Derby engineers, etc.

Archbutt, Leonard
Appointed by S.W. Johnson to be Chief Chemist of the MR in 1881. In association with R.M. Deeley developed testing apparatus for lubricants. According to Hunt (LMS Journal (17) 37) "did much to establish the reputation of railway scientists".

Papers
Water softening and purification by the Archbutt-Deeley process. Proc. Instn mech. Engrs, 1898, 55, 404-54.

Banks, William
At Mather Dixon with John Grantham and later at Derby (Sekon: Evolution of the steam locomotive). Radford (p. 59) calls him a very stout, red-faced little man.

Bishop, Michael
Radford: There was Michael Bishop, messenger porter, but previously a driver, who was removed from the footplate for some indiscretion or other which he would never tell about. He deserves to be mentioned because he left behind not only writings on the early locomotives, but many "flamboyant" paintings of the earlier types, and which at one time could be seen in many homes and public houses in the locality of the station at Derby. Many of these were the only records of these locomotives built in these palmy days, but unfortunately few of these are left today. The author himself saw one at the former Midland Railway Institute, but this has now disappeared.

Bloxham, Thomas Say
Radford. called him a fine engineer and a most excellent draughtsman: part of Johnson's team, but became Locomotive Superintendent at Hasland from June 1875.

Chambers, Herbert
Herbert Chambers was born in Derby in 1885 and died in 1937 aged 52. He was educated at the Secondary School and Derby Municipal College. He was an apprentice at the Midland Works in Derby and eventually joined the staff of the Locomotive Drawing Office. In May 1911 he joined Beyer Peacock in Manchester and was employed in their drawing office until August 1913 when he rejoined the Midland Railway at Derby.

He was in charge of experimental work for a number of years (according to the obituary in J. Instn Loco. Engrs, 1937, 27, 684-5). In February 1923 he was appointed Chief Locomotive Darughtsman at Derby and in January 1927 he was made Technical Assistant and Chief Locomotive Draughtsman for the LMS. In October 1934 carriage and wagon design were added to his responsibilities. In March 1935 he was appointed Locomotive and Personal Assistant to Stanier at Euston (the post at which he died).

Mr. Chambers was a member of the Council of the Institution of Locomotive Engineers from 1929 to 1935 and again in 1937. He was a member of the Papers Reading Committee for a number of years, and was also at one time on the Committee of the Birmingham Centre, being Vice-Chairman in 1934. He was a frequent contributor to the discussions on Papers and his remarks were always listened to with great attention.

H.A.V. Bulleid's Master builders of steam reorded that: The Chief Draughtsman was Herbert Chambers, an excellent and experienced designer, noted for his heroic and successful effort in coordinating (against time) the design work between Derby Loco Drawing Office and the North British Locomotive Co. on the Royal Scot, but a dyed-in-the-wool Midland man. He argued with Stanier about all those innovations which he could not readily accept. At one point during these difficult weeks, rather lonely among Midland doubts, Stanier tried to get S.O. Ell from the G.W.R. to come as an Assistant on experimental work; but Collett refused to release him. A good Chief and a good Assistant both know that a nice balance between querying orders and blindly following them is essential, but Stanier and Chambers were unable to find this balance with Chambers as Chief Draughtsman. Stanier, therefore, switched him to be Technical Assistant at Euston and appointed Tom Coleman to be Chief Draughtsman in charge of both Derby and Crewe Loco Drawing Offices, resident at Derby.

Cox (Locomotive Panorama Vol. 1) called Chambers "a really attractive personality". He was Chief Darughtsman at Derby. One of the last ventures abroad by Chambers must have been his trip to France with Cox to inspect a Velox boiler (page 121). Cox clearly had a great respect for Chambers who had been responsible for much of the design work on the Royal Scot class and on the early Stanier designs.

Papers

Improvements in water pick-up gear for locomotives. J. Instn Loco. Engrs, 1931, 21, 450-64. Disc. : 464-72; 787-93 + 3 folding plates. 7 illus., 9 diagrs. (Paper No. 277).
Improvements in the design to save water: invented by H. Chambers.

Discussion on
Williams, W.C.: Modern articulated steam locomotives. J. Instn Loco. Engrs, 1933, 23, 85-132. Disc.: 132-57. 51 illus., 7 diagrs., 4 tables. (Paper No.299).
Pp. 139-40 : Chambers gave details of the origin of the revolving coal bunkers.

Discussion on McDermid, The locomotive blast-pipe and chimney. J. Instn Loco. Engrs. 1933, 23, 162. (page 206)
where his favoured dimensions are set out which presumably related to the Royal Scot class.

Thompson, J.W. The taper boiler. J. Instn Loco. Engrs, 1936, 26, 763-4. (Paper 361)
Discussion: H. Chambers (763-4); . Lunt (764) and W.A. Stanier (764).

Rutherford suggests (Backtrack 16 515) that Chambers died at the age of 52 on 17 March 1937 due to the stress caused by design failings in the Royal Scot, Jubilee and Royal Scot classes.

Clayton, Thomas Gething
Shortly before Kirtley's death in 1873, the Midland Directors decided that the Carriage and Wagon Department should be' separated completely from the locomotive side, and a new site on the other side of the London Road was provided. Thomas Gething Clayton was appointed as the Carriage and Wagon Superintendent at the instance of James Allport, the General Manager, who had become disturbed by the poor facilities being offered generally on railways at that time for the third-class passenger. Most of the existing carriages were small four-wheelers, with archaic roof rails for luggage and other outdated accoutrements. Allport had undertaken an extensive tour of North America in 1872, and returned impressed by the comfort and luxury of George Pullman's parlour and sleeping cars. Allport obtained the sanction of the Directors to give Clayton full rein in the layout of his new Carriage and Wagon Works, and further arranged with Pullman for the design, building and operation of his cars on the Midland, but at Pullman's own risk. Clayton took up his duties on July 1, 1873 at a salary of £700 per annum.

So began along needed reform of coaching stock on the Midland which was to revolutionise rail travel comfort throughout the company's system. With the gradual transfer of this side of rolling stock construction and repair on the Midland to the new works between the years 1873 and 1877, the Locomotive Department was left on its own for the very first time. It was at this time that Kirtley arranged for two trains to be fitted up in the works with the Westinghouse Air Brake. Ellis (Midland Railway) noted that Clayton designed the universal coupler for connecting brake hose.
Radford

Fenton, James
Born on 6 November  6 November 1838: brought by Johnson from Great Eastern to Derby as an assitant draughtsman on 5 August 1873, but appointed First Inspector of Engines on 14 October 1873. Resigned at end of 1876 and died in Putney on 8 November 1893 aged just under 55.

Fernie, John
The first Works Manager (General Foreman) at Derby Works, according to Radford, was a dour Scot, John Fergie who was appointed on 17 April 1853 at a salary of £350 per annum. He had come from Andrew Handyside & Co. of the Britannia Works in Derby. Fernie was responsible during 1858 for setting up a system of templates and gauges based on Whitworth's system.

Hedley, Henry
Assisted Johnston in classification of locomotive stock. Radford..

Henderson, J.E. (Jock)
See Atkins: Railways South East 1, 122: draughted proposed Derby 2-6-4T in 1914 (similar to S&DJR 2-8-0). and partly responsible for long lap, long travel valves fitted to "Fowler" 2-6-4Ts. See LMS Locomotive Profile No. 3 page 6..

Holt, Francis
Francis Holt became Superintendent of the Workshops at Derby following Kirtley's death, and William Kirtley leaving to become Locomotive Superintendent of the LCDR in March, 1874. Radford describes him as a tall, gaunt man, somewhat peculiar in manner, having a mordant humour, but being on the whole a very capable officer, by no means disliked by the men. His one fault perhaps was that, coming from Beyer Peacock & Co's. Gorton Foundry, Manchester, he was obsessed with the idea that everything they did was the last word in engine construction and practice. In fact to him Beyers spelt "perfection", which was somewhat irritating to the proud men of the Derby Works! He took office in May, 1874 at a salary of £700 per annum, receiving £100 more than his predecessor. He died on 7 Jaanuary 1893 and was replaced by John Lane..

The introduction of compressed air sanding gear which delivered a jet of air and sand directly at the space ; between tyre and rail instead of by means of the former gravity fed system, the value of which was extremely suspect and varied considerably with the prevailing conditions. This new air-sanding owed its origin to Francis Holt, at that time the Works Manager at Derby, and he had the system fitted to several engines, working on the heavily graded Settle-Carlisle line in 1886, the air being supplied from the Westinghouse braking system fitted to these locomotives.

The Westinghouse Company raised objections to this use of air from their system, claiming rightly that it could upset the brake, so Holt modified his device and used steam from the boiler instead of air . This system had a marked effect on the whole of British locomotive policy, and was ultimately commercially marketed by Messrs Gresham & Craven. Francis Holt died on January 7, 1893, and John Lane, still Inspector of Boilers, was promoted to fill the vacancy.

Ian R. Winship (Rly Mag. 1987, 133, 162) noted that Holt whilst on the South Staffordshire Railway had experimented with using the cylinders on a steam locomotive to act as the braking mechanism. The trials took place in 1855/6. According to Balkwill & Marshall this differed from the Chatelier system in using cold rather than hot water. See also Holt's own account of these trials in Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs., 1870, 21, 54-.

Iveson, Thomas G.
Radford (p. 112) notes that Johnson appointed Thomas G. Iveson in Billinton's place as chief Draughtsman. Iveson was a fairly old, amiable gentleman who stuttered rather badly, and worse than usual when trying to answer a question to which he did not know the answer. A story is told of his earlier life in London when he daily passed the Railway Clearing House. There being no outward sign of this building's use, he one day plucked up courage and entered, saying to the attendant "If you p-p-please, wh-what is this p-p-place". This seemed to annoy the servant of the RCH who promptly ejected him with the words "Now out you go", and Iveson was so confused he could not stutter out any reply to smooth over the situation. He had served in his earlier years as a draughtsman at Messrs E.B. Wilsons, and had produced a fine line drawing of Jenny Lind in December, 1851. Iveson lasted in the,position of Chief Draughtsman for 10 years, being replaced, on his retirement, by the J.W. Smith. Iveson contributed to the discussion of E. Worthington's paper on compounding at the Instn Civil Engrs in 1889..

Lane, John
John Lane came with Johnson from Stratford to become Inspector of Boilers: he started at Derby on 5 August 1873 on a salary of £250 per annum. On the death of Francis Holt he also became Works Manager and his salary was increased to £600 per annum. He was replaced in this last by Deeley from 1902: he reired below the age limit on 31 December 1901 and died on 16 January 1903. Radford (portrait Plate 33)..

Marlow, William
The Head Foreman, and highly regarded by Kirtley. His service started on the Birmingham & Derby Junction Railway, and by October 1871 was the oldest serving foreman in th Works. Radford

Moulang, Francis Daniel
F D Moulang was born in Clerkenwell, London in March 1874, the second son of Daniel Moulang, a Dublin jeweller; Daniel and his family later returned to his native Dublin where Francis Daniel was brought up. He was educated first at Merchant Taylors’ School and later at the City of Dublin Technical School where, in 1894, he was awarded the Mayor’s Prize. Moulang was also Premium Apprentice and Draughtsman in the Locomotive and Carriage Works at the Inchicore works of the Great Southern & Western Railway of Ireland. In 1898 he was awarded a Whitworth Exhibition Scholarship – then worth £50, one of the earliest Irishmen to receive one. He was married to Sarah Fulcher in 1899 and they removed to England where he joined the locomotive drawing office of the Midland Railway at Derby. There he assisted MR Chief Mechanical Engineer in the design, operation and development of Midland three-cylinder compound locomotives; actually superintending the making of the patterns for the cylinders of the first five engines of this class and of subsequent MR superheated classes. There is evidence that some experimental work had been carried out on compound engines at Inchicore and this experience may have influenced the nature of his employment on the Midland and later the LMS.

In 1916, as a temporary wartime measure, he joined the motive power section in the capacity of District Locomotive Superintendent at Toton, but he never returned to the drawing office, becoming successively District Locomotive Superintendent at York (1921) and later at Buxton. In January 1930 he succeeded Bolderston as DLS at Wellingborough which by that time had both Bedford and Kettering as sub-depots.

Thorley (A Breath of Steam, 1975) paints a vivid picture of Francis Daniel Moulang, by that time (1930) aged 55, “of rubicund complexion, rolling gait and southern Ireland ancestry”. After more than forty years Thorley still regarded the arrival of this man as the greatest turning point in his life, “This strange man with his delightful Irish brogue” provided the means whereby Thorley himself began to realise the depth of his own ignorance on so many matters pertaining to locomotives. Thorley wrote, “Moulang was a Whitworth Exhibitioner and could bring a quality of mind and attitude to bear on engineering fundamentals which made everyone in the engineering world whom I had met so far appear rather dull by comparison”. This was not to belittle the great skill and knowledge of people like Thorley’s father and Gibson, who were both highly competent mechanics; but they did not always know why they achieved success by doing certain things in certain ways. Early in their relationship Moulang had asked Thorley about his aims, work and progress, giving Thorley the opportunity to confide fears of stagnation to someone who, it was felt, had a sympathetic appreciation of the aspirations of a young man. His comment had been quite brusque and brief: when told about taking the National Certificate examination in the following April, he had said: “Come and see me when you have passed and I will see what I can do for you”. Thorley did not speak to him again until he received notification in the following August that he had passed the NC examination. Moulang was as good as his word. “Thenceforward I had a training in motive power maintenance and running which was always interesting, often exciting but always directed to the things which mattered”.

Francis Daniel Moulang retired from the LMS in 1935. He died in May 1958.

Newbould, James
James Newbould was the first Chief Draughtsman at Derby Works. Radford states that he was "a kindly man who had married "well" by taking the daughter of Kirtley's favourite foreman, William Marlow, as his wife. In these days Mr Newbould had the design responsibility for almost everything, from locomotives and turntables to hydraulic apparatus and water and gas installations.

Mr Newbould is said to have been "microscopical and accurate in all he did, punctilious to a fault", and he eventually became the first secretary of the Midland Railway Institute at Derby. He lived to be 94 years old, and never needed spectacles or an eyeglass, perhaps due to his habit of taking "forty winks" as soon as he got home after the days work, seated in a straight backed chair with his arms entwined round the uprights to prevent him from falling off it. Newbould retired from the post of Chief Draughtsman in January, 1898 having held this position for over 40 years, and his retirement was marked by the presentation of an illuminated address from members of his staff.

Owens, A.E.
Deputy Chief Draughtsman at Derby who was probably responsible for long lap, long travel valves fitted to "Fowler" 2-6-4Ts. Formerly of North Staffordshire Railway at Stoke. See LMS Locomotive Profile No. 3 page 6.

Sach, John Augustus
Appointed foreman of Derby running shed on 26 July 1875. Became engine inspector on 1 January 1877 and foreman of templates and gauges on 9 July 1878, butb resigned soon after. German in origin and spelt his name with a "k". Radford.

Sanford, Dudley William
Dudley William Sanford was born 15 April 1890. Received early education at Uppingham School from 1905 to 1909. Then went up to Cambridge University where he gained B.A. (Honours) in Mechanical Science Tripos in 1912. Entered Midland Railway Locomdtive Department as a pupil at Derby, and from September 1914 to December 1919 was on Active Service with the Royal Engineers. On his return, he entered the drawing office at Derby and was engaged mainly on experimental work. In 1923 he was put in charge of experimental work in the C.M.E's. department, and four years later was made Senior Technical Draughtsman. The following year he was assistant to the technical assistant for dynamometer car tests. In 1934 he became Chief Locomotive Draughtsman, Development Assistant in 1937, and in 1943 Senior Technical Assistant to the C.E.M. In 1946 he was appointed as Mechanical Officer in charge of Rugby Testing Station, but owing to ill health was compelled to relinquish this position at the end. of 1947. Cox Locomotive panorama 1 p. 49 called him a "bluff and hearty Wiltshireman, as much respected for his sense of humour as for his B.A. (Cantab)—a very rare attainment in railway drawing offices of that day." He contributed extensively to the Institution proceedings, especially in discussions, and read the following Papers: 'Development of the Piston Valve to Improve Steam Distribution" in 1931 (Paper 273); "The Effect of Commercial Efficiency on Locomotive Design" in 1932 (Paper 289); "The Relationship between Smokebox and Boiler Proportions" in 1944 (Paper 451). Mr. Sanford was recognised as an engineer of outstanding ability, and possessed a brilliant mathematical brain. He died on 28th August 1948, leaving a widow and one daughter. Elected a member Instn. Loco. Engrs. in 1928. In 1946 in response to Cox's paper on LMS locomotive design he made his famous statement concerning Derby vs Crewe vs Horwich methods of working.

Simpson, T.F.B. [Freddie]
At the end of October, 1947, A.E. Robson was succeeded as Works Superintendent at Derby by T.F.B. Simpson, undoubtedly one of the most popular persons ever to fill that post, who arrived 1.November from being Assistant for water supplies and water softening in the CME Department at Derby having previously been with the CME Department at Manchester where he had been District Outdoor Machinery Assistant from December, 1943.  He had been a pupil of D.L. Rutherford the Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Superintendent of the Furness Railway in Barrow, and by 1925 had become Assistant Works Superintendent of the Barrow shops, later moving to Horwich and Euston. He was a man with a natural flair for organisation and an excellent manager of men, knowing a large proportion by name. His conversation was always enlightening and usually contained those quick flashes of perceptive wit that endeared him to every member of his staff.

It ought to be mentioned in passing that Robert Weatherburn's father, of the same name, assisted George Stephenson and his son Robert on the footplate of the Leicester and Swannington Railway Company's locomotive Comet when that particular line was opened on July 17, 1832, being the regular driver of that engine from its reception and for some years afterwards. He was appointed locomotive running-shed foreman at Derby in June, 1848, but removed to a similar position at Leeds the following August.

2007-11-26