Electric traction engineers

Agnew, William Alexander
Born in Newton Stewart in 1874 and died on 16 March 1958. Educated Douglas Academy. Electrical engineering apprenticeship at King, Brown of Edinburgh whilst studying at Heriot Watt College. Worked on hydro-electric plant at Foyers on Loch Ness. In 1901 joined Glasgow Corporation Tramways Department when system was being electrified. Wrote The electric tramcar handbook for motormen, inspectors and depot workers (Ottley 2228). In 1904 moved to London to become Rolling Stock Superintendent of the Metropolitan District Railway and became Mechanical Engineer in 1907. In 1921 he beame Mechanical Engineer (Railways) to the Underground Electric Railways of London. He was Chief Mechanical Engineer (Railways) in 1928 and continued in this capacity through the formation of the LPTB until his retirement in 1935. He was the author of Electric trains (Ottley 3106). Obituary with portrait in J. Instn. Loco. Engrs., 1958, 48, 150. He was a very active member of the Institution. Also in Marshall.

Bruce, James Graeme
Joined London Transport in 1935, when aged 22: died in 2001. Associated with the Metadyne rolling stock on the London Underground. Author of several books on London Transport railways and on other aspects of transport, especially in Archive. Author of Tube trains under London...London Transport. 1977 and Steam to silver. London Transport. Former covered underground stock; latter sub-surface (Metropolitan and District. Tube trains under London had a Foreword by A.W. Manser, former Chief Mechanical Engineer (Railways) to London Transport in which he acknowledged debt to Agnew and Graff-Baker.

Cock, C.M.
Successor to Raworth on the Southern Railway and Chief Electrical Engineer of the Railway Executive. Bonavia (British Rail: the first 25 years) noted that in May 1948 the BTC had arranged for a joint British Railways and London Transport Committee, chaired by C.M. Cock, to be set up to consider the system (or systems) of electrification to be adopted in future projects, reviewing in particular the conclusions of the Pringle Committee of 1927 which had proposed direct current at either 1,500 volts with overhead collection for general use, and 750 volts third rail for certain areas. The Cock Committee broadly confirmed this, but did not rule out the possibility of using, as it put it, 'single-phase alternating current at 50 cycles or a lower frequency for secondary lines with light traffic, subject to the proviso that it is not prejudicial to operation on adjacent lines equipped with a standard system'. This opened the way for the decision taken in 1951 to use the short Lancaster-Morecambe-Heysham line, which the Midland Railway had electrified many years ago on the 6,600 volts 25-cycle single-phase system, as a testing-ground for electrification at the industrial frequency of 50 cycles (Hz), which seemed to offer important advantages, especially in cutting down the cost of the distribution network. This system had already been tried in Hungary as early as 1934 and the SNCF was proceeding to install it on an important main line in Eastern France. This probably implies that Rogers gives excessive credence to Riddles involvement in the Lancaster/Morecambe project.

Papers

Cock, C.M. Motive power for railways. J. Instn Loco. Engrs., 1952, 42, 281-305. [Presidential Address]
Electrification at 50 cycles: Mercury arc rectifiers: Morecambe/Heysham-Lancaster trial about to start. Mentions Aix-les-Bains to La Roche-sur-Foron in France and even earlier system in Germany (1936) between Freiberg and Seebrugg. "For various reasons, including economic consideration, the British Transport Commission has accepted the 15,000 volt d.c. system as standard for British Railways but the 50 cycles system has not been ruled out for electrification of secondary lines with light traffic"

Cock, C.M. The Deltic locomotive. J. Instn Loco. Engrs., 1958, 48, 723-57. (Paper No. 591)

Dawson, Sir Philip
Probably born in Paris on 6 October 1866, and died in Berlin on 24 September 1938. Educated at Ghent University (unverifiable Internet source). Consultant to LBSCR who proposed the 6,600 V high frequency AC overhead electrification of LBSCR which was not adopted by the Southern Railway. In Railway mechanical engineering he listed himself as Consulting engineer to the LBSCR and to the Great Eastern Railway as well as Vice President of the Commission for the Electrification of Belgian State Railways. Continued to advocate main line electrification through the 1920s and 1930s. Duffy fails to give any biographical information. Author of Electric traction on railways in Railway Mechanical Engineering (1923).
Papers
Mechanical features of electric traction. Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs., 1897, 54, 43-123

Emerson, Alexander Hockley
President (1969-70) Institution Locomotive Engineers (Journal, 1969, 59, 5 (portrait facing page). Born at North House, New England, Peterborough adjacent to the coaling plant. received early training as Mechanical/ Electrical Premium Apprentice under Sir Nigel Gresley at Peterborough, Doncaster, South Gosforth (Newcastle) and Grimsby (Immingham) from 1926 to 1934. In 1935 served as a Senior Draughtsman in the office of the Chief Electrical Engineer, LNER, King's Cross, first concerned with Outdoor Machinery, New Works Projects and then on Railway Electrification Schemes. This included the early reports and technical work for the Liverpool Street/Shenfield, Manchester/Sheffield/Wath, South Tyneside Electrification Schemes which were initiated before WW2. During WW2 was seconded to Dukinfield factory near Manchester as Assistant Resident Engineer (Electrical Engineering) and returned to the LNER in late 1943 to pursue Electrification Schemes and other post-war projects which were being planned in the Chief Electrical Engineer's office. In February 1950 appointed Resident Electrical Engineer, Manchester, to take charge of the outside erection and supervision of the building of the Manchester/Sheffield/Wath Electrification and the locomotives for it. This was followed by his appointment as Electric Traction Engineer, Manchester, on 17th September 1951, where he remained to complete the electrification of these lines and set up the maintenance organisation for this project, and integrated it with the organisations for the Manchester/Bury and the MSJ&A lines on the London Midland Region. In July 1955 Emerson moved to Derby to become associated with the main line electrification between Euston, Manchester and Liverpool, first as Assistant Electrical Engineer (Modernisation) and following as Electrical Engineer for the London Midland Region. In 1963 he was appointed Assistant Chief Mechanical & Electrical Engineer, LM Region, Derby, and in January 1966 Chief Mechanical & Electrical Engineer, Euston and Derby, succeeding A.E. Robson, the immediate Past-President, when the latter moved to the British Railways Workshops. See Maintentance on the move (Chairman's Address, Rly Div. J., 1970, 1, 3. (RDA 1/70)

Graff-Baker, William Sebastian
David McKenna in his Management of design. (Sir Seymour Biscoe Tritton lecture). J. Instn Loco Engrs., 1966, 56, 318-29 noted that Graff-Baker was Chief Mechanical Engineer of London Transport between 1935 until his death in 1952. Responsible for the 1938 tube stock..

Heilmann, Jean Jacques
Developer of steam electric locomotives in 1890s in association with Charles Brown. Originally envisaged as the power unit to drive electric motors distributed through the train. The prototype was named Fusée (Rocket). It ran on bogies, was fitted with a Lentz-type boiler and produced DC electricity via a dynamo driven by a two-cylinder compound engine. See Rutherford's Railway reflections, Backtrack, 1998, 12, 333 and Duffy.

Jones, Herbert
Chief Electrical Engineer LSWR, then appointed Chief Electrical Engineer of the Southern Railway. Retired in 1938. Mentioned by Rutherford in Backtrack, 2008, 22, 100.

Leonard, Harry Ward
Born 8 February 1861 and died in New York on 18 February 1915 (Wikepedia): inventor of Ward Leonard control system for electric motors: US Patent 463,802. See also Duffy (especially page 46 et seq)

Manser, A.W.
Chief Mechanical Engineer (Railways) London Transport. Major influnce on the adoption of rubber in suspension for rolling stock. Presidential Address Instn Loco. Engrs..

Nelson, George Horatio
Born in Islington, London on 26 October 1887. Educated at Finsbury Technical College. Major electrical engineer and industrialist. He won a Mitchell Exhibition and a Brush Studentship, becoming a premium apprentice at Brush's Loughborough works. At 22 he was made chief outside engineer. Appointed Managing Director of English Electric in 1930. Eventually became Lord Nelson of Stafford in 1960. Died at his Stafford works on 16 July 1962. ODNB entry by C.S. Nichols and Rutherford article in Bactrack, 2008, 22, 100.

Raworth, Alfred
Alfred Raworth was the son of John Smith Raworth, consulting electrical engineer to the British Electric Traction Company and one of the pioneers of Britain's electrical industry. He held a large number of patents relating to the generation, distribution and utilization of electricity. Alfred Raworth was educated at St. Aubyn's, Lowestoft and Dulwich College, and then served apprenticeships with Browett, Lindley & Co. Ltd. of Patricroft, Manchester, and the Brush Electrical Engineering Co., Loughborough. From 1903 to 1912 he acted as assistant to his father and showed himself to have a fertile engineering brain, designing new equipment such as regenerative braking circuits and stepless traction controllers. In March 1912 he was appointed chief assistant to Herbert Jones, chief electrical engineer of the London & South Western Railway and he helped to prepare a report to the directors on the electrification of a substantial section of the company's suburban system.

Raworth, however, who had been intimately concerned with the project was no longer around to witness the opening as he had joined the Royal Naval Air Service and was commissioned as Lieutenant, RNVR. In February 1918, on Walker's recommendation, the SECR obtained his release from the RNAS and appointed him its electrical engineer.

The SECR had obtained powers for electrification as early as 1903, at the same time as the GER, but like the latter company made no attempt to implement any plans. Lack of capital and also doubts that any major economies could, in fact, be made by electrification saw the idea in abeyance until 1912 when a report was commissioned from the Newcastle firm of consulting electrical engineers, Merz & McLellan. Their report was issued the following year and recommended a system of 1,500V dc using either overhead or third rail collection. In the meantime the neighbouring LBSCR had begun overhead electrification on an ac system of 6,600V at 25 Hertz and the view was held by some on the SECR that the Brighton system should be adopted. All of these ideas were shelved with the onset of WW1.but following the appointment of Raworth the whole field was opened up again and after the Armistice he was sent to the USA for three months to study the various electric railways and equipment in operation.

His proposals were contained in a report to the SECR dated October 1919. Three stages were contemplated: firstly 94 route miles of London inner-suburban lines — to be operated by EMUs, secondly, main line extensions to Gillingham, Tonbridge, Oxted, Redhill and Dorking also using EMUs and finally the replacement of freight and main line steam-hauled trains by the use of electric locomotives in the electrified zone. The final total was envisaged as 241 route miles.

Raworth's distribution scheme, however, was novel and most ingenious. A company-owned generating station was proposed at Angerstein Wharf , Charlton and power would be supplied at 3,000V dc. Four rails would be used, as on the London underground lines, but on Raworth's system the central conductor rail would be fed at -1,500V dc and the side conductor rail at +1,500V dc, the return being through the running rails. This method of feeding current (known as 3-wire distribution) used much lighter feeder cables and thus saved on copper. With this system only one substation would be needed for the inner-suburban electrification (instead of 26 for an equivalent 600V LSWR arrangement) and only four would have been required for the complete project. Stray leakage currents to earth, which were a potential problem with telecommunications and scientific instruments (such as those at Greenwich observatory), were thought to be negligible because the opposite polarities of the conductor rails would cause them to cancel out. The LYR 1,200V dc third rail Manchester-Bury line was investigated and the permanent way staff interviewed. It was found that with side contact and protected rails the high voltage was neither a danger nor caused extra maintenance problems. Each EMU set was to have two 1,500V motors, one collecting from the positive conductor and the other from the negative.

However ingenious Raworth's plan and however much cheaper it would have been there were already many other influences around to thwart any 'best option' solution. In March 1920, the Ministry of Transport appointed an Electrification of Raliways Advisory Committee under the chairmanship of Alexander Kennedy. Its brief vas to study the existing electrified railways nd schemes in hand and to recommend a uni ormity of approach. There were also the future railway amalgamations on the horizon and following the passing of the Railways Act rf 19th August 1921, negotiations were commenced between the various constituent companies. An Electricity Act of 1919 had made compulsory approval by the Electricity Commissioners of any scheme for a generating tation. There was a great body of opinion in and out of the electrical industry that a national grid was necessary and that electricity users hould purchase their energy requirements from suppliers rather than building their own specialist power stations.

The Angerstein Wharf project was rejected in 1922 and with amalgamation approaching, the LSWR became hostile to the proposed SECR system; the prospect of three completely different systems on the future Southern Railway filled the provisional management committee with a good deal of unease. The BoT Electrification Committee had come down in favour of 750V or 1,500V dc for all future lectrification schemes (either third-rail or overhead). Once the Southern Railway was in being, one of the first decisions made by the board was to electrify the SECR suburban lines on the LSWR system, ie 600V dc third rail.

Raworth, no doubt, learned a great lesson from these events – that engineering perfection may have to give way to pragmatism, compromise and the acceptance of managerial decisions based on non-technical parameters, he soon set about making the best of things under the new company he became once again deputy of Herbert Jones who had been made chief electrical engineer of the Southern. After completion of the electrification of the ex SECR suburban lines in 1925, Raworth's new title became 'electrical engineer for new vorks' and for the rest of his career he organized and guided the extending web of the Southern's electrified lines as laid down by the overall policy of the general manager and the board of directors

Patents.

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.
Ellson, George discussion on Cox, E.S. Balancing of locomotive reciprocating parts. J. Instn Loco. Engrs., 1943, 33, 219-220. (Paper No. 432)
Chief Engineer, Southern Railway, ommented upon the Merchant Navy class which had been designed without balance weights and to experiments conducted on the a member of the two-cylinder H15 class from which the balance weights had been removed. He also commented upon Raworth's electric locomotive and on electric multiple units..

Not in Marshall

Raworth, Arthur Basil

Raworth, John Ernest

Raworth, John Smith
Duffy (page 83) notes that John S. Raworth of Raworth's Traction Patents was a major influence on the design of both the initial Metropolitan Railway locomotives supplied in 1906 and the subsequent series supplied in 1922.and that this influenced Southern Railway electric traction design under Alfred Raworth.

Raworth patents (where AR=Alfred; AB=Arthur Basil; JE=John Ernest and JS=John sMith

473,180 Improvements in control systems for electric motors. AR with English Electric. Published  4 October 1937
473,179 Improvements in control systems for electric motors. AR with English Electric. Published 4 October 1937
473,137 Improvements in control systems for electric motors. AR with English Electric. Published 4 October 1937
141,488 Improvements in the regenerative control of electrically propelled vehicles or trains. AR. Applied 26 March 1919. Published 22 April 1920
19541/1911 Improvements in or in connection with the propulsion of cycles. AR. Published 16 May 1912
17875/1910 Improvements in or relating to rotary pumps. JSR with Thomas Browett. Published 27 April 1911.
21363/1907 Improvements in or in connection with the control of electric motors. JSR and ABR. Published 9 July 1908
12443/1907 Improvements relating to the regulation or control of electric motors. JSR and AR. Applied 29 May 1907. Published 28 May 1908
24923/1906 Improvements in or in connection with the control of the electric circuits in systems of electric traction or haulage. JSR. Published 6 February 1908
23075/1906 Improvements in controllers for electrically propelled vehicles. JSR and AR.  Applied 18 October 1906. Published 28 February 1907
15115/1906 Improvements in or connected with revolution counters. JER. Published 28 March 1907
11238/1906 Improvements in induction motors. JER. Published 25 April 1907
1830/1906 Improvements in connection with the control of the electric circuits in systems of electric traction. AR. Applied 24 January 1906. Published 3 May 1906
24810/1905 Improvements in the electrical control and propulsion of vehicles or trains of vehicles. JSR and ABR. Published 29 November 1906.
14630/1905 Improvements in controllers for electrically propelled vehicles. JSR. Published 12 July 1906.
11614/1905 Improvements in or relating to controlling devices for use in the electrical propulsion of vehicles or trains of vehicles. JSR Published 19 April 1906
19751/1904 Improvements in or relating to motor propelled vehicles. JSR. Published 13 July 1905
17975/1904 Improvements in the control of electrically propelled vehicles. JSR. Published 18 August 1905
9565/1904 Improvements in electric tramway or railway vehicles. JSR. Published 23 February 1905.
716/1904 Improvements in and relating to the control and propulsion of vehicles propelled by electric motors. JSR. Published 31 December 1904
22901/1903 Improvements in or relating to means or apparatus suitable for actuating and holding steering, braking, reversing, lifting and regulating mechanism. JSR. Published 29 September 1904
22551/1903 Improvements in or relating to electric motors and controlling devices for use in the electrical propulsion of vehicles or trains of vehicles. JSR. Published 6 October 1904
10723/1903 Improvements in the control of electrically propelled vehicles. JSR. Published  31 March 1904
5494/1903 Improvements in electric motors and regulating devices for railway trains or vehicles actuated by electrical energy. JSR. Published 9 March 1904
3658/1903 Improvements in the motors and regulating devices for electrically propelled vehicles. JSR. Published 11 February 1904
3657/1903 Improvements in regulating devices for electrically propelled vehicles. JSR. Published 11 February 1904
2192/1903 Improvements in electrically propelled tramcars. JSR. Published 28 January 1904
11911/1896 Improvements in connecting rods. JSR. Published 22 May 1897
8237/1896 Apparatus for indicating and recording variations in the angular velocity or rotating bodies. JSR. Published 13 March 1897
24751/1895 Improvements in steam engines. JSR. Published 18 April 1896
19664/1895 Improvements in packing rings suitable for engine and other pistons, buckets and valves for pumps and compressors, and for other purposes. JSR. Published 12 September 1896
18972/1895 Improvements in steam engines. JSR. Published 5 September 1896
4442/1895 Improvements in steam engines. JSR. Published 25 February 1896
3506/1895 Improvements in steam turbines.  JSR. Published 4 January 1896
3504/1895 Improvements in automatic expansion governors. JSR. Published 21 December 1895
12476/1894 Improved system of switching and regulating apparatus for central stations for the generation and distribution of electrical energy. JSR. Published 8 June 1895
5913/1894 Improvements in alternating current generators. JSR. Published 26 January 1895
1243/1894 Improvements in friction gearing. JSR. Published 8 December 1894
1242/1894 Improvements in or relating to steam turbines. JSR. Published 3 November 1894
84/1894 Improvements in reduction gearing for steam turbines. JSR. Published 10 November 1894
25090/1893 Improvements in the regulation and expansion of steam in steam turbines. JSR. Published 3 November 1894
25086/1893 Improvements in the construction of steam turbines. JSR. Published 17 November 1894
18170/1893 Improvements in electrical contacts. JSR. Published 28 October 1893.
17999/1893 Improvements in steam traps. JSR and William Geipel. Published 28 July 1894
11384/1893 Improved method of and apparatus for regulating the electro-motive force of electric generators. JSR. Published 14 April 1894.

Sprague, Frank Julian
Born in Milford (Connecticut) on 25 July 1857 and died in New York on 25 October 1934 (Marshall). Inventor of control system for multiple-units, and control systems for lifts. See also Duffy

Weir, William Douglas
Born on 12 May 1877 in Glasgow, the eldest of three children of James Weir (1843–1920) who with his brother George had in 1873 founded a marine engineering and maintenance company. James patented several inventions (including the Weir feed-pump), which in 1886 the brothers began to manufacture in a machine shop and smithy at Cathcart near Glasgow. These premises were developed into the Holm Foundry, and the business of G. and J. Weir was formed into a limited liability company in 1895. William Douglas was educated at Allan Glen's School and at Glasgow High School. At sixteen he entered an apprenticeship in the family business. He was successively director (1898), managing director (1902–15), and chairman (1910–53) of G. and J. Weir. He was made Viscount Weir in 1938 (presumably in association with the Glasgow Exhibition of that year). He was an administrator in both World Wars and chaired the Weir Committee on railway electrification. He died on 2 July 1959, at Eastwood Park, Giffnock in greater Glasgow. The bare bones of this entry came from an ODNB biography by Richard Davenport-Hines, who does not mention either railway electrification or the Glasgow Exhibition..

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2007-10-07