George Armstrong (engineer)
Encyclopedia
George Armstrong was in charge of standard gauge
steam locomotive
s for the Great Western Railway
at Stafford Road Works
, Wolverhampton
from 1864 to 1897. He was the younger brother of his colleague Joseph Armstrong
but thanks to the special requirements of the GWR at a time when it was split in two by the broad
and standard gauge
s, the brothers were able to work largely independently of each other. George is best remembered for his 0-4-2 and 0-6-0 tank engines; these were long-lived, and even when life-expired they were replaced by Collett
and Hawksworth
with remarkably similar locomotives, the well-known 1400
, 5700
and 1600
classes.
, Cumberland, and this information is repeated by Marshall. However, Holcroft
writes that the family went to Canada in 1817, not returning until 1824, and that consequently George was born overseas. It was presumably in 1824 that the family took up residence near Newcastle at Newburn
-on-Tyne, a few miles from George Stephenson's birthplace and at that time at the centre of avant-garde steam locomotive engineering. George later recalled chasing the famous locomotive Puffing Billy
on the Wylam Waggonway, and how this inspired him to become an engine driver.
With the exception of two visits to France, George's engineering career followed very much in the footsteps of his brother Joseph
, who was five years older than he was. At the age of 14 he started work at nearby Walbottle Colliery, which at that time was a horse waggonway with stationary engines to haul trains up the inclines. Here he worked for the engineer Robert Hawthorn
.
In 1840 George and Joseph went to Hull as engineers on the Hull and Selby Railway
, then subsequently followed John Gray
to Brighton Works on the London and Brighton
. At that time British engineering know-how was much in demand on the Continent, and from Brighton George crossed the Channel in order to work for a period on the Northern Railway
(Nord) of France. He later recalled how during the Revolution of 1848 he was compelled by the gendarmes to assist in erecting a barricade in the streets of Paris.
Unhappy with the unsettled politics of France, he returned to his brother's side. By now Joseph was assistant locomotive superintendent to Edward Jeffreys, on the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway (S&CR), whose repair works was at Saltney
near Chester, and George became an engine driver on the S&CR, subsequently being promoted to locomotive foreman. In 1853 the S&CR pooled its locomotive fleet with that of the Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway
, and Joseph moved south to new, larger locomotive works at Wolverhampton (Stafford Road).
The following year the two brothers became employees of the Great Western Railway
when the Shrewsbury & Chester, along with other standard gauge lines, were amalgamated with the mostly broad gauge GWR. Wolverhampton's task at first was to keep the miscellaneous stock of the various standard gauge lines in working order, but from 1858 Joseph Armstrong was ready to start constructing new locomotives there. George became his assistant and works manager.
Between about 1855 and 1863 a talented young engineer named William Dean served his apprenticeship at Wolverhampton. When in 1864 Sir Daniel Gooch
retired as locomotive superintendent at Swindon, Joseph was transferred to Swindon to succeed him,, and George Armstrong stepped into his brother's shoes at Wolverhampton. Dean remained at Wolverhampton for the time being, as George's assistant.
Because the Great Western now had in effect two independent locomotive works, the scene was set for a difficult personal situation, George Armstrong and William Dean being de facto rivals for the post of Joseph's assistant at Swindon. Appointing George would have smacked of nepotism; furthermore, Dean's youth (he was 18 years younger than George) counted in his favour as, in time, a potential successor. It was with this delicate situation in mind that Joseph decided to continue to give his brother a largely free hand not only in the design of Wolverhampton's locomotives, but even the way they were painted. (Swindon livery was leaf green with black and yellow lining, Wolverhampton's a blue-green shade, lined out in black and white.)
Joseph Armstrong duly summoned the 28-year-old Dean to Swindon in 1868, and nine years later on Armstrong's death Dean was appointed as his successor. George Armstrong's rugged northern character made itself felt - "he didn't give a damn for any man and was taking orders from none. He only gave orders!" he is said to have remarked - and once more he was left to get on with his work undisturbed - for another twenty years, as it would turn out.
One of George's responsibilities was to oversee the running of the royal train as far as the junction with the London and North Western Railway
at Bushbury, when Victoria was travelling to or from Scotland; a duty that he undertook more than 120 times. In 1870 he travelled to France again, in order to give engineering advice in the course of the Franco-Prussian War. Once again he found himself participating in a way he disliked, being compelled to defend Paris's city walls with a rifle. This time he resisted the gendarmes in the course of what he evidently recounted as a comic tug-of-war.
George finally retired in 1897, a venerable and much loved GWR character. He died after a fall at a Wolverhampton floral fete on 11 July 1901. He was unmarried.
and 645
classes). They were often turned out at remarkable speed. Many of the 0-6-0 saddle tanks were rebuilt as pannier tanks in the time of Churchward
, at the time they were fitted with Belpaire firebox
es.
George was in charge at Stafford Road for 33 years, and "during the period he was in control 626 engines built were classified as new and 513 as rebuilds" [the difference between the two often being a matter of accountancy as much as engineering], "a total of 1,139 and an average of about 35 per annum." None of them survive today. Locomotive construction continued at Wolverhampton for a few years after George's retirement, but ceased in 1909.
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
steam locomotive
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
s for the Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
at Stafford Road Works
Wolverhampton railway works
Wolverhampton railway works was in the city of Wolverhampton in the county of Staffordshire, England. It was almost due north of the city centre, and is commemorated with a small display of level crossing gates and a plaque...
, Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...
from 1864 to 1897. He was the younger brother of his colleague Joseph Armstrong
Joseph Armstrong (engineer)
Joseph Armstrong was a British locomotive engineer and the second locomotive superintendent of the Great Western Railway...
but thanks to the special requirements of the GWR at a time when it was split in two by the broad
Broad gauge
Broad-gauge railways use a track gauge greater than the standard gauge of .- List :For list see: List of broad gauges, by gauge and country- History :...
and standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
s, the brothers were able to work largely independently of each other. George is best remembered for his 0-4-2 and 0-6-0 tank engines; these were long-lived, and even when life-expired they were replaced by Collett
Charles Collett
Charles Benjamin Collett was chief mechanical engineer of the Great Western Railway from 1922 to 1941. He designed the GWR's 4-6-0 Castle and King Class express passenger locomotives.-Career:...
and Hawksworth
Frederick Hawksworth
Frederick W. Hawksworth , was Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Great Western Railway ....
with remarkably similar locomotives, the well-known 1400
GWR 1400 Class
The GWR 1400 Class is a class of steam locomotive designed by the Great Western Railway for branch line passenger work. It was originally classified as the 4800 Class when introduced in 1932, and renumbered in 1946....
, 5700
GWR 5700 Class
The Great Western Railway 5700 Class is a class of 0-6-0 pannier tank steam locomotive, built between 1929 and 1950. 863 were built, making them the second most-produced British class of steam locomotive.- Overview :...
and 1600
GWR 1600 Class
The Great Western Railway 1600 class is a class of 0-6-0 pannier tank steam locomotive.-History:The class was based on the 2021 class designed by Dean and built from 1897 onwards...
classes.
Biography
George Armstrong was born on 5 April 1822. His gravestone states that the place was BewcastleBewcastle
Bewcastle is a large civil parish in the City of Carlisle district of Cumbria, England.According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 411. The parish is large and includes the settlements of Roadhead, Shopford, Blackpool Gate, Roughsike and The Flatt. To the north the parish extends...
, Cumberland, and this information is repeated by Marshall. However, Holcroft
Harold Holcroft
Harold Holcroft was a British railway and mechanical engineer who worked for the Great Western Railway , the South Eastern and Chatham Railway and the Southern Railway...
writes that the family went to Canada in 1817, not returning until 1824, and that consequently George was born overseas. It was presumably in 1824 that the family took up residence near Newcastle at Newburn
Newburn
Newburn is a semi rural village, parish, electoral ward and former urban district in western Tyne and Wear, North East England. Situated on the banks of the River Tyne, it is built rising up the valley from the river...
-on-Tyne, a few miles from George Stephenson's birthplace and at that time at the centre of avant-garde steam locomotive engineering. George later recalled chasing the famous locomotive Puffing Billy
Puffing Billy (locomotive)
Puffing Billy is an early railway steam locomotive, constructed in 1813-1814 by engineer William Hedley, enginewright Jonathan Forster and blacksmith Timothy Hackworth for Christopher Blackett, the owner of Wylam Colliery near Newcastle upon Tyne, in the United Kingdom. It is the world's oldest...
on the Wylam Waggonway, and how this inspired him to become an engine driver.
With the exception of two visits to France, George's engineering career followed very much in the footsteps of his brother Joseph
Joseph Armstrong (engineer)
Joseph Armstrong was a British locomotive engineer and the second locomotive superintendent of the Great Western Railway...
, who was five years older than he was. At the age of 14 he started work at nearby Walbottle Colliery, which at that time was a horse waggonway with stationary engines to haul trains up the inclines. Here he worked for the engineer Robert Hawthorn
R and W Hawthorn
R and W Hawthorn Ltd was a locomotive manufacturer in Newcastle upon Tyne, England from 1817 until 1880.-Locomotive building:Robert Hawthorne first began business at Forth Bank Works in 1817, building marine and stationary steam engines. In 1820, his brother joined him and the firm became R and W...
.
In 1840 George and Joseph went to Hull as engineers on the Hull and Selby Railway
Hull and Selby Railway
The Hull and Selby Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom which opened in 1840, connecting Hull with the Leeds and Selby Railway-Origins:...
, then subsequently followed John Gray
John Gray (locomotive engineer)
John Gray was an early steam locomotive engineer who introduced several innovations in locomotive design during the 1830s and 1840s.-Career:John Gray's origins are unknown but he appears to have originated from Newcastle...
to Brighton Works on the London and Brighton
London and Brighton Railway
The London and Brighton Railway was a railway company in England which was incorporated in 1837 and survived until 1846. Its railway runs from a junction with the London & Croydon Railway at Norwood - which gives it access from London Bridge, just south of the River Thames in central London...
. At that time British engineering know-how was much in demand on the Continent, and from Brighton George crossed the Channel in order to work for a period on the Northern Railway
Chemin de Fer du Nord
Chemin de Fer du Nord , often referred to simply as the Nord company, was a rail transport company created in September 1845, in Paris, France. It was owned by among others de Rothschild Frères of France, N M Rothschild & Sons of London, England, Hottinger, Laffitte and Blount...
(Nord) of France. He later recalled how during the Revolution of 1848 he was compelled by the gendarmes to assist in erecting a barricade in the streets of Paris.
Unhappy with the unsettled politics of France, he returned to his brother's side. By now Joseph was assistant locomotive superintendent to Edward Jeffreys, on the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway (S&CR), whose repair works was at Saltney
Saltney
Saltney is a small town in Flintshire, Wales. It is immediately to the west of the border with Cheshire in England and is contiguous with the Chester urban area.The name is derived from the former salt marshes on which it is built, lying on the River Dee...
near Chester, and George became an engine driver on the S&CR, subsequently being promoted to locomotive foreman. In 1853 the S&CR pooled its locomotive fleet with that of the Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway
Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway
The Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway opened on 12 November 1849. It merged with the Great Western Railway on 1 September 1854.The company formed originally as the Shrewsbury & Wolverhampton, Dudley & Birmingham Railway in 1844, it became Shrewsbury & Birmingham Railway in 1847.When the section...
, and Joseph moved south to new, larger locomotive works at Wolverhampton (Stafford Road).
The following year the two brothers became employees of the Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
when the Shrewsbury & Chester, along with other standard gauge lines, were amalgamated with the mostly broad gauge GWR. Wolverhampton's task at first was to keep the miscellaneous stock of the various standard gauge lines in working order, but from 1858 Joseph Armstrong was ready to start constructing new locomotives there. George became his assistant and works manager.
Between about 1855 and 1863 a talented young engineer named William Dean served his apprenticeship at Wolverhampton. When in 1864 Sir Daniel Gooch
Daniel Gooch
Sir Daniel Gooch, 1st Baronet was an English railway and transatlantic cable engineer and Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1865 to 1885...
retired as locomotive superintendent at Swindon, Joseph was transferred to Swindon to succeed him,, and George Armstrong stepped into his brother's shoes at Wolverhampton. Dean remained at Wolverhampton for the time being, as George's assistant.
Because the Great Western now had in effect two independent locomotive works, the scene was set for a difficult personal situation, George Armstrong and William Dean being de facto rivals for the post of Joseph's assistant at Swindon. Appointing George would have smacked of nepotism; furthermore, Dean's youth (he was 18 years younger than George) counted in his favour as, in time, a potential successor. It was with this delicate situation in mind that Joseph decided to continue to give his brother a largely free hand not only in the design of Wolverhampton's locomotives, but even the way they were painted. (Swindon livery was leaf green with black and yellow lining, Wolverhampton's a blue-green shade, lined out in black and white.)
Joseph Armstrong duly summoned the 28-year-old Dean to Swindon in 1868, and nine years later on Armstrong's death Dean was appointed as his successor. George Armstrong's rugged northern character made itself felt - "he didn't give a damn for any man and was taking orders from none. He only gave orders!" he is said to have remarked - and once more he was left to get on with his work undisturbed - for another twenty years, as it would turn out.
One of George's responsibilities was to oversee the running of the royal train as far as the junction with the London and North Western Railway
London and North Western Railway
The London and North Western Railway was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. It was created by the merger of three companies – the Grand Junction Railway, the London and Birmingham Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway...
at Bushbury, when Victoria was travelling to or from Scotland; a duty that he undertook more than 120 times. In 1870 he travelled to France again, in order to give engineering advice in the course of the Franco-Prussian War. Once again he found himself participating in a way he disliked, being compelled to defend Paris's city walls with a rifle. This time he resisted the gendarmes in the course of what he evidently recounted as a comic tug-of-war.
George finally retired in 1897, a venerable and much loved GWR character. He died after a fall at a Wolverhampton floral fete on 11 July 1901. He was unmarried.
Locomotives
Apart from rebuilds and renewals of engines built elsewhere, according to Holcroft George Armstrong built relatively few tender engines, all of the 2-4-0 and 0-6-0 wheel arrangements and dating from his first years in charge at Wolverhampton. After that the Works concentrated almost exclusively on tank engines of the 0-6-0 and 0-4-2 types, saddle tanks at first, then side tanks (such as the 517GWR 517 Class
The 517 Class were small 0-4-2T tank engines designed by George Armstrong for local passenger work on the Great Western Railway. They were built at Wolverhampton Works and were outshopped between 1868 and 1885. They were built in thirteen lots commencing with 517–528 and ending with 1477–1488 in...
and 645
GWR 645 Class
The GWR 645 Class was a class of 0-6-0 saddle tank locomotives designed by George Armstrong and built at the Wolverhampton railway works of the Great Western Railway . Thirty-six were constructed between 1872-3, of which three were built for the South Wales Mineral Railway , two for the Carmarthen...
classes). They were often turned out at remarkable speed. Many of the 0-6-0 saddle tanks were rebuilt as pannier tanks in the time of Churchward
George Jackson Churchward
George Jackson Churchward CBE was Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Great Western Railway in the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1922.-Early career:...
, at the time they were fitted with Belpaire firebox
Belpaire firebox
The Belpaire firebox is a type of firebox used on steam locomotives. It was invented by Alfred Belpaire of Belgium. It has a greater surface area at the top of the firebox, improving heat transfer and steam production...
es.
George was in charge at Stafford Road for 33 years, and "during the period he was in control 626 engines built were classified as new and 513 as rebuilds" [the difference between the two often being a matter of accountancy as much as engineering], "a total of 1,139 and an average of about 35 per annum." None of them survive today. Locomotive construction continued at Wolverhampton for a few years after George's retirement, but ceased in 1909.
Sources
}}- Ian Allan ABC of British Railways Locomotives, winter 1962/3 edition, page 41 }} }} }}