Papers of Tommy Hornbuckle

The Midland Railway was formed in 1844 from the merger of the Midland Counties Railway, the North Midland Railway and Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway wit its headquarters in Derby. It expanded its operational territory by acquisition (e.g. railways in the Erewash valley, to Sheffield, serving the Leicestershire coalfields and the route from Birmingham to Bristol), and by construction of new railways and extensions to existing lines, including lines to Peterborough and Lincoln, towards Manchester and, most notably the Settle to Carlisle route. It expanded into the South Wales coalfields, and acquired railways not connected to its main routes: the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway and, in Ireland, the Belfast and Northern Counties Railways. Much of this activity was driven by competition with its geographical rivals, the London and North Western Railway to the west and the Great Northern Railway to the east.

Where its interests were better served by co-operation, it tried to reach agreements with those same companies to share routes and traffic receipts. The most famous of these is the Euston Square Confederation, an agreement between the Midland Railway, the London and North Western Railway and the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway. Other such arrangements were the Cheshire Lines Committee and the right to run over the Great Northern Railway into King’s Cross station.

The arrangements for through running and sharing of London termini with its competitors proved unsatisfactory. As a consequence the Midland Railway eventually built its own connection to London. The line ran from Bedford on the Midland’s existing Leicester to Hitchin line, to a terminus at St Pancras. It was opened in 1868. The Midland Railway was a partner in several joint railways e.g. the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway (with the London and South Western Railway), and the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway (the Great Northern Railway).

The Midland Railway came under the control of the Railway Executive during the First World War and ended its independent existence in 1923 under Grouping when it was merged with, amongst other railway companies, its great rival the London and North Western Railway to form the London, Midland and Scottish Railway Company.

The English Electric Company was formed on 14th December 1918 and over the following year acquired Dick, Kerr & Company of Preston, Willans & Robinson of Rugby, the Phoenix Dynamo Manufacturing Company of Bradford, and Coventry Ordnance Works. After the First World War the various German owned Siemens works were distributed to different UK companies and in November 1919 English Electric acquired the Siemens Brothers Dynamo Works at Stafford, which became the company headquarters in 1931.

Coventry Ordnance, primary output naval guns, did not feature in the gradual product rationalisation which took place between the First World and Second world Wars. Willans & Robinson’s Rugby works specialised in prime movers, steam, hydro and internal combustion, and their Stafford works on power station and distribution electrics, including transformers and large electric machines for applications such as mining and steel works. Dick Kerr & Company continued building equipment and vehicles for bus, tram and railway applications with the Phoenix Dynamo Manufacturing Company concentrating on medium and small electrical machines. Involvement with aircraft continued a small scale. By 1929 the company was in financial trouble and an American syndicate fronted by Lazard Bros. put in new capital. In 1930 Westinghouse of Pittsburgh entered into an agreement with the company for the exchange of technical information relating to steam turbines and electrical apparatus. This cooperation continued into the 1950s.

1930 saw the closure of Preston West works and the transfer of traction electrical design and manufacture to the Phoenix Dynamo Manufacturing works. The Westinghouse influence included top management changes with Sir H Mensforth becoming chairman and George Nelson managing director. Both had been with British Westinghouse at Trafford Park. The early 1930s saw a remarkable improvement in the company’s finances and domestic appliance manufacture was started at Bradford and Stafford. In 1936 they began production of diesel locomotives at Preston and were later involved in the production of the Deltic locomotive for British Rail, presaging the end of steam traction in the UK.

Extensive shadow factory building for war production commenced in the late 1930’s, including at Preston East works and Salmesbury for aircraft production and at East Lancashire Road, Liverpool for D. Napier aero engines. A large variety of military equipment built during the war included thousands of Cromwell tanks from Stafford and over 3000 Handley Page Hampden and Halifax bombers from Preston and Salmesbury. After the war manufacture of smaller products from Bradford and Stafford moved to the large Liverpool works. This included electrical distribution transformers, switchgear, fuse gear, fractional horsepower motors and domestic appliances. Napier’s continued engine manufacture with the development of the ’Deltic’ diesel engine, mainly for marine applications. The nearby Netherton works took over the manufacture of large hydro-electric turbines and generators from Willans and Stafford.

In 1942 English Electric acquired D. Napier & Son Ltd and Marconi in 1946. The company went on to extend their railway interests with the acquisition of the Vulcan Foundry and Robert Stephenson and Hawthorn Ltd in 1955. The company tried to take over The General Electric Company (GEC) in 1960 but failed.

Traction manufacture, but not the offices, moved back to Preston East works and ‘K’, ‘RK’ and ‘V’ engine design and manufacture moved from Willans to Preston West works which was now also used for locomotive building. Kidsgrove works in Stafford made industrial controls and for a while was a major player in the UK computer industry, merging with Leo Computers and then into ICL. Train performance calculations were an early user of the mid-fifties ‘Deuce’ computer. Preston also became a major player in the aircraft industry taking over the wartime RAF/USAF base at Warton aerodrome - major design and manufacture contracts included Canberra bombers and Lightning fighters. Rationalisation in the 1960s resulted in English Electric Aviation becoming 40% of the new British Aircraft Corporation.

In 1961 English Electric took over Dorman Diesels Ltd which in turn had acquired W. G. Bagnall Ltd. In 1966 English Electric Diesels merged with Ruston and Hornsby which already included Paxmans. This company eventually became GEC Diesels. Elliott Automation was acquired in 1967. The following year GEC took over English Electric, ending its independent existence.

Sir Ernest John Hutchings Lemon, OBE, worked at Midland Railway as the chief wagon inspector in 1911, in 1917 he was works manager of the carriage and wagon department of Midland Railway. In 1923 he was divisional carriage and wagon superintendent for the LMS. He became the Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway from 1931, within a year he was promoted to Vice-President Railway Traffic, Operating and Commercial. Under his Vice-Presidency, the LMS undertook modernisation of their motive power depots. During the run-up to the Second World War Lemon was made Director-General of Aircraft Production, making crucial improvements to aircraft production. He was a member of the Engineer and Railway Staff Corps[unit of the Royal Engineers], joining as a Major in 1929, he was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in 1932. He resigned his commission in 1943. His war work was honoured with a Knighthood in 1941. After retiring from the railway, Lemon became a Director at Scottish Aviation.

F. Lydall was a leading authority on railway electrification. First on the manufacturing side at Siemens Brothers & co. and from 1917 with the consulting engineering firm Mertz & Mclellan of which he became a partner in 1927.
He was responsible for supervising and reporting on the main line electrifications of the Glencoe – Pietermaritzburg line in Natal and that from Bombay over the western Ghats.

Just before his death he was advising British transport on the future of railway electrification in Britain. He died in February 1950. For an obituary see Railway Gazette July – December 1950, P. 340.

From 1925 S. H. Fisher worked as the operating assistant at Crewe to the chief general superintendent of the LMS. Between 1929-1932 he was the divisional superintendent of operations at Derby and in 1932 he was made the operating assistant to the chief general superintendent at Euston for the LMS. During this time he made a visit to Canada and America to study their railways. In 1934 he was the assistant chief operating manager and by 1944 he was the chief operating manager. He retired in 1950 at which time he was the deputy chief regional officer for the London Midlands region of British Railways. For more details of his career see Railway Gazette, July – December 1949, p. 335.

William Arthur Stanier was born at Swindon on May 27, 1876, and educated at Wycliffe College, Stonehouse. On his sixteenth birthday, in 1892, Stanier started an apprenticeship at Swindon his first job being in the saw mill fitting shop. In those days the chief mechanical engineer of the G.W.R. was William Dean, and it is recorded that the first engine on which the young apprentice worked was Dean's 4-4-0 No. 14 "Charles Saunders". The policy at Swindon was to move young men round the various departments when they were singled out for promotion, thus giving them a very wide range of experience, and Stanier had seen a great deal of locomotive building by the time his apprenticeship came to an end.

On completion of his apprenticeship Stanier moved into the drawing office. At this time, 1897, although Dean was still C.M.E., the influence of another famous G.W.R. engineer, G. J. Churchward, who was to succeed Dean, was beginning to be noticed, and during Stanier's three years in the drawing office an important series of locomotives was designed. This led to the Churchward Swindon standard taper boiler, a design which Stanier was later to introduce to the L.M.S.

In 1900 Stanier was appointed to the post of inspector of materials. Here again he was involved in some interesting developments, for Swindon was then turning to the extended use of steel in place of wrought iron, and introducing new manufacturing techniques. Stanier remained as inspector of materials until 1902, when he was transferred to the operating side as technical inspector to the divisional locomotive, carriage and wagon superintendent, Swindon. In 1903 he was transferred temporarily to London, to take charge of the locomotive sheds there during the absence abroad of the superintendent. It was a heavy responsibility for a young man of 27, but Stanier aquitted himself well and on his return to Swindon was told that he was being sent back to London as assistant to Armstrong, the local superintendent.
At this time new locomotive sheds at Old Oak Common were being built, giving Stanier further valuable experience, and Churchward's new locomotives were going into service. Stanier was not long at London. In 1906 he returned to Swindon as assistant to the locomotive works manager, and in the same year he received further promotion, becoming divisional locomotive superintendent.

In 1912 promotions at Swindon left the office of assistant work manager vacant, and Stanier was appointed to the post. Again, the appointment came at a time when many changes were pending. After the outbreak of war in 1914 Swindon was soon involved in the manufacture of munitions, and it fell to Stanier to adapt the machines to their new duties, or to design new ones where adaptation was impossible. In 1920 Stanier was promoted to locomotive works manager at Swindon.

Churchward retired from the post of C.M.E. in 1922 and he was succeeded by C. B. Collett, who appointed Stanier as his principal assistant. In 1927 the first of the famous "King" class, "King George V", appeared, and Stanier was selected to accompany the engine to America, where it took part in the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad centenary celebrations.
Stanier's next move was in 1932, when he became chief mechanical engineer of the L. M .S., where he was at once faced with a pretty formidable task. The locomotive stock of the L.M.S. was at the time not as good as it might have been, and the new C.M .E.'s job was to provide a range of standard locomotives, as few as possible to cover the operating requirements of the whole railway. For a new man, in an organisation which was in many ways quite different from the one to which he had become accustomed, the task was not easy. There is always, when an outsider is appointed to a high executive position, the possibility that there may be· some internal jealousy and friction as a result. So it was at Euston, but it is on record that Stanier's personality, his ability to "get on" with people, soon overcame such opposition as there was to his appointment.

Stanier brought to Crewe locomotive works a vast experience of all aspects of locomotive work, and an appreciation of the value of standardisation which he had acquired under Churchward at Swindon. Some Swindon features were transferred to Crewe the taper boiler was an outstanding one but they went on merit, not because Stanier was a Swindon man. On the contrary, he was soon at work on his own range of new designs, the first of which, a 4- 6- 0, was built in considerable numbers straight off the drawing board. He then built two "Pacifies " , Nos. 6200 and 6201, which, after a few trial runs were put to work on the " Royal Scot" expresses between Euston and Glasgow.
Six new designs followed, including the justly celebrated "Black Fives". It was said of the class-5 engines that there was never a locomotive so universally acclaimed. More standard classes followed, and then came an experimental engine, the "Turbomotive", which was driven by team turbines. It achieved a certain amount of success in operation, and some engineers felt that the experiment ought to have been continued, but the engine was ultimately rebuilt in orthodox form.

By 1936 the new designs from Crewe were going along satisfactorily, and a new activity was pending for Stanier. In the previous two years the Government-owned railways of India had shown heavy operating losses, and an expert enquiry into the causes was suggested. Sir Ralph Wedgwood, chief general manager of the L.N.E.R. and Stanier were invited to conduct the enquiry, and they accordingly arrived in Bombay in November, 1936. Their report had only just been published when a serious accident on the Indian railways gave further evidence that things were not as they should be, and Stanier was appointed to a committee which had the duty of examining all aspects of the design and operations of three classes of engines used in India. A very lengthy and detailed report was published in due course.
The locomotives which had given trouble in India were "Pacifies", and during his membership of the enquiry committee, Stanier was developing a "super 'Pacific' " of his own for the L.M.S. He was thus specially qualified for his enquiry work for his designs had taken into account all the factors which, through neglect, had caused disaster in India. The "super 'Pacifies' ", generally known as the "Duchesses", were highly successful, and were used with the celebrated "Coronation Scot" express between Euston and Glasgow in 1937.

By the time war broke out in 1939, Stanier had virtually carried out the task he was appointed by the L.M.S. to do, and in 1942 he was seconded to the Ministry of Production as scientific adviser. In 1944, already past what is normally regarded as retiring age, Stanier resigned from the L.M.S., though he continued to give his services as a technical consultant as required. So ended an active career of over fifty years on two major railways, in the course of which Stanier had risen from being an ordinary apprentice to hold the highest engineering position a railway can offer. In his retirement he continued to take a keen interest in railway matters.

Recognition of his services to railway engineering came to Stanier in his lifetime. He was knighted in 1943 and in 1944 he had the honour of being elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. His fellow engineers also honoured him: he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Institution of Locomotive Engineers in 1957, and the James Watt International Medal of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1963. Outside his railway career he was a member of the Aeronautical Research Council and a director of Power Jets Ltd.

Sir William Stanier was trained in what was sometimes described as the finest possible training ground for an engineer a large railway works. This was certainly true for many years (and no more so than at Swindon).
The age of team, which Stanier served so well, is passing (at least on railways). But his training and subsequent period of executive power happened to fall in what is now recognised as an exciting time. There were great things to be done on railways, and it was people like Stanier who did them. He was recognised during his lifetime as one of the great mechanical engineers of the day. As time goes on his name will surely become more firmly identified with what after all, was a great period of experiment and development. Sir William Stanier was truly one of the "Giants of Steam ".

He died on 27th September at the age of 89.

The site of Derby Locomotive Works (the Works) was acquired in 1840 and was originally a facility for the repair of the Midland Railway Company’s railway vehicles: locomotives, carriages and wagons. Locomotive building started in 1851. In 1873 the company relocated the carriage and wagon works to a new site at Litchurch Lane, concentrating locomotive operations at the Works. Eventually, the Works occupied an area of 51 acres. After Grouping the Works became one of two major locomotive factories operated by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) (the other being Crewe) and it continued to build locomotives following nationalisation. After 1947 the Works was initially part of the British Transport Commission – Workshops Division, subsequently passing to British Railways Board and then to British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL) in 1970. BREL was privatised in 1989 and the Works closed in 1990.

The Works produced its first modern traction, an 0-6-0 diesel shunter, in 1934 and in 1947 built the first mainline diesel-electric locomotive, No. 10000. Locomotive building continued until 1979 along with maintenance and repair. In the later period the Works also manufactured bogies for all traction types and overhauled breakdown cranes for all regions. After privatisation the Works concentrated on supplying bogies and components; locomotive activity ceased.

Railways in Britain were nationalised under the terms of the Transport Act 1947 which came into effect on 1 January 1948. The Railway Executive, a corporate body subordinate to the British Transport Commission, was created to manage and operate the railways. It divided them into six geographical regions, largely based on the areas served by the pre-nationalisation railway companies.

London Midland Region (LMR) was one of those territories. It comprised the railway operations in England and Wales of the former London, Midland and Scottish Railway Company (LMS) with the exception of the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway which was placed in Eastern Region and lines in central and south Wales which passed to Western Region. Subsequently, the area of operations was adjusted by the transfer of “penetrating lines” between regions

Between 1948 and 1952 the regional manager was responsible to the Railway Executive for day to day operations in his region. After the Railway Executive was abolished in 1952, he reported to the British Transport Commission (BTC). In 1963, BTC itself was abolished and replaced by British Railways Board (BRB). Between 1963 and 1968 LMR was a statutory board in accordance with the provisions of the Transport Act 1962, subordinate to and reporting to BRB. It ceased to be a statutory board in 1968, following reorganisation of the railways’ business along sectoral or functional lines. The name survived until 1992 when the railways were privatised.

There were two principal routes in the region. The first was the former Midland mainline which had several components: London St Pancras to Sheffield via Leicester and Nottingham, Rugby through Derby to West Yorkshire and Leeds and continuing over the Settle-Carlisle route, Derby to Manchester, and Birmingham to Derby. The other was the West Coast Mainline (WCML) from Euston to Carlisle, via Birmingham and Manchester with its branch to Liverpool.

There was one major “penetrating line”, the former Great Central London Extension from Annesley in Nottinghamshire to London Marylebone, via Leicester, and Rugby. Originally in Eastern Region, this line was transferred to London Midland Region in 1958.

The WCML which formed part of the major route from London to Scotland was electrified in stages between 1959 and 1974. Only the southern end of the Midland Mainline from Bedford to London Moorgate was electrified during the period that London Midland Region existed.

Like other regions London Midland experienced withdrawal of services and closures, especially following the Beeching report. The most notable casualty was the Great Central line, which, because it largely duplicated the Midland Main Line from Nottingham to London, was closed almost in its entirety. The line through the Derbyshire Dales between Matlock and Buxton was also closed thus severing the route from St Pancras to Manchester. Many branch lines and industrial lines were also closed

The company bearing the name of Richard Hornsby (1790-1864), the agricultural engineer, was founded when Richard opened a blacksmithy in Grantham, Lincolnshire in 1815 with Richard Seaman, after joining Seaman's business in 1810. The company became Richard Hornsby & Sons in 1828, when Richard bought out his partner's ownership, when Seaman retired.

R. Hornsby & Sons grew into a major manufacturer of agricultural machinery, at their Spittle Gate Works. The firm went on to produce steam engines used to drive threshing machines and other equipment such as traction engines; their portable steam engine was one of their most important products and the market leader. A farm was purchased nearby, where all their new products were tested before being produced.

Later a chain-track was added to an oil-engined tractor: the caterpillar track; these were developed and patented by Hornsby's chief engineer (and managing director), David Roberts, from July 1904. These were first used on tractors which served with the British Army towing artillery from 1910, but were later fitted to tanks which were used in the First World War from 1916. In 1909, a development model called the Little Caterpillar was demonstrated to the War Office. The army officers present at the demonstration believed it would frighten the horses.

In 1907, a chain-track was fitted to a 40hp petrol-engined car, and trialled in Aldershot, with film footage taken of the 15mph phenomenal machine. The film also showed a team of horses pulling a heavy carriage over a marsh. The horses, without much ceremony, sank. A caterpillar tractor then drove over the same marsh and avoided similarly sinking, and pulled out the horses. This film was shown to cinema audiences in summer 1908, who found it beguiling. It is thought to be the first (long-length) film made for commercial purposes. Shorter length film adverts had also been produced since the late 1890s.

Work with Herbert Akroyd Stuart in the 1890s lead to the world's first commercial vaporizing oil engines being made in Grantham (from July 8 1892). Other larger engineering companies had been offered the option of manufacturing the engine, but they saw it as a threat to their business instead. Only Hornsbys saw its possibilities. The first one was sold to the Newport Pagnell Sanitary Authority (later to be bought back by Hornsbys and displayed in their office). Later in 1892, T.H. Barton at Hornsbys replaced the engine's vaporiser with a cylinder head, increased the compression ratio, and the engine ran on compression alone for six hours; the first time this had been achieved. This was the first recognisable 'diesel engine', although it was built several years before Rudolf Diesel built his first prototype engines. 32,417 of the vapourising oil ('hot-bulb') engines were made by Hornsbys. They would provide electricity for lighting the Taj Mahal, Rock of Gibraltar, Statue of Liberty (chosen after Hornsbys won the oil engine prize at the Chicago World's Fair]] of 1893), many lighthouses and for powering Guglielmo Marconi's first trans-Atlantic radio broadcast.

After Richard's death in 1864, the firm was owned by his son, also Richard. He died at the early age of 50, quite suddenly, in 1877. The company became a public company, being valued at £235,000. Employing about 1,400 workers, it was managed by the two other sons - James and William. Throughout the First World War, Hornsbys were seconded to producing munitions and engines for the Admiralty. This left them little room for marketing or manufacturing other products - often needing years of development. The management realised their future was in doubt, so looked for a suitable (and preferably nearby) company to amalgamate with, choosing Ruston. On September 11th 1918 when employing about 3,000 people, the company was bought out by Ruston Proctor of Lincoln, Lincolnshire.

Sir W.G. Armstrong, Whitworth and Company Ltd was formed in 1897 by the merger of Joseph Whitworth and Company with Armstrong Mitchell and Company, which itself had been formed by the merging of W.G. Armstrong and Co with Charles Mitchell and Co in 1882. This new company manufactured a wide range of products including hydraulic equipment, bridges, armaments and ships. Its shipyards produced many merchant vessels such as freighters, tankers, dredgers and icebreaking train ferries for Lake Baikal. They also constructed warships for the Royal Navy, Imperial Russian Navy, Imperial Japanese Navy and United States Navy, including the first polar icebreaker ‘Yermak’, which was constructed for the Russian Navy and launched in 1898.

Initially the new company was headed by William George Armstrong but following his death in 1900 Andrew Noble was appointed as chairman. Also, at this time production of cars and truck would begin, in order to diversify production following the end of the Boer War and the resultant drop in the demand for artillery. Initially these were designed by other companies, but this would switch to inhouse designs later on.

In 1913 an aerial department was formed to begin production of aeroplane and airships. This department produced a number of different designs during the First World War and in 1920 it became a subsidiary under the name Sir W.G. Whitworth Aircraft Ltd.

Following the end of the First World War the company again recognised a need to diversify due to a greatly reduced demand for munitions. As part of this it formed a subsidiary under the name Armstrong Whitworth Development Company. This acquired Siddeley-Deasy, which became known as Armstrong Siddeley Motors, as well as a controlling interests in Crompton and Co and A and J Main and Co. The Scotswood Works would also be repurposed to build railway locomotives. This proved successful due to the modern machinery that had been installed and would produce 1,464 locomotives until 1937 when it was converted back to armament manufacturing. In addition to the steam locomotives common at the time this figure also included diesel locomotives and railcars due to a licence acquired for Sulzer.

1920 not only saw the aerial department’s reorganisation into the Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Company but also the purchasing of a controlling interest in Pearson and Knowles Coal and Iron Co, along with its subsidiary Partington Steel and Iron Co. Later, in 1922, the company would also form the Newfoundland Power and Paper Utilities Corporation in order to finance a paper mill and in 1925 Boving Engineering Co was purchased.

By 1926 the company was suffering financially. Due to the Newfoundland company going over budget and not achieving its productions goals the company was suffering from a greatly reduced cash flow. In the first 11 months of 1926 its losses amounted to £625,767 and by 1927 the decision had been take to merge the defence and engineering businesses with that of Vickers in order to create a new subsidiary of Vickers Armstrong. The ownership of this would be split so that Vickers held 2/3 and Armstrong-Whitworth held 1/3. The Armstrong Whitworth Development Company would also be sold, and it became the Armstrong Siddeley Development Company following its acquisition by J.D. Siddeley, although Armstrong-Whitworth still held a substantial shareholding and also retained the Pearson and Knowles Coal and Iron Company.

Despite these actions heavy financial losses continued and, although they were offset by the sale of the company’s shares in the Armstrong Siddeley Development Company, they still resulted in a serious reduction in capital. As a result, the decision was taken to form two new companies to take over the activities of the original one. These were Sir W.G. Armstrong Whitworth and Company (Engineers) Ltd, which took over the general engineering business, and Sir W.G. Armstrong Whitworth and Company (Shipbuilders) Ltd, which took over the Devon, Walker and Tyne shipyards. A holding company was also formed to manage these, Armstrong Whitworth Securities Company Ltd. In 1930 a third company was added to the group, Sir W.G. Armstrong Whitworth and Company (Ironfounders) Ltd.

Beyond this the 1930s saw a winding down of the Armstrong-Whitworth group’s activities. In 1935 Vickers bought the remaining shares of Vickers-Armstrong and in 1937 Sir John Jarvis acquired Sir W.G. Armstrong Whitworth and Co (Ironfounders) Ltd to relieve unemployment on Tyneside. By 1937 the group had also ended production of locomotives and only the engineering subsidiary remained. This was sold in 1943 and the group was liquidated.