70014IronDuke
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- 13 Jun 2015
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A few minutes ago I suddenly realised that Lord (Josiah) Stamp probably died in 1941, and that this year would be the 80th anniversary of his death. So I looked it up on Wikipedia, and indeed, this man, who reformed the LMS root and branch and made it a railway fit to help win the war, died on 16th April, 1941 - in an air raid on London.
en.wikipedia.org
He also did a lot of other worthy things, and yet is today largely forgotten, not least in the railway world. As far as I know, there is no memorial on railway property - anyone know better? Could the modified Euston find room for a statue, if funding could be arranged?
At the very least, could one of the freight companies name a locomotive after the man? (Was there ever such a named loco? I suspect not. Perhaps 46257 or 71000 should have carried his name?)
It got me thinking who else contributed in a significant way to railway development who's largely ignored and forgotten. Not your Stephensons, Brunels, Staniers or Gresleys (very worthy people that they were, and rightly remembered - even if it was their chief draghtsmen who were often responsible for the detailed design) - but perhaps signal engineers or even those former army bods who headed committees of enquiry into railway accidents that were the initiators of major safety improvements?
What about the poor old Southern? Millions of commuters may moan about delays today, but they couldn't have been living in Petersfield and Littlehampton and Sittingbourne without Sir Herbert Walker's foresight. OK, he got a Patriot named after him, but maybe he deserves something today?
There must have been some great innovators and managers in the empire too?
And not forgetting non-British contributors: Who was Walschaerts of valve gear fame? Who was Belpaire of the firebox? (Hint, both come from a small country north of France.)
And one that I love, Wilhelm, aka Hot Steam Schmidt (isn't there a German rock band that should have taken this one up?) - the originator of the Schmidt Superheater.
Anyway, that's my initial list. Note that this list is for railmen/women largely forgotten today who contributed significantly to railway development - it is not meant to include eg like individual examples of bravery - such as the Soham disaster heroes - unless such incidents had an impact on railway development. (This is not to take anything away from these people - just they belong to a different category.)
So, just in case anyone who can do anything about it is reading - if anyone's introducing a new class of engines anytime soon fancies naming some - here's my starters.
Lord (Josiah) Stamp, LMS
Sir Herbert Walker, SR
Egide Walschaerts
Alfred Belpaire
Wilhelm 'Hot Steam' Schmidt
and we might add in Herbert William Garratt too.
Now your turn to nominate and why?
Josiah Stamp, 1st Baron Stamp - Wikipedia
He also did a lot of other worthy things, and yet is today largely forgotten, not least in the railway world. As far as I know, there is no memorial on railway property - anyone know better? Could the modified Euston find room for a statue, if funding could be arranged?
At the very least, could one of the freight companies name a locomotive after the man? (Was there ever such a named loco? I suspect not. Perhaps 46257 or 71000 should have carried his name?)
It got me thinking who else contributed in a significant way to railway development who's largely ignored and forgotten. Not your Stephensons, Brunels, Staniers or Gresleys (very worthy people that they were, and rightly remembered - even if it was their chief draghtsmen who were often responsible for the detailed design) - but perhaps signal engineers or even those former army bods who headed committees of enquiry into railway accidents that were the initiators of major safety improvements?
What about the poor old Southern? Millions of commuters may moan about delays today, but they couldn't have been living in Petersfield and Littlehampton and Sittingbourne without Sir Herbert Walker's foresight. OK, he got a Patriot named after him, but maybe he deserves something today?
There must have been some great innovators and managers in the empire too?
And not forgetting non-British contributors: Who was Walschaerts of valve gear fame? Who was Belpaire of the firebox? (Hint, both come from a small country north of France.)
And one that I love, Wilhelm, aka Hot Steam Schmidt (isn't there a German rock band that should have taken this one up?) - the originator of the Schmidt Superheater.
Anyway, that's my initial list. Note that this list is for railmen/women largely forgotten today who contributed significantly to railway development - it is not meant to include eg like individual examples of bravery - such as the Soham disaster heroes - unless such incidents had an impact on railway development. (This is not to take anything away from these people - just they belong to a different category.)
So, just in case anyone who can do anything about it is reading - if anyone's introducing a new class of engines anytime soon fancies naming some - here's my starters.
Lord (Josiah) Stamp, LMS
Sir Herbert Walker, SR
Egide Walschaerts
Alfred Belpaire
Wilhelm 'Hot Steam' Schmidt
and we might add in Herbert William Garratt too.
Now your turn to nominate and why?
