Caledonian Railway locomotive engineers

Caledonian Railway locomotive engineers

Brittain, George
Not listed in Marshall. He became Locomotive Superintendent of the CR following the death of Conner on 27 February 1876, but he did not enjoy good health and had to cease working in April 1882 whereafter Dugald Drummond was to replace him. He was partly responsible (wtih Conner) (see Highet who notes that the Neilson's order book records the death of Conner) for the CR's first unsatisfactory 4-4-0 which had been ordered as a 2-4-0 and was under-boilered: it had been intended for mainline service but was dubed the Dundee bogies. Brittain was directly responsible for the more successful Oban bogies for the Callender & Oban Railway, having initially attempted to run the line with 2-4-2Ts similar to those employed by the LNWR. He was succeeded by D. Drummond. Middlemass (Scottish 4-4-0)

Conner, Benjamin
Conner was born in Glasgow in 1813 and died there on 3 February 1876. He was apprenticed to James Gray of Glasgow and introduced to locomotive engineering at Murdoch, Aitken & Co also of Glasgow. For a time he worked in Liverpool and Manchester and then returned to Scotland to work with W.M. Neilson and at Robert Napier's works where he became involved in marine engineering (Marshall). He was appointed locomotive superintendent of the Caledonian Railway in 1856 and was superintendent for two decades (1856-76). Although only Benjamin Conner's final design was a 4-4-0 his activities are described at some legth by Middlemass (Scottish 4-4-0) who notes that his final years with CR ware plagued by ill-health. Conner left a longstanding impression on the locomotive style of that Company. His 2-2-2 with 8ft 2in. driving wheels of 1859 onwards, generally following the Allan or 'Crewe' tradition, had relatively long-travel valves and was consequently exceptionally free-running. Some units of this type were exported to Egypt by Neilson & Co. On the CR he was succeeded by George Brittain.

See: C. Highet, Scottish Locomotive History 1831-1923 (1970).

Kerr, George
Atkins, P. West coast 4-6-0s at work. 1981 notes that Kerr was responsible for designing the conjugated valve gear used on the CR 956 class. Unlike most of the St Rollox employees who arrived on foot or by tram, Kerr Esq arrived by motor car.

Miller, Graeme
Premium apprentice under J.F. McIntosh. Chief Locomotive Draughtsman, British Railways, Scottish Rgion. Retired 1959. Atkins, Philip. Hawthorn, Leslie and the Highland Railway. Backtrack, 1998, 12, 141-4. .