locomotive Engineer and father of William John. He was born in Darlington on 7 July 1815 and died in Guisborough on 4 June 1906. Apprenticed to a Sunderland shipbuilder, and later operated as a shipbuilder in Middlesbrough. In 1840 he joined Stockton & Darlington Railway and became its Engineer when John Dixon left. He remained in charge of the SDR engineering works after the amalgamation with the NER. He was responsible for enlarging the marshalling yards at Shildon and at Newport.

Cudworth, William John
He was born in Darlington on 4 May 1849 and died in York on 31 December 1909. As a member of the Society of Friends he was educated at Stramongate School and at Bootham. He was apprenticed to his father. From 1899 he was chief engineer of the NER's Southern Division and contributed to the installation of automatic signalling. He retired due to ill-health. Presented ICE conference paper on automitic signalling in 1903