Great North of England Railway
What was the name of the employer James Cudworth work for from 1840 to 1845?
James Cudworth James IAnson Cudworth ( 12 January 1817 – 22 October 1899 ) was an English railway engineer , and was Locomotive Superintendent of the South Eastern Railway ( SER ) . He served in this capacity from 1845 to 1876 . He is notable for designing a successful method for burning coal in steam locomotives without significant emission of smoke , and for introducing the 0-4-4T wheel arrangement to English railways . Early life . Cudworth was born in Darlington , County Durham on 12 January 1817 , the second of three children born to William Cudworth and Mary IAnson ( born 18 November 1785 , Darlington ) . His parents were Quakers , and had married in 1810 ; William Cudworth was a grocer and druggist , whilst Mary IAnsons family name was of Scandinavian origin . James Cudworths elder brother William was a civil engineer , and worked for the Stockton & Darlington Railway ; Williams son William John , also a civil engineer , worked for the North Eastern Railway . Career . Cudworth was apprenticed to Robert Stephenson & Co Ltd from March 1831 . After completing his apprenticeship , he became a chargehand at Stephensons , before being appointed Locomotive Superintendent of the Great North of England Railway in February 1840 . On 22 May 1845 , Cudworth was appointed Locomotive Superintendent to the South Eastern Railway , which was in the process of leaving the Brighton , Croydon and Dover Joint Committee ; this committee ( and its predecessor the Croydon and Dover Joint Committee ) had handled all SER locomotive affairs since March 1842 , as well as those of the London & Croydon Railway , and , since March 1844 , the London & Brighton Railway . The committee had shared maintenance facilities for the three railways , but on its dissolution , it was necessary for the SER to provide its own workshops . Cudworth was given the task of establishing suitable facilities , his salary being increased from £350 to £500 per annum . Repair shops were built near the terminus at Bricklayers Arms , but the site was cramped . In February 1846 , of land were bought at Ashford , Kent , and in October 1847 , Ashford railway works began repairing locomotives . In 1845 , he built the 2-2-2 locomotive White Horse of Kent , which was constructed on the uniflow principle . Cudworths early locomotives were on the Stephenson long-boilered principle . White Horse of Kent was not a success , being described by Daniel Gooch as unsafe . It was later converted to a 2-4-0 . In 1850 , Ashford Works completed a small locomotive which had been part-assembled at Bricklayers Arms , but the first engines entirely constructed at Ashford Works were 2-4-0s for the Hastings Line , which were placed in service during 1853–4 . These engines were known as the 59 class . In 1847 , the SER purchased a number of 4-2-0 Cramptons from Tulk & Ley , Whitehaven , Cumberland . In 1849 , Cudworth converted four long-boilered 4-2-0s to Cramptons in an effort to improve their riding . By 1855 , Cudworth started to introduce more conventional steam locomotives . Fifty three 0-6-0 goods engines were constructed at Ashford Works between 1855 and 1876 . The engines were double framed , with 16 x 24 cylinders . A number of these engines were rebuilt twice , firstly by Cudworth and later by Stirling . The engines gave over 40 years service on the South Eastern Main Line . In 1857 , Cudworth introduced a class of 2-4-0s . Forty eight were built by contractors , and 68 were built at Ashford Works between 1857 and 1875 . Many of them were rebuilt by Stirling . These engines also gave many years service on the SER . In 1861 , Cudworth introduced a class of 2-2-2 express passenger locomotives with diameter driving wheels . These engines gave over 20 years service on the boat trains serving Folkestone and Dover , finally being replaced in 1884 by Stirlings F class 4-4-0s . Cudworth was also responsible for the introduction of the 0-4-4T wheel arrangement for steam locomotives to English railways , with his 235 class of 1866 . Cudworth had three main achievements on the SER : he planned the layout of Ashford Works and brought it to such a standard that the company was able to begin production of its own locomotives in 1853 ; with two of his classes ( the Standard Goods 0-6-0 of 1855 and the 118 class 2-4-0 of 1859 ) , practised locomotive standardisation on a scale unheard of on other contemporary railways ; and , at a time when coke ( a smokeless fuel , but expensive ) was normal for railways , designed a successful coal-burning firebox . In 1874 , Cudworth was appointed Locomotive Engineer of the SER , with Alfred Watkin , son of SER chairman Sir Edward Watkin appointed Locomotive Superintendent at a salary of £500 . Cudworth was not one who was disposed to toe Watkins line , which put a strain on their relationship . In 1876 , Watkin persuaded John Ramsbottom of the London & North Western Railway ( LNWR ) to design a number of 2-4-0 passenger engines for the SER , unbeknown to Cudworth . Orders were placed with Sharp , Stewart of Manchester and Avonside of Bristol for ten engines each . The locomotives were very similar to the LNWRs Precedent Class locomotives . Known as the Ironclads , they replaced the Singles on the boat trains for a short time , but were quickly relegated to less prestige duties and the Singles resumed their former role . When Cudworth found out about the engines , he was furious and resigned . It was considered by many on the Board of the SER that Cudworth had been sacked . Coal-burning firebox . Since the Rainhill Trials in 1829 , it had been appreciated that the smoke emitted by burning coal was a nuisance . Railway companies accepted the need to burn coke ( a smokeless fuel ) in their locomotives , but this was much more expensive than coal , and several locomotive engineers sought an effective method by which coal could be burned smokelessly . Cudworth was one of these ; he designed a firebox which was able to burn coal with little smoke , patenting it in 1857 . The main feature of this firebox was a longitudinal water-filled vertical partition ( known as a mid-feather ) , which required two firedoors to be provided , one on either side of the mid-feather ; the grate was also longer and steeper than normal . The idea was that when one side had burnt down , it could be stoked whilst the other side was at peak temperature and consuming its smoke . The mid-feather terminated towards the front of the firebox , so that the gases from the fresh coal in the cooler side of the firebox could be completely burned by the heat given off by the hotter side . It worked well , and when independently tested ( by D . K . Clark ) against the designs of Joseph Beattie and James McConnell , was more efficient , burning less coal than the other two types for the same amount of work done . Unfortunately it was expensive both to construct and to maintain , which was to prove its downfall . When other engineers later produced cheaper solutions , Cudworth preferred to stick with his own design rather than change . Few other railways adopted this firebox ; but the South Easterns close neighbour , the London , Chatham & Dover Railway ( LCDR ) , used it between 1861 and 1869 for 68 of their engines , whilst it was also used by their other neighbour , the London , Brighton & South Coast Railway . The LCDR also found the firebox expensive : some locomotives ordered in July 1860 were costed at £150 extra ( equivalent to £ in ) for the Cudworth firebox with grate ; and when a revised order was prepared in February 1861 , with a grate , the firebox was costed at £20 less ( equivalent to £ in ) than the 1860 order . In February 1868 , the LCDRs Locomotive Superintendent , William Martley , replaced the Cudworth firebox of one locomotive with a different design of coal-burning firebox ( one with a brick arch and deflector plate , which had been developed by the Midland Railway ) , which had fewer complicated joints . In April 1869 he reported that the Cudworth type cost £23-2-3d per year ( equivalent to £ in ) in maintenance , whilst the type with a brick arch cost £4-18-6d ( equivalent to £ in ) , and as a result , he gave instructions for the replacement of all Cudworth fireboxes when the locomotives next became due for heavy repairs . Between 1869 and 1876 , all LCDR locomotives which had been fitted with the Cudworth firebox had these replaced by the brick-arch type , which was not only cheaper to maintain but had lower first cost . Locomotive classes . The class letters were allotted by James Stirling in September 1879 . Classes without such a letter were either extinct , or in the process of withdrawal at that date . Personal life . James Cudworth married Priscilla Poulter on 15 May 1848 , at the Friends Meeting House , Dover , Kent but they had no children . After Cudworths retirement , the couple moved to Reigate , Surrey in about 1879 , where he died on 22 October 1899 . Cudworth Road in South Willesborough , a suburb of Ashford , Kent was named after him .