Internal combustion locomotive engineers
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Chorlton, Alan E.L.
Crewe trained engineer who contributed to the development of the internal combustion engine and its application to railway motive power. President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1933 (Presidential Address, Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs., 1933, 125, 127-40) and author of many papers including:
The heavy-oil engine on road and rail. Proc. Instn Automobile Engrs., 1929, 23, 502-40.
Examines the difficulty of combustion at high speeds; the Ackroyd Stuart and diesel engines; the Lincoln engine; and the Beardmore engine;
See also Rutherford Backtrack, 2008, 22, 52  

Durtnall, William Peter
Pioneered oil electric and petrol electric traction in Britain and also developed electric transmissions for ships. See also Duffy. and Rutherford Backtrack, 2008, 22, 52 who mentions that Durtnall's designs were marketed under the name Paragon..

Papers
The evolution and development of the internal combustion railway locomotive. J. Instn Loco. Engrs., 1914, 4, 5-51. (Paper No. 27)

Patents
244,137 Improvements in closed circuit electrical regenerative motor systems. Applied 12 June 1924. Published 14 December 1925.
5394/1912 Improvements in and relating to internal combustion prime-movers, with Geoffrey Tatton Bowles. Applied 4 March 1912. Published 13 February 1913.
6758/1909 Improvements in and connected with electrical transmission of power, and speed regulation, for automobiles, road or rail trams, locomotives, hauling, hoisting, winding gear, and the like. Applied 20 March 1909. Published 12 May 1910
23396/1908 Improvements in the generation of electrical power, and means of speed regulation in electrical propulsion of ships, railway, tramway, or other road or similar vehicles, locomotives, trains, and the like. Applied  2 November 1908. Published 28 October 1909.
27096/1905 Improvements in motor systems with electric transmission for the propulsion of railway, tramway, road or similar vehicles, boats and the like. with Ernest William Hart. Applied 28 December 1905. Published 28 March 1907.
17248/1905 Improvements in and connected with the propulsion of railway, tramway, road or similar vehicles, boats and the like, with Ernest William Hart. Applied 25 August 1905. Published 5 July 1906

Hornbuckle, Thomas [Tommy]
Born in 1880. Served apprenticeship with Richard Horsby & Sons of Grantham, developers and manufacturers of Ackroyd Stuart oil engine used in narrow gauge railway locomotives in Woolwich Arsenal and in Chatham Dockyard. Joined MR at Derby in 1901 as a draughtsman and was involved in the MR's project to use electricity at the Company's new harbour at Heysham: this included a power station, cranes and the railway to Lancaster at 6,600 volts alternating current. Hornbuckle gained an external BSc from Nottingham Univseristy. During the 1930s Hornbuckle was involved in assessing external purchases of diesel shunting locomotives and railcars. Backtrack, 18, 84.

Rutherford, Backtrack, 2002, 16, 515: skeletal diagram p. 516. notes that Hornbuckle, Clayton, Bulleid (then of LNER) and Hall of Sweindon were involved in proposals for one-man coal-fired shunting locomotive of Sentinel type..

In a subsequent article Rutherford (Backtrack, 18, 172) notes that the result of the struggle between Tommy Hornbuckle and Charles Fairburn was a foregone conclusion; Fairburn was another of Sir Harold's proteges (as William Stanier had been) and was earmarked for higher office. When Hornbuckle died in 1958, the editor of Diesel Railway Traction wrote of him,"Almost inknown, even in name, to those of the present generation engaged in diesel traction in England, Tommy Hornbuckle, who died at the age of 77 on February 1st, was probably the first vital force in time in the diesel conversion of British railways. He had claims to be considered as the father of diesel locomotives on British public railways, for though he was inconnected with the first two isolated trials of diesel units on the old Group railways, he came into the picture with the third, and fathered and forwarded the new units and their possibilities, despite fresh and ruthless pressures on him, until his retirement eight years later, when diesels for shunting were firmly established, and much consideration had been given to railcars and even to line-service locomotives."
"[His] contribution ... far exceeded his work with pre-war shunters ... a man with altogether exceptional engineering judgment, he had a breadth of railway knowledge and appreciation that brought his own ... daily work ... quietly into line with the general railway picture. ... Moreover, he was able to train others ... several of Hornbuckle's young men ... now hold high positions on British Railways."

Coming into contact ... with the pioneers of the British diesel locomotive building industry, Hornbuckle also had a not inconsiderable influence in this sphere among those who had ears to hear ... Indeed it is among the dwindling band of men who were in this field before 1939 that the memory of Tommy Hombuckle is likely to be maintained fresh and green; for, as untouched by railway internal frictions and jockeying for position as was Hornbuckle himself, these men could appreciate him more at his true worth. Largely because of his selflessness and his rejection of personal power as a thing to be striven after, Hornbuckle was greater than his physical works; and his undoubted technical ability, judgment and moral influence passed into men more than into things."

That was written by Brian Reed who himself had been involved in pioneer diesel traction at Hawthorn, Leslie & Co. in the 1920s. Stewart Cox related, "[There was] a personal contest between Hombuckle, the true originator, [of the diesel shunter development programme] and Fairburn, who developed these ideas far away from the intentions of their initiator. As a matter of fact, Tommy Hornbuckle was no match, either in position or capacity, for his formidable chief, and before long he retired from the fray, a somewhat embittered.

Mensforth, Sir Holberry
Born near Bradford (Yorks.) on 1 May 1871. Died Hazlemere on 5 September 1951. Humble origins and educated via mechanics institutes. Briefly ran his own gear cutting business, but joined B.H. Thwaite manufacturer of gas engines. In 1903 he joined Westinghouse at Trafford Park in Manchester and became General Manager thereat in 1917. He was recruited by Geddes to assist with the smooth transition from munitions manufacture to peacetime work. Received KCB in 1923. Briefly Chairman of English Electric, before being replaced by his General Manager, George Nelson. Retired in 1943. ODNB entry by Geoffrey Tweedale and Rutherford article in Bactrack, 2008, 22, 100.

Priestman, William Dent
Born in Sutton near Hull on 23 August 1847. Quaker educated at Bootham School. Apprenticed at Humber Iron Works, thence at Gateshead Works of NER, Worked for Sir William Armstrong & Sons. Offered a Partnership in R.&W. Hawthorn, but his father acquired Holderness Factory in Hull on his behalf. Here hevay oil internal combustion engines were developed. These were used in barges, and according to Rutherford Backtrack, 2008, 22, 52 in a single locomotive used on the Hull & Barnsley Railway. Died in Hull on 7 September 1936. ODNB entry by James Dent Priestman.

Stuart, Herbert Ackroyd
Born in Halifax on 28 January 1868. Educated at St Bartholemew's Grammar School in Newbury. In 1890 patented the hot bulb technique for starting/running heavy oil engines whilst working at his father's works in Bletchley, Developed his engines at Richard Hornsby & Sons of Lincoln, according to Rutherford Backtrack, 2008, 22, 52 (ODNB states Grantham) and applied to narrow gauge locomotives for the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich and for the Chattenden & Upnor Railway. Died a disappointed man in Western Australia according to Ronald M. Birse (ODNB) on 19 February 1927. Body brought back to Halifax for burial.