Crewe engineers
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Most of this page was founded on Brian Reed's Crewe locomotive works and its men. 1982., but has been augmented and includes some non-Crewe trained LNWR men.

See also: Webb, Bowen Cooke, Whale and Beames, and Trevithick.

Barker-Wyatt, J. J. C.  
Appointed works manager on 1 November 1964, he succeeded Spark, after experience on several Regions of BR. He had charge of the final concentration, when the Old and Deviation Works were closed and vacated, and the iron foundry cleared and altered to suit other purposes; he also had to cope with the appalling influx of'unclassified' diesel work that plagued Crewe (and other BR works) for several years. In his turn he, too, was transferred to Workshops Division headquarters in September 1967, and was succeeded by George Oldham, a Crewe-trained man who had had a period at Doncaster. On his retirement in 1974 he was followed by C. H. Garratt, who was moved on in 1977 and made way for the "present" works manager, F.O. de Nobriga.

Battams, Edward (Teddy)
Chargehand at Crewe who jig-drilled cylinders and frames of Precursor class when they were neefded quickly: see chapter on George Ivatt in H.A.V. Bulleid's Master builders of steam page 172; also Cox Locomotive Panorama V. 1 page 172

Bickersteth, Edward C.
Born 1870; son of an LNWR director.died-Crewe. 1939 V.D. (Retired). M.Inst.C.E. Career: University College, Liverpool (Engineering School) Pupil of F.W. Webb. Became Superintendent Outdoor Machinery Locomotive Department, L. & N.W.R. and L.M.S. Railway

Bickersteth, G.C.
Mentioned by H.A.V. Bulleid in his chapter on Ivatt  in Master builders of steam as "Old Bick" in his interviewing technique on young Ivatt when he was seeking promotion in the Outdoor Machinery  Superintendent's department at Crewe in 1910 

Bowes, John Archibald
Born 14 February 1874; died 20 September 1921. Educated Epsom College. Entered Crewe Works as a premium apprentice in 1892 an became a Webb pupil in February 1896. In March 1897 became an assistant draughtsman and in May 1898 Assistant to the Locomotive Superintendent at Longsight sheds. In August 1899 he was placed in charge of the running shed at Shrewsbury; he was brifly put in charge of Longsight before becoming Assistant Running Superintendent at Crewe in July 1903. In 1917 he became Running Superintendent of the Southern Division.

Brown, Ellis R.  (1905-77)
Before nationalisation he was an LMSR man; he was assistant to Forsyth and succeeded him as works superintendent, but he was translated to Derby headquarters at the end of 1962 as production manager (locomotives) of the Workshops Division. He was followed by J. C. Spark, hitherto an LNER and ER man. Bond took Ellis Brown with him to Germany in the late 1930s as Brown was fluent at German. They were studying the German stationary test plant at Grunewald in an attempt to avoid vibration problems at Rugby and encountered unpleasantness when dining in Berlin due to Nazi attitudes (Bond). Photograph with Duke of Gloucester behind. Presumably ILocoE author of Paper No. 553. Discussion on Warder electrication ILocoE paper

Bull, James
Born at Peterborough in September 1832. Died at his home at Crewe, on 10 June 1919, after a brief illness. He entered the service of tbe L. & N. W. Ry. (Southern Division) under the late J.E. McConnell, at the age of fourteen, and became fireman and later driver on the main line. He was transferred to Crewe in 1863, and for many years travelled over the whole of the system inspecting the prevention of fire and water arrangements. He retired on 30 June 1903, after 57 years' service with the L. & N. W. R., and was, we believe, the last of the old Southern Division men. The very complete history of the locomotives of the Southern Division of the L. & N. W. R., which appeared in this Locomotivee Mag in 1897-8, was largely based on the very complete notes collected by the late Mr. Bull. Obituary Locomotive Mag., 1919, 25, 120

Cooper, Henry
Had started at Crewe Works in 1852 and had become foreman and chief of the boiler shop. He retired on 22 November and died on 8 December 1911. Locomotive Mag., 1912, 18, 17..

Darroch, George Robert Sutton
Born 22 February 1880 at Champneys in Hertfordshire; he died on 3 December 1959. Educated at Eton. Premium apprentice under Webb and Whale at Crewe. Builder of model Webb-type 4-cylinder compound locomotive with Precursor type boiler: Orion. Author of Deeds of a great railway: a record of the enterprise and achievements of the London & North Western Rly Co. during the Great War. London, 1920 (Ottley 510 reviewed Locomotive Mag., 1921, 27, 23). See Backtrack, 2006, 20, 280 and Br. Rly J., 1988 (23) 158. Broadbent, William Benedict as told via Edward Talbot. The road to Holyhead. Part Two. Backtrack, 2011, 25, 598-603.  Further biographical information: Backtrack, 2014, 28, 144.  His grave is at Wigginton parish church in Buckinghamshire see Humm J. Rly Canal Hist. Soc.,, 2015, 38, 252..

Davies, W., Noel
Davies was one of Webb's last pupils and Talbots's The LNWR recalled: collected writings and observations on the London & North Western Railway. (1987) is greatly enhanced by his writings, including correspondence with J.M. Dunn.

Denning, J.E.V.
Assistant Works Manager at Crewe when Belt system introduced in late 1920s. (Rogers, H.C.B. Last steam locomotive engineer)

Dick, Charles
Born at Broughty Ferry in 1838, he served an apprenticeship from 1854 under James How at Monifieth Foundry. After short times as a workman in the marine-engine shops of J. & G. Thomson on the Clyde and of James Jack & Co at Liverpool, he was taken-on in the Crewe erecting shops in August 1860 after walking to that place from Liverpool in search of work. In 1862, while a chargehand erector, he attracted the attention of young Webb at the evening classes of the Mechanics Institute where he won a prize. Webb brought him into the office as a temporary tracer and draughtsman, and in 1863 he became an established member of the drawing office staff at 8s 4d [42p] a day. He succeeded Kampf as chief draughtsman on 15 December 1871 at a salary of £160 a year raised in steps to £225 at the end of 1874 and, as he himself wrote, with heavy work and long hours. Under his charge were developed the designs of the Webb Precursors, Precedents and coal engines.

In February 1877 he was appointed manager of the signal department at Crewe; he had manufacture, installation and maintenance in his care, with much outdoor work along the line in all weathers. G. P. Neele, the LNWR traffic superintendent, paid him compliments for his signal work in Railway Reminiscences ( 1902).

In February 1882 he succeeded Worsdell as works manager, though the appointment was still styled indoor assistant. He died on 2 June 1888 of chest and kidney complaints at the age of 50, but in essence he was worn out by the work and its responsibilities following his hard and often penurious youth. In reporting his death to the Locomotive Committee Webb said "he was a very able and faithful servant of the Company." A grant of six months' salary, less amount paid on sick leave, was given to his four children aged 23 to 14, for he was a widower. Dick came to take much part in Crewe local affairs. He was deputy mayor to Webb in the Jubilee year of 1887, and presided at the public dinner to celebrate the Queen's Jubilee and Crewe's railway jubilee, for Webb as mayor of the borough was away at the national thanksgiving service in Westminster Abbey. He was treasurer of the Mechanics Institute 1875-81. After Dick's death in 1888 a shelter was erected in the then new Queen's Park in memory of him; he himself had supervised the layout of the park. Webb and Dick always got on well together and were much of an age. One of Dick's letters preserved long after his death shows him to have been human and unaffected, and gives a good first-hand account of Crewe in the mid-1880s.

Dingley, F.W.
Appointed to new post of Road Motor Superintendent in 1914 (Locomotive Mag., 1914, 20, 133), but appointed outdoor mechanical superintendent (locomotives and rail motors) from 1 July 1919, redesignated following amalgamation with the L&YR. Reed.; also Dunn Reflections who noted how when he was first encountered he was Foreman of Willesden locomotive shed and how he persuaded the management to grant such a more suitable title. Superintendent of Motive Power of A Division (LNWR) in early LMS period..

Drury, Daniel
Accompanied No. 46236 to Western Region during locomotive exchanges of 1948: see Dunn Reflections

Earl, Henry Douglas
Appointed works manager on the demise of Dick, he had begun as a premium apprentice under Ramsbottom in March 1869 and in June 1874 went into the drawing office. In June 1875 he was made an assistant manager at the Steelworks end, and later also came to have charge of the construction of new shops at the west end. He continued as works manager from 1888 until the Webb-Whale changeover in 1903, when he was made wagon superintendent with headquarters at Earlestown in the circumstances related in Chapter 7. From 1 May 1910 he became carriage superintendent at Wolverton and retired in May 1916 (Locomotive Mag, 1916, 22, 18.). During his period as Crewe Works manager were planned and built No 9 erecting shop and adjacent machine shop, the rail mill was remodelled, the Brett drop-stampers were introduced, and Webb's great expansion in the use of electricity throughout the works was carried out under his supervision. Contrasted with Worsdell and Charlie Dick, Earl did not let the exigencies of the works manager's job get him down, nor apparently did he allow Webb's increasing autocracy to disturb him unduly. At one time he was a town councillor, but after losing his seat at the height of the political war in 1889 he took a quieter part in town affairs. One of his sons, F.D., became assistant works manager and, in LMSR days, outdoor superintendent.

Ellis, George  
Chief clerk to Webb through the last half of the latter's time. He continued as chief clerk to Whale but died in 1904, being succeeded by William Horabin, hitherto his deputy. Both men were beneficiaries under Webb's will, but Ellis did not live to get his portion. Horabin lived on until 1940.

Emmett, J.W.
Wagon Works Superintendent at Ealstown Works: retired 1903. Locomotive Mag., 1903, 8, 338

Forsyth, Irvine Cathcart
Rankin was succeeded by Forsyth as works superintendent in 1948. Forsyth was a delightful Derby-trained man who had been in the running department from 1925 to 1946, when he was transferred to Crewe as assistant superintendent. Expert in welding steel inner fireboxes (A.F. Cook. Raising steam)  He was in charge when the first changeover to diesel construction and repair was made; soon after the last steam locomotive was built he was transferred to headquarters, and finished-up as chief production manager of the Workshops Division. He died at Crewe in 1979. Photograph with Duke of Gloucester behind. .
Papers
Dealing with heavy excursion traffic from the motive power point of view. J. Instn Loco. Engrs., 1936, 26, 250-71.(Paper No. 351)
Some developments in locomotive workshop practice, 1939-1948. J. Instn Loco. Engrs., 1949, 39, 231-310. (Paper No.  485)
Contributions to discussion: K.J. Cook on Churchward

Francis, Jack L.
See letter from C. Taylor in Backtrack, 2005, 19, 636 which notes that Francis designed the scheme 3 boiler for the Claughton and Patriot classes and designed a riveted thermic syphon [siphon]. Rutherford Backtrack, 2005, 19, 487 notes that the LMS sent him to work at Derby (but he commuted on a daily basis). He was a leading draughtsman. Atkins (West Coast 4-6-0s) perhaps incorrectly attributes the mechanical design of the Patriots to Francis. Mentioned by.H.C.B. Rogers in The last steam locomotive engineer: R.A. Riddles C.B.E. who stated that it was Francis who translated the Swindon taper-boiler for manufacture at Crewe Works (also portrait of two nen together). Also encountered by Langridge during the period when the three-cylinder Patriot type was being developed (Francis appears to have been responsible for the boiler and for rejecting poppet valves). He appears to have shared Langridge's love of performing music.

Goodeve, Thomas Edward

Grover, F.M.
Grover is stated to have been Sackfield's replacement, as Chief Draughtsman at Crewe, in Cox's Locomotive panorama V. 1. Also encountered by Langridge. Grover devised an external system of oil firing which was tested on the Longmoor Military Railway and on an 8F 2-8-0 on the Midland Division of the London Midland Region: in the latter it used an exessive quantity of fuel.

Homfray
Talbots's The LNWR recalled: collected writings and observations on the London & North Western Railway. (1987) p. 62 and state that Homfray was related to the famous ironmaster and was assistant locomotive works manager at Crewe. On p. 68 noted that Homfray was formerly at Carlisle..

Howard, Thomas Pitton Lee
Born on 26 October 1881: educated at Priory Hill School, Coventry, and Dean Close Memorial School, Cheltenham. Entered Crewe Works as a premium apprentice in 1900, becoming a private pupil of F.W. Webb in 1902, and of G. Whale: Obituary J. Instn Loco. Engrs., 1930, 20, 850: date of death not given. Talbots's The LNWR recalled: collected writings and observations on the London & North Western Railway. (1987) mentions Howard on page 50 noting that he was locomotive foreman at Stafford and District Locomotive Superintendent at Salop and quotes anecdote on friendly interview with Webb and vindictive experience under Bowen Cooke (pp 70/1).shops at Crewe, including the steel foundry, drawing office and boiler shop. From 1904 to 1905 he was Assistant Locomotive Foreman at Crewe running sheds, and since 1905 had held the position of Chief Foreman of the locomotive running sheds at Stafford.

Hunt, Thomas
Reed noted that Hunt was born in 1816 and died in 1897. He succeeded Allan at Crewe, taking the title of chief indoor assistant to Trevithick. As a 14-year-old he stood on the bridge at Parkside to watch the opening procession on the L&MR. In 1832 he began work on the St Helen's & Runcorn Gap Railway, but in April 1833 he transferred to the Edge Hill shops of the L&MR under John Melling (senior), and almost his first job was to help in re-tubing Rocket. In August 1834 he went with Melling's son John (junior) for whom he had worked on the St Helen's line to the Dublin & Kingstown Railway to finish his apprenticeship. He stayed with the DKR as a journeyman and foreman until April 1839, when at the age of 23 he was appointed to take charge of the locomotives of the North Union Railway in place of Musgrave, on the understanding that he would stay at least two years. In 1840 he began to balance the NU Bury 2-2-0s by putting counterweights in the wheels to eliminate pronounced fore-and-aft movement that was breaking intermediate drawbars and drag boxes (Ahrons British steam railway locomotive p. 61). Hunt remained in charge on the NU until in 1846 the line was taken over by the LNWR and L &YR. He then came onto the LNWR payroll as in charge of shops and engines that had come into the LNWR fold, and a few months later he was given the oversight of all LNWR engines working over the whole length from Parkside to Carlisle.

On coming to Crewe from Preston to succeed Allan his salary was raised by £50 to £450 a year, and he continued as chief indoor assistant to the Northern Division locomotive superintendent until September 1861, when he resigned to take up the post of locomotive superintendent on the Tudela & Bilbao Railway, then under construction in Spain to 5ft 6in gauge. He had to decide on the locomotive designs and place the contracts for construction. After one batch of Crewe-type 4-4-0Ts by Fairbairn he switched to 4-4-0Ts that later became the parents of the well-known 'Metropolitan tanks', working on the design in collaboration with Beyer Peacock. To one of the TBR Beyer tanks he fitted a power bogie.

Hunt returned to England in 1865 and joined the North of England Railway Carriage Works at Preston. Thereafter for some years until 1875 he was in Sheffield. In 1878 he joined Beyer Peacock on the sales side; he seems to have been based mainly on London, but made several trips abroad. For seven years from 1883 he was a director of the Beyer Peacock private company. He died at Heaton Chapel, Stockport, on 27 May 1897. One of his sons, H. Robert Hunt, was locomotive chief of the Isle of Man Railway 1876-86.

Little of Hunt is known except that he was a nice man, though in his time at Preston he was described by one of his drivers as "wide awake and sharp-eyed." Ernest F. Lang, recalling his own early years at Gonon Foundry, wrote of ". ..the elusive personality of Mr Thomas Hunt. Tall, spare, and slightly bent, with strong features and pointed beard, a striking and dignified figure, he carried an air of mystery in our imagination as he came and went and re-appeared at Gorton Foundry, and no one knew precisely what he did beyond being a kind of business diplomat for external affairs, for which in appearance he was marvellously well suited." He retired from Beyer Peacock in 1890.

Why Hunt left Crewe is not known, but by his going he committed professional suicide. Though he seems to have administered his charges well at Preston and Crewe he showed some lack of judgment in relation to outside matters in 1858-61. In addition to his Spanish adventure his patent in 1859 for an outrageous boiler like McConnell's and Beattie's at their worst was ill-timed, for coal burning without smoke was coming towards simple solutions on the Midland, and his own chief, Ramsbottom, was on the point of applying the first simple two square 7in holes, with dampers, in the throat plate.

Hunt had got on well with the rather stringent and astringent Quaker board of the North Union and with Trevithick. The LNWR Stores & Locomotive Expenditure Committee and the Crewe Committee thought well of him, and when he resigned gave him a gratuity of three months' salary. He knew his predecessor, Allan, well, having to do with him for a year on the DKR, and having frequent contact with him from Preston. Possibly he found the increased tempo under Ramsbottom unsettling and wearing after 14 years more-or-less his own boss at Preston followed by four years under Trevithick's easy hand, and he may not have been a strict enough disciplinarian for the new times; no evidence has been discovered that he did not get on well with Ramsbottom personally. Indeed, the two had a strange hidden affinity. Not only were they merely two years different in age, but as septuagenarians they came together again as fellow directors of the old Beyer Peacock private company. For the last nine years of their lives they lived only eight miles apart, and Hunt died four days after Ramsbottom.

See also Allan for co-patentee with for piston valves.

Jackson, John Nicholson
Jackson was appointed chief draughtsman at Crewe on trial in June 1888 after Norman's departure, and was confirmed in that position in December at £225 a year. He was born at Lancaster in 1852. After being in general and marine engineering at that place and Birkenhead he entered Crewe shops in February 1875 and was taken into the drawing office in 1876. At the 'general post' in 1903 he retained his position and his salary was increased from £350 to £450, he remained as chief draughtsman under Whale and Cooke until he retired at the end of 1919 (Cox Locomootive Panorama states end of 1920). The new Chief Darughtsman was Grover (Cox).. In his time as office chief were designed all the Webb compounds from the Teutonic class onwards, all the Whale types and all Cooke's engines. Reed: Crewe
Atkins notes that Jackson's long tenure ensured a continuity in the superficial appearance of Crewe locomotives. Rutherford (Backtrack, 2007, 21, 437 (p. 442) suggests may have been related to Samuel Jackson of Beyer Peacock..

Portrait in Rutherford: BackTrack, 9, 582 or Nock's The LNWR Precurosr family page 20.
Atkins, P. West coast 4-6-0s at work. 1981. Chap. 3.
Lake, Chas. S. Some C.M.E.s I have known. 1 — F.W. Webb. Rly Mag., 1942, 88, 159-64.
An important source as Author's father Henry handled Webb's patenting activity. Lake encountered Jackson frequently at Crewe and mentions that the Official Photographer's name was Slight.

Jones, W.H.B.
Locomotive foreman: Crewe North & South sheds. Talbot LNWR recalled (p. 68) stated Jones possessed an unerring instinct to tell whether men were speaking the truth.

Kampf, H.W.
Began as a boy on the LBR at Wolverton in March 1841, and later became a draughtsman under McConnell. From 1857 until his retirement he was senior in length of service of all the locomotive department officers. On the reshuffle following the consolidation of the ND and SD he was transferred in April 1862 to Crewe as a draughtsman, and on the promotion of Stubbs in 1866 he became head of the office. After the death of Stubbs, Kampf more-or-less had to take over the works management also, particularly during Ramsbottom's absences in 1871. After Webb's provisional appointment (to succeed Ramsbottom no important positions were confirmed until near the time of the actual change, and then only with Webb's concurrence. For some reason Kampf must have been unacceptable to Webb for permanent, promotion to works manager or retention as chief draughtsman, and soon after Webb took over as chief Kampf was transferred back to Wolverton by the terms of a Locomotive Committee minute of November 1871: "Ordered that Mr Kampf be appointed indoor assistant at Wolverton at £250 p.a. and be paid a bonus of £250 in consideration of the efficient and meritorious services he has rendered at Crewe since Mr. Stubbs's death and during Mr Ramsbottom's illness." Kampf handled carriage work under Bore and the decreasing amount of locomotive work at Wolverton, but after the latter came to an end he was transferred in November 1877 to Carlisle as locomotive foreman; under Webb he got no further, and finished his 48 years of service in 1889 at that place.

Kean, Bartholomew
1818-1887. Kean was locomotive storekeeper for many years until his death in the Crewe jubilee year. He took much part in Crewe civic affairs and was one of the town's independent aldermen. He joined the GJR service in April 1846 and was one of the few men who entered the service before the formation of the LNWR who found much favour with Moon. He was one of the few Catholics who attained responsible positions in the works.

Lawrence, Thomas
Born on 6 November 1884; died 5 December 1922. Educated at Nantwich, Acton Grammar School and Pembroke College, Cambridge. Received his technical eduction at Crewe Mechanics Institute whilst an apprentice at Crewe Works between 1904 and 1907. In June 1907 he was appointed an Assistant District Locomotive Superintendent at Crewe and in 1911 District Superintendent at Wolverhampton. In 1913 he was transferred to Chester, then to Preston and in 1914 to Manchester Longsight (Locomotive Mag, 1914, 20, 133) and from then District Superintendent at Crewe until his death. Member ILocoE local committee in Manchester: see Locomotive Mag., 1919, 25, 81.

Lemon,  F. Arnold
Succeeded to the works management in December 1920, and had the longest spell of any man in that position. When Beames went to Derby early in 1931 Lemon became known as the Crewe works superintendent, a title that lasted through to the days of BR. Lemon was born at Castle Cary, Somerset, and began as a Crewe premium in the mid-1890s. Afterwards he was for some years in the running side, including a period as foreman at Birkenhead, and 2½ years in charge of the Dundalk, Newry & Greenore Railway. He became assistant works manager at Crewe in 1916, and in that position was much occupied with the changes brought in 1919 with the 47 hour week. As works manager (appointed in 1921 when Beames became CME: Locomotive Mag., 1921, 27. 52) he had to take a leading part in the re-organisation of 1925-27 and handle the disruption brought by the general strike in 1926. For many years he was an effective chief, but through the 1930s increasing deafness became a handicap, and with the more onerous duties arising out of World War II, coupled with an unsuitable assistant works manager, he resigned at Stanier's suggestion in 1941. He died at his birthplace in the late 1950s. See also Jenkins Sir Ernest Lemon for confusion between two men with unusual name..

Lindop, Levi Williams
Lindop was born near Crewe on 6 April 1860 and educated at High Town Wesleyan School, Crewe and enrolled as an apprentice fitter at Crewe Works on 12 May 1875. He was taken on as a fitter in Crewe Works, but was transferred to the Dundalk Newry & Greenore Railway on 13 Apeil 1883. On 10 August 1885 he was moved to Ellesmere Port (another LNWR subsidiary) where he gained promotion becoming Machinery Superintendent in 1892. He retired on 31 July 1922 and died in Ellesmere Port on 24 April 1935. He held a patent for reversible screw propellers (20776/1893 Improvements in or relating to screw propellers. J. Rly Canal Hist. Soc., 2010, 36, 80..

Low, Robert Carmichael Stuart (Mike or Michael)
No. 3 in the management structure in Crewe Works in the 1950s. Personal friend of Broadbent and with H.M.P. Beames' sons Geoffrey (Bobs) and Peter (who had served in the Royal Tank Corps until killed in North Africa). In 1926 the Beames brothers formed the Mountain Rangers association. Broadbent, William Benedict as told via Edward Talbot. The road to Holyhead. Part Two. Backtrack, 2011, 25, 598-603. Companion of Roland Bond on BTC fact finding trip to North America in 1957.

McLellan, Robert Angus
Died 15 December 1945 aged 84 (had retired on 28 February 1923). Sometime Locomotive Foreman at Abergavenny, later District Locomotive Superintendent. Worked with C.J. Bowen Cooke at Rugby where they designed a 2-4-0 for a competition: see J.M. Dunn. The Rugby locomotive, Rly Mag., 1962, 108, 241-2. and see Dunn Reflections who encountereed McLellan early in his railway career and described him as a shortish man of aristocratic appearance and scholarly demeanour.Also obituary Locomotive Mag., 1946, 52, 46 which mentions a 4-4-0 which foreshadowed the 1904 Precursor designed with Bowen Cooke at Rugby; also his work on apprentice training and finally of local history at Church Stretton..

Moore, Dr Harold
Dr Moore the first and only LMSR 'company doctor' at Crewe, being appointed on the formation of that company and retiring only when the company came to an end. He died in 1954. He was a man of fine but unassuming character, with a reputation for never being taken-in by feigned illness or injury. Early in his tenure he got what was for the time up-to-date radiographic equipment for the railway-owned hospital. Reed wrote "There are still men at Crewe works today who claim happily that they were treated by Dr Moore".

Mumford, A.L.
Dawn Smith (initials): Locomotive Mag., 1904, 8, 290 for retirement in 1899 (former Superintendent Southern Division and George Whale took over his duties).

Nash, Harry
Foreman Crewe Locomotive Running shads; then Assistant Superintendent Running Dept. from 1916.
Patent GB 923/1913 Improved locomotive engine wheel sanding apparatus, with C.J. Bowen Cooke Applied 13 January 1913. Published 2 October 1913

Norman, Walter
Succeeded Dick as chief draughtsman. He had joined the LNWR locomotive department in June 1864. During his time as chief he had design oversight of the Cauliflower 0-6-0s, Experiment and Dreadnought compounds, and the office work involved in the conversion of DX engines into Special DX. He resigned to join the West Australian Land Company and left at the end of May 1888. Had he withheld his notice another month he might have been on the cards for promotion after Charlie Dick's death.

Ormand, T.
Succeeded Macrae as locomotive accountant in 1909 and retired in 1921. He entered LNWR service as a boy of 14. He was succeeded by J. A. Platt, the last locomotive accountant of the LNWR.

Reddrop, Joseph
Joseph Reddrop had been apprenticed at Crewe and had also taken a course at the Royal School of Mines. Under the influence of the Locomotive Superintendent, Francis Webb, the work of the laboratory extended to include analysis of leather, soap, bricks, cement, creosote, lubricating and burning oil  as ewell as coal, coke and gas. Reddrop reigned as Chief Chemist at Crewe for thirty years, although not until 1876 did Webb recommend that Reddrop now paid at the rate of 50s. a week be transferred to the salary list at £150 per annum. In metal analysis and other fields Reddrop made a major contribution to the LNWR. He invented a foot warmer for use in unheated third class carriages consisting of a container of sodium acetate in the fused condition and depended upon the very high latent heat of solidification of the substance which thus gave out heat for a long time as the contents solidified. He soon had a staff of eight assistants and the laboratory was moved to more commodious premises. The 1884/5 accounts showed that 1000 carbon estimations on Bessemer steel had been made, together with 400 analyses of miscellaneous alloys and materials.
Work was also being done for the Depots at Camden, Edge Hill and Willesden, while interest was now being taken in the control of water softening procedures. Reddrop's reputation spread beyond the railways; he became one of the earliest Fellows of the Institute of Chemistry in 1878 and an original member of the Society for Chemical Industry, founded in 1881.
Reddrop was appointed chemist as a young man barely 20 years old by Ramsbottom in 1866. Reddrop, a young draughtsman was sent to study under Professor Roascoe at Manchester and was in charge of the spectroscopes on the Bessemer converters. Reddrop held the chemist's position until about the time Webb retired. He was succeeded by F. G. Tipler who died in 1920 after 42 years of service with the company. Final paragraph Reed: remainder Wise Railway research. . Russell who imply that retired in 1899. Lang in discussion on ILocoE Paper 295 notes that Reddrop introduced the very elegant bismuthate analytical technique for manganese.

Rigg, John
Born in about 1812 and died in 1880. Born in Littleborough Rigg's earliest record of railway work is on the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway, on which eventually he became running shed foreman at New Holland. In 1852, partly on the recommendation of Isaac Watt Boulton, Ramsbottom appointed him running foreman of the NED at Longsight. According to Boulton, Ramsbottom shortly afterwards was worried about engine and crew working for heavy Whitsun week-end traffic and Rigg said to him: "Leave it all to me. I feel quite at home with it, and all will come out right." It did, and from that time Ramsbottom trusted him fully, in 1857 taking him to Crewe as outdoor assistant (running) of the enlarged Northern Division. His starting salary at Crewe was £250 a year. From 1867, when Thomas Wheatley, the outdoor assistant of the Southern Division at Wolverton, went to the North British Railway, Rigg also had oversight of the SD running department, but retained his office at Crewe, the central point. His final salary was £800 a year. For some weeks in 1871 while Ramsbottom was absent through illness, Rigg acted as deputy locomotive superintendent. He retired in 1877, and from then until his death in February 1880 he had a railway pension of £400 a year. Rigg was a practical man and capable\of rising with the job as its scope increased. He must have been inventive, for in 1865 he designed a corridor coach with lavatory accommodation. He was also a shrewd and astute business man. He came to own considerable property in Crewe, and long before his retirement from the LNWR he was financially interested in cheese-making, brick-making, engineering, and fustian-cutting establishments in the town. He took a leading part in the affairs of Crewe through the time of the Monks Coppenhall Local Board.

Rowbottom, James R.
District Locomotive Superintendent Swansea in early 1930s. Crewe-trained. Burgess. Working with LMS steam.

Ryder, J.
Became assistant manager for the steel department in 1921 and remained there until he retired in January 1932, though from May 1931 he was graded as steel plant manager. He began at Crewe in 1886 and was in the laboratory and test room until sent for special work to the steel plant in 1916.

Sackfield, Thomas Edward
Jackson's locomotive assistant from 1893, he supervised locomotive design from then until his retirement in 1924. Cox (Locomotive panorama 1) states retirement was in August 1923 and called him "Leading Draughtsman"'. He won a Whitworth Scholarship in 1879 at the end of his Crewe premium days. This gave him three years at Owens College, after which he returned to Crewe drawing office, where he eventually became a well-known personality among Crewe premiums and pupils who spent a period in the drawing office; they were much helped by the small but large-moustached Tommy. One of his especial cares was the model room and the laying-out of valve motions, and he was prominent on important dynamometer car trials. He was a successful teacher of evening classes at the Mechanics Institute from 1882 to 1917. A year after his retirement he was elected to the town council and took a good part in civic affairs. Portrait Backtrack, 1996, 10,  page 211..

See Rly Mag., 89, 341 for anecdotes about Sackfield "that exceptional and energetic man" by T. Lovatt Williams who also stated that "there was no man in that period at Crewe who influenced locomotive design more than T.E. Sackfield.
Reed: Crewe locomotive works and its men.

Savage, W.
Son of a Wolverton man, and a well-known Crewe figure for many years. He came to Crewe when the family was transferred there in 1868 when he was ten years old. He began as a Crewe apprentice in 1872 and afterwards was in the drawing office for some years. He won a Whitworth Scholarship in 1881 and then went into teaching until 1892, when he returned to Crewe as foreman of the brass foundry and testing department. He became foreman of the steel foundry and of 'the melts' in.1896, and in 1916 was made assistant manager at the Steelworks end. He retired in 1921. From his return to Crewe until his retirement he was an effective teacher at the Mechanics Institute. Reed.

Snelson, Thomas
Chief foreman boilermaker. Locomotive Mag., 1923, 29, 121
GB 149901 Improvements relating to locomotive fire-box and like stays, with C.J. Bowen Cooke. Applied 16 April 1920 
GB 112705 Improvements relating to locomotive fire-box and like stays, with C.J. Bowen Cooke. Applied 5 April 1917

Stubbs, Thomas
Born in 1836 and died in 1870. Stubbs was born at Carlisle and joined the NED at Longsight as a boy draughtsman in 1852. At the end of 1857 Ramsbottom transferred him to Crewe drawing office, and on Webb's elevation to works manager in September 1861 Stubbs became head of the drawing office at £140 a year, later increased to £170. When Webb left LNWR service Stubbs became chief indoor assistant (works manager) as from 1 July 1866, and his salary was raised to £300 a year; by March 1869 it had increased to £600. He died on 16 September 1870 after a three-week illness, and as a mark of the opinion the board had of him his salary up to the end of the year was paid to his widow and young children. His obituary recorded that he had filled his last position with great satisfaction. He must have been a remarkable man for Ramsbottom to appoint him chief draughtsman at 25 years of age and works manager at thirty especially as he seems to have had no period in the works as a youth. Probably Stubb's death had a big effect on Ramsbottom, who was just beginning to feel the strain of over a dozen years as chief, and had given in his notice scarcely ten days before; he must have viewed Stubbs as well able to look after the works with no more than nominal supervision. When Stubbs became works manager he was given George Radcliffe as his special assistant for the rail mill, then still in the southern annexe to the Old Works, but Radcliffe rose little higher under Webb.

Tandy, T.O.B.
Dawn Smith (initials): Locomotive Mag., 1904, 8, 290 for  appointment as Superintendent Northern Division upon George Whale becoming Chief Mechanical Engineer.

Thompson, Joseph William
Locomotive draughtsman: joined ILocoE in 1935

Wadsworth, George
Wadsworth was the locomotive accountant at Crewe through Ramsbottom's time there and for many years of the Webb regime. He had entered the service in 1852; by 1857 had found found favour with Moon, and was appointed to succeed Bell as locomotive accountant of the Northern Division. By 1865 he was acting as locomotive accountant for the whole line, still with his office almost next door to Ramsbottom's. He retired in 1885. He was a member of the old Local Board and was chairman of its finance committee, and he was one of the original members of the town council on the incorporation of Crewe as a borough in 1877. On both bodies he acted very much as an LNWR representative.

Warneford, Walter Wyndham Hayden
Works manager at Crewe from 1910 to 1916, he was a son of the church, being born in Wiltshire in 1866. His father was a canon of Salisbury cathedral. He began as an apprentice at Miles Platting works of the LYR in 1882, but in 1883 transferred to Crewe as a premium, and then as a pupil of Webb. In March 1889 he became an assistant at the steel plant, then assistant manager having charge of 'the melts' and the iron and steel foundries. This appointment he held until his promotion to works manager. A dapper little man, he looked diminutive alongside Cooke's 6ft. They worked together without any obvious friction, but were never wholly en rapport. In April 1916 Warneford was made wagon superintendent at Earlestown (Locomotive Mag., 1916, 22, 18) and retired soon after the formation of the LMSR. His only son lost his life in the 1914-19 war, and he was a relation of the VC, Lieutenant Warneford, who brought down a Zeppelin in France in 1915. Reed. Appointment as works manager, Crewe (two extra initials: E.P.W.W.H.)  Locomotive Mag., 1910, 16, 90

Wayte, Charles
Wayte is the first Crewe chief draughtsman to be recorded by name. He joined the GJR in 1845 and by 1852, if not earlier, he had become principal draughtsman at a salary of £2 a week, raised to £125 per annum at the end of that year. He was one of the early teachers at the Mechanics Institute. Trevithick thought well of him, but he resigned in September 1854 to go out of the railway world.

Williams, William
Williams, a "gentleman apprentice draughtsman" (Snell Railways: mechanical engineering) at Robert Stephenson & Co., together with the pattern-maker William Howe, devised the so-called Stephenson valve gear in 1841. This was first fitted to a locomotive in 1842, and was characterized by a slotted link along which slid one end of the valve rod. It enabled cut-off to be varied while the locomotive was in motion and was an immediate and long-lasting success. See : P. Ransome-Wallis, An Encyclopedia of World Railway Locomotives (1959). See also Hunt BackTrack, 17, 641. and Brewer Loco. Rly Carr. Wagon Rev., 1933, 39, 373
He was appointed principal draughtsman at Crewe as from 1 January 1855 at £156 a year. He is believed to have been the Williams who invented the Stephenson link motion at Forth Street in 1841 and who came to Crewe from the South Eastern Railway. He died unduly early in February 1859, before which he had charge of the design of Ramsbottom's DX 0-6-0 engines, the conversion of Cornwall, and the early work on the 2-2-2 Problem class.

Winby, Harry
Obituary Locomotive Mag. 1911, 17, 147-8 of man who had served under Trevithick and lasted through to Webb.

William Adamson
Began at Wolverton in 1854 and by the 1862 consolidation was a foreman. He was transferred in that capacity to Crewe in 1864, and later became foreman millwright and later outdoor superintendent responsible to Webb, a position he held until his retirement. His successors in the last-named job were A. H. Hignett who retired at the end of the century, and then E. C. Bickersteth

Wrench, Arthur
Joined ILocoE in 1921 giving his address as LNWR, Crewe. Article in Locomotive Mag, 1920, 26, 62-3: Notes on the Baldwin locomotives with the Royal Engineers in France

Kenneth Macrae
Succeeded Wadsworth as locomotive accountant in 1885 and retired in 1909. He was a town councillor and alderman, and in those capacities was always a strong 'company' man in Civic affairs.

Crewe apprentices

Crewe apprentices were an essential part of the works and of the far-flung 'Crewe tradition'. The first 'premium' on record was William Woods, for whom Lord Delamere paid a fee of £15 to Trevithick in 1846, but Trevithick's most celebrated premium was Webb. Until 1862 not many premiums were admitted who did not have already a connection with the LNWR. After the amalgamation of the locomotive divisions, premiums were taken from outside, the whole intake of apprentices and pupils being widened and more regulated in three general categories: trade apprentices, premium apprentices, and pupils.
Ordinary trade apprentices normally were sons of Crewe or other LNWR employees, and were trained for only one branch, such as turners, fitters, machine men, moulders and so on. Successive entries soon formed a family tradition, and in present BREL days fourth and fifth generation men are known in the works. Several Crewe registers of the Ramsbottom and Webb periods survive which show the monthly inflow and outflow of workmen, with reasons for leaving, previous employment, into which shop they were taken, and so forth. These form a good background for Crewe families and works environment.
From the early 1860s there was a Crewe foremen's tradition as well as the workers' and apprentices' family traditions. These men had absolute authority within their own spheres and were accustomed to strong mutual support. Many of them lived alongside each other in Delamere and Victoria Streets, known colloquially as 'Gaffers' Row.' Well-known foremen of the later Ramsbottom and earlier Webb years were George Dingley of Nos 3 and 4 erecting shops, Kemp of the steel plant, Martin of the joiners, Roberts of No 1 shop, Braidwood of the fitters, Hymers of the iron foundry, Beazley of the painters, William Ellis of the boiler shop, Williams of the tender shop, and Antrobus of the copper shop, In the later years of Webb and up to 1914 were Henry Cooper of the boiler shop, who was in the service for over 59 years and who died two weeks after his retirement in 1911, Joyce of the west-end erecting shops, Lindop of the Old Works fitting shop, and later Henry Powell of the wheel shop, a well-known locomotive model maker who won the 1948 championship cup at the Model Engineer exhibition with a 7¼in-gauge Stanier Pacific. A Locomotive Foremen's Pension Fund was begun in 1890 and started with over 200 members including running-shed foremen. ,
Premium apprentices came from wider social circles and geographical limits. For a sum usually of about £200 paid by instalments to the company, they went through a five-year apprenticeship and were paid normal trade apprentice rates. They were taken through a variety of shops and could attend some day classes at the Mechanics Institute, but they did not always get into the drawing office, and their footplate experience was limited to a few footplate passes. As a rule half the premium payments were credited to the Apprentice Fee Account of the company at Euston; the other half was available to help the finances of the Mechanics Institute. In the last quarter-century of the LNWR around 30 new premiums were admitted each year .
Pupils usually were accepted from the ranks of the premiums, either at the end of apprenticeship or after three years. They were not pupils of the company but of the chief mechanical engineer, who had free choice as to whom he took. Occasionally pupils were taken without previous apprenticeship, but then generally direct from a university or perhaps after some experience at another works. Such pupils were taken until the mid-1930s. Pupilage lasted two years at a cost of around £150 a year, of which half went to the company and half to the chief mechanical engineer. From the later years of Webb the number of pupils at one time was limited to six, and they were given still wider opportunities than premiums, and invariably had periods in the drawing office and on the footplate, in addition to weekly footplate passes. A 'prize' for second-year pupils was a fortnight's locum in the summer, when they acted for shed foremen on holiday.
Neither premiums nor pupils were guaranteed LNWR jobs at the end of their time, and those without influence usually went elsewhere at once or after a few months working as journeymen at Crewe or some shed. Even those who stayed did not always go high, perhaps just to foreman level, though some of them were Whitworth Scholars and Exhibitioners.
Among the many Crewe premiums and pupils who later became celebrated in the locomotive and railway world, and who are not covered earlier in Reed's "this chapter", were James Crawford Park (1856-61), locomotive superintendent of the GNR (Ireland) from 1881 to 1895;
Wilson Worsdell (1866-67), chief mechanical engineer of the NER 1890-1910;
Sir John Aspinall (1868-72), locomotive superintendent of the GS&WR (Ireland) 1882-86 and the L&YR (1886-98), and general manager (1899-1919) of the latter;
H.A. Ivatt (1868-72), locomotive superintendent of the GS&WR (1886-96) and GNR (1896-1911);
R.F. Trevithick (1867-72), locomotive superintendent of the Ceylon Government Railways and of the western section of the Imperial Japanese Government Railways;
Roger Atkinson (1870-73), superintendent of rolling stock, Canadian Pacific from 1896;
H.A. Hoy (1872-77), chief mechanical engineer of the LYR (1899-1904) and general manager of Beyer Peacock (1904-10);
Edgar Worthington (1875-78), for 22 years secretary of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers;
F.C. Lea (1878-80), celebrated Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Sheffield University;
George Hughes (1882-87), chief mechanical engineer in turn of the LYR (1904-21), LNWR (1922) and LMSR (1923-25);
T. O'B. Otway-Ruthven (1889-93), chief mechanical engineer of the Nigerian Government Railways;
F.R. Collins (c. 1890-94), later chief mechanical engineer of the South African Railways;
Nigel Gresley (1893-94), later chief mechanical engineer of the GNR (1911-22) and LNER (1923-41);
Donald Fraser (1895-97), later locomotive superintendent of the Canton-Hankow Railway;
Eric Arthur Robinson (1890s), later managing director of the Superheater Co;
J.G.B. Sams (1897-1902), locomotive superintendent of the Jamaican Government Railways and running superintendent of the Kenya & Uganda Railways;
H. F. Cardew, chief mechanical engineer of the Nizam's Railway;
R. E. Bury (1897-1902), grand-nephew of Edward Bury, the early locomotive builder, and who became chief mechanical engineer of the Mysore State Railways. Locomotive Mag., 1917, 23, 76 called him "grandson" of Edward Bury;
A. W. Sutherland Graeme (1898-1903), one of Webb's last pupils, and later chief mechanical engineer of the Federated Malay States Railways;
H.G. Ivatt (1904-08), later chief mechanical engineer of the LMSR and the LM Region of British Railways; Sir Reginald Terrell (1908-11), who became an MP and a director of signalling and other companies;
Kenneth Cantlie (1916-20), technical adviser to the Chinese Minister of Railways and later the overseas representative of the Locomotive Manufacturers' Association; and
Donald H. Stuart (1920-22), assistant chief mechanical engineer of the Burma Railways.

All of above mentioned by Reed: in addition Talbots's The LNWR recalled: collected writings and observations on the London & North Western Railway. (1987) p. 70 mentions: F.T.B. (Tom) Giles who became Locomotive Carriage & Wagon Superintendent of the Assam Railways & Trading Co.

The Past and Present Crewe Association, a very loose body for long known as the Crewe Premiums' and Pupils' Association, began in the early 1880s at a suggestion, it has been said, made by Aspinall to Webb. The first dinner was in 1884 at 'the Cri' in Piccadilly Circus. In 1981 was held the 74th annual dinner. Gatherings usually have been in London, but occasionally from 1919 in Crewe, at the Crewe Arms Hotel. Few were more entertaining than the 1919 dinner, after a four-year gap, when Gresley and Aspinall sang to the refrain of The Holy City J. A. Bowes's poem Crewe Steam Shed. When the 1927 dinner was held at Crewe so that members could see the re-organised works, the doyen was Sir John Aspinall, who had begun his time at Crewe 58 years before. At the 1980 dinner in London the doyen was R. A. Riddles, who had begun at Crewe 71 years earlier. For many years prior to World War II the secretary was Reggie Terrell; today it is Andrew Steel, who after service at Crewe is now in the BR mechanical department at York.

Other employees

Turner, Jabez Foster (Foss)
1871-1965: entered service of LNWR in 1897: moulder in iron foundry: employed as Darroch's gardner

2022-09-24