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DerekC

DerekC

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Well, I confess to having done a little research. My copy of "A Chronology of Railway Signalling 1825 - 2018" didn't help, but the archives of the Institution of Civil Engineers did. I believe the answer is Sir William Henry Preece, KCB, FRS, FICE. Here is an extract from his obituary:

SIR WILLIAM HENRY PREECE, K.C.B., F.R.S., Past-President Ins. C.E., and formerly Engineer-in-Chief of the Post Office, died at Penrhos, Carnarvon, on the 6th November, 1913, in his eightieth year. Born at Bryn Helen, Carnarvon, on the 15th February, 1834, he WAS educated at King’s College, London, and gained practical experience in the offices of the late Edwin and Latimer Clark, then engineers to the Electric Telegraph Company. In 1853 Preece joined the staff of that company, which subsequently became by amalgamation the Electrical and International Telegraph Company, and after rapid promotion was appointed Superintendent of the Southern Division. From 1858 to 1862 he was nlso Engineer to the Channel Islands Telegraph Company, and in 1860 he became Superintendent of Telegraphs on the London and South Western Railway, where he introduced the Preece block system of working single lines and a system of electric communication between passengers and guard. When in 1870 the business of the various telegraph companies (about thirty in number) was transferred to the State, the subject of this memoir was appointed Engineer for the Southern Division of the State system with headquarters at Southampton.
Click to expand...

The bit that says that "...in 1870 the business of the various telegraph companies (about thirty in number) was transferred to the state.." is interesting. I have never heard of that before.

If Sir William is right I think it had better be "open floor"
 
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DerekC

DerekC

Established Member
Joined
26 Oct 2015
Messages
2,115
Location
Hampshire (nearly a Hog)
OK - I thought I cheated - but to keep the ball rolling:

In 1872 Dr William Robinson of the Robinson Electric Railway Signal Company of New York, invented the fail safe track circuit. To which modern industrial group, through 150 years of amalgamations and acquisitions, can the Robinson company's inheritance be traced?
 
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