Notes (Papers to Institutions)

Ramsbottom
John Ramsbottom was one of the leading engineers of the age. He joined the Manchester & Birmingham Railway at Longsight in 1842 rising through the ranks of what had then become the LNWR to take charge of Crewe Works in 1862. He retired from the LNWR in 1871, officially on health grounds. He was a prolific inventor being responsible for, amongst many other things, the modern piston ring, water troughs and his well known safety valve. He is included in the LYR listing because he became a consultant to the L&Y in 1883, and a Director in 1885. He was closely involved in the design and development of Horwich Works.

Newall
James Newall, from Bury in Lancashire, was the inventor of a system of continuous mechanical brakes for carriages (then spelt breaks) which was tested and had some usage on the East Lancashire Railway and the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway before the adoption of the vacuum brake.

Naylor
William Naylor’s Safety Valve paper is included as his valve was used on a number of early L&Y locomotives.

Joy
David Joy was the inventor of Joy’s Valve Gear which was used on the majority of LYR engines from 1889.

Aspinall
John Aspinall started his engineering career as a Ramsbottom pupil at Crewe Works in 1868 and after a spell in Ireland was appointed Chief Mechanical Engineer of the L&Y in 1886. Aspinall was also an outstanding engineer and manager who was very much regarded as a leader in his field. In 1899 the L&Y appointed him General Manger, a post he held until his retirement in 1919.

Hughes
George Hughes also started life as a Crewe apprentice before finishing his training at Horwich under Aspinall. He became CME of the LYR in 1904 and remained in that position through the merger with the LNWR in 1922 and into the LMS in 1923, retiring in 1926.

Flamme
Jean Baptiste Flamme was the highly regarded Locomotive Engineer of the Belgian State Railway. Hughes was an admirer of Flamme’s work and there was high level contact between the two railways. Hughes had a 2-10-0 freight locomotive schemed out for the L&Y based on Flamme practice which was never built. It is because of Flamme’s influence on Hughes thinking that his paper is included in the list.

Paterson
W Paterson was the L&Y Shed Foreman at Low Moor and gave a fascinating paper in 1918 describing the organisation and systems in use at the time. Nigel Gresley was in the Chair when the paper was read and spoke in the discussion which followed. This is a rare opportunity to understand how things were done at L&Y engine sheds.

Shawcross
GN Shawcross was a senior member of Hughes’ team and became Works Manager at Horwich in the final days of the L&Y and the early LMS period.

O’Brien
HE O’Brien was an Aspinall pupil at Horwich, arriving at the same time as Nigel Gresley. He went on to become the L&Y’s Engineer for Electric Traction and a key part of the team responsible for the 1904 Liverpool to Southport electrification, and later, in 1915/16, the Manchester to Bury scheme. In the final years of the L&Y he became Assistant Works Manager at Horwich.

Gass
EM Gass was a Draughtsman at the L&Y’s Horwich Works eventually becoming Hughes’ final Chief Draughtsman. He was heavily involved in the calculations which led to the standard LMS power classification system and the design work for various proposed locos in the early LMS period which, sadly, never got built.

Cox
ES Cox was a young man in the drawing office at Horwich in the final days of the L&Y’s independence and the difficult transition of the Grouping when the LMS was formed. He went on to become a senior engineering figure in the LMS organisation. In 1946 he gave a paper to the Institution of Locomotive Engineers in which he describes the locomotive history of the LMS during the 1923 – 1932 period. It gives a unique insight into the personalities and politics of the period and provides a brutally honest assessment of some well known pre-grouping locomotives.

Beaumont
W Thorby Beaumont presented a paper on the development of petrol motor-omnibuses in 1907, just at the time the LYR was purchasing its Milnes Daimler double deck buses. The paper explains much of the technology of the period and there are extensive references, drawings and photographs of the Milnes Daimler chassis used by the LYR. The paper adds technical detail to the article on LYR motor bus operation in LYR FOCUS 78.

Notes (Patent Documents)

William Jenkins was Locomotive Superintendent of the LYR from 1845-1867.

John A. F. Aspinall was Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the LYR from 1886-1899 and General Manager from 1899-1919.

Henry Hoy was CME from 1899-1904 when he left to become General Manager of Beyer Peacock.

George Hughes was CME from 1904 until the end of the independent existence of the LYR on 31 December 1921 at which point it merged with the London and North Western Railway becoming part of the LMS on 1 January 1923. Hughes remained as CME of the LNWR and LMS until his retirement in 1926.