GREAT STEAM ENGINEERS OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY PART NINE: THE 1900s
At the turn of the century there were locomotive superintendents who had been in their jobs for over 30 years. Born soon after the dawn of the steam age, these engineers had designed engines that were modern and successful in their day, but 1870s-style 4-2-2s and 2-4-0s were now looking decidedly ancient beside the latest designs from the new generation of locomotive engineers.
Francis Webb had been the chief mechanical engineer of the London & North Western Railway since 1871 and had experimented with two-cylinder compound 2-2-2-2s but had built some effective 2-4-0s and, later, compound 0-8-0s. He also built some four-cylinder compound 4-4-0s and 4-6-0s.
After his stint as chief mechanical engineer on the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway from 1886, John Aspinall had become its general manager in 1899. In this capacity he was to introduce electrification and greatly expand the transport of coal. Aspinall was to receive a knighthood in 1917 for his contributions to the war effort and national transport system.
Aspinall was replaced as CME by Henry Hoy, who had been Horwich works manager. Hoy remained in his post only until 1904 when he left to become works manager of Beyer Peacock in Manchester. During his time as CME, he introduced only one new class of locomotive but he was heavily involved in the design and building of the electric stock for the Liverpool-Southport electrification, which became operational in 1904.
George Hughes was born in 1865 in Benwick, Cambridgeshire and became chief mechanical engineer of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in 1904. His locomotive designs were largely developments of existing types, such as the Class 6, a superheated development of the Class 5 2-4-2T, the Class 28 0-6-0 and various 0-8-0s, plus some small Railmotor 0-2-2Ts and 0-4-0Ts – but included the Class 8 Dreadnought 4-6-0 and 4-6-4T Dreadnought tank.
Hughes’ main claim to fame during his career with the L&Y was for designing a locomotive that unfortunately was never built because of the outbreak of the First World War; a 2-10-0 for heavy mineral trains. Hughes’ L&Y designs never found favour with the LMS after the 1923 Grouping and none have survived.
During Hughes’ time at the L&Y, an experimental electric locomotive, rebuilt from a 2-4-2T, was introduced in 1912 for goods traffic. This had four 150hp motors and could pick up current from the third rail on the main line or from overhead lines in the Aintree and North Mersey yards. It was scrapped in 1919.
Wilson Worsdell succeeded his brother as locomotive superintendent on the North Eastern Railway in 1890. With a rapid growth in mineral traffic at the beginning of the 20th century, the NER urgently required powerful locomotives. Wilson Worsdell had produced a 4-6-0 for passenger services in 1899 and followed this with an 0-8-0 version for heavy freight traffic.
The T class 0-8-0 was strong, simple and reliable, with piston valves that were proving to be reliable by the time of construction in 1901, although 50 were built with slide valves and classified T1. The engines proved highly successful and were the forerunners of the later well-known NER 0-8-0 classes.
Worsdell was also involved in the NER’s first electrification project; the North Tyneside suburban route, which was a third rail system at 600v DC and was inaugurated in 1904.
Midland compounds
The NER William Worsdell/von
