Nigel Gresley
CBE | |
---|---|
Born | Edinburgh, Scotland | 19 June 1876
Died | 5 April 1941 Watton-at-Stone, Hertfordshire, England | (aged 64)
Occupation | Engineer |
Engineering career | |
Discipline | Locomotive engineer and designer |
Employer(s) | Great Northern Railway, London and North Eastern Railway |
Sir Herbert Nigel Gresley
Gresley's engines were considered elegant, both aesthetically and mechanically. His invention of a three-cylinder design with only two sets of Walschaerts valve gear, the Gresley conjugated valve gear, produced smooth running and power at lower cost than would have been achieved with a more conventional three sets of Walschaerts gear.
Biography
Gresley was born in
He became Assistant Superintendent of the Carriage and Wagon Department of the L&YR in 1904 and a year later moved to the
During the 1930s, Sir Nigel Gresley lived at Salisbury Hall, near
In 1936, Gresley designed the 1,500 V DC locomotives for the proposed electrification of the
Gresley was appointed
Gresley died on 5 April 1941, after a short illness, and was buried in the Churchyard Extension of St Peter's Church, Netherseal, Derbyshire. At this time, Gresley was serving as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Royal Engineers Railway Staff Corps.[7]
He was succeeded as the LNER CME by Edward Thompson.
Memorials
A memorial plaque to Gresley's achievements was unveiled at Edinburgh Waverley railway station in 2001. It was created by the Gresley Society and incorporates line drawings of his Flying Scotsman and Mallard locomotives.
Following the redevelopment of the site previously home to Doncaster College, the square outside the new Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council Offices and Cast Theatre was named Sir Nigel Gresley Square, in honour of the designer of some of the most famous steam locomotives built at Doncaster Plant Works following a public poll of Doncaster residents. Sir Nigel Gresley Square was opened to the public in May 2012 as part of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations, by the Mayor of Doncaster Mr. Peter Davies and two of Nigel Gresley's grandsons.
LNER Class A4 4498 Sir Nigel Gresley is named after its designer.
A statue of Gresley was unveiled at King's Cross station in London on 5 April 2016, the 75th anniversary of his death.[8] Sculptor Hazel Reeves originally included a duck alongside Gresley in reference to his hobby of breeding water fowl and his bird-themed locomotive names such as Mallard, but this was removed from the final design when two of Gresley's grandsons complained it was "demeaning".[9]
The Wetherspoons public house in Swadlincote, Derbyshire, is named The Sir Nigel Gresley in his honour.
He was inducted into the Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame in 2023.[10]
Innovations
- Derived valve motion for 3-cylinder steam locomotives; Gresley Conjugated Valve Gear.
- The largest passenger steam locomotive in the UK, the P2 2-8-2.
- The largest steam locomotive in the UK, the U1 2-8-0+0-8-2 Garratt locomotive.
- The 'locomotive that won the war', the V2 2-6-2.
- The first steam locomotive to officially achieve 100 mph, the A3 'Flying Scotsman' 4-6-2.
- The fastest steam locomotive in the world, the A4 'Mallard' 4-6-2 (126.3 mph).
- Another A4, 'Silver Link', previously holding the world speed record for steam locomotives (112 mph)
- The experimental high-pressure LNER Class W1 'hush-hush' 4-6-4 locomotive
- The Silver Jubilee Express
- The articulated railway carriage, first used with some conversions of East Coast Joint Stock (ECJS) carriages in 1907, soon followed by conversions of GNR carriages; new articulated carriages being built for the GNR from 1911.[11]
- The corridor tender to allow longer non-stop running[12]
Locomotives designed by Gresley
GNR
See: Locomotives of the Great Northern Railway
- GNR 536 Class (LNER Class J6) 0-6-0(1911)
- GNR Class H2 (LNER Class K1) 2-6-0(1912)
- GNR Class J21 (LNER Class J2) 0-6-0 (1912)
- GNR Class O1 (LNER Class O3) 2-8-0 (1913)
- GNR Class H3 (LNER Class K2) 2-6-0 (1914)
- 0-6-0T(1915)
- GNR Class H4 (LNER Class K3) 2-6-0 (1920)
- 0-6-2T(1920)
- GNR Class O2 2-8-0 (1921)
- 0-6-0T(1922)
- GNR Class A1 4-6-2(1922)
LNER
See: Locomotives of the London and North Eastern Railway
- LNER Class P1 2-8-2 (1925)
- LNER Class U1 Garratt 2-8-0+0-8-2 (1925)
- LNER Class J38 0-6-0 (1926)
- LNER Class J39 0-6-0 (1926)
- LNER Class A3 4-6-2(1927)
- LNER Class D49 4-4-0 (1927)
- LNER Class B17 4-6-0 (1928)
- LNER Class W1 4-6-4 (1929)
- 2-6-2T(1930)
- LNER Class P2 2-8-2 (1934)
- LNER Class A4 4-6-2 (1935)
- LNER Class V2 2-6-2 (1936)
- LNER Class K4 2-6-0 (1937)
- 2-6-2T(1939)
- LNER Class V4 2-6-2 (1941)
- LNER No. 6701 Bo+Bo electric locomotive (1941)
Arms
|
References
- ^ biography Archived 27 July 2013 at the Wayback Machine accessed 15 November 2007
- ISBN 978-1-909128-15-6.
- ISBN 1-85410-939-1pages 51–52
- ISBN 978-1-909625-82-2. Archived from the originalon 12 November 2020. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
- ^ "Civilian War Honours – Order of the British Empire – Commanders (C.B.E.)". The Times. 31 March 1920. p. 18.
- ^ "No. 34307". The London Gazette. 21 July 1936. p. 4669.
- ^ CWGC. "Lieutenant Colonel Sir Herbert Nigel Gresley | War Casualty Details". CWGC. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
- ^ "Statue of railway engineer Sir Nigel Gresley set to be unveiled". ITV News. 5 April 2016. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
- ^ "'Demeaning' duck absent from Sir Nigel Gresley statue". BBC News. 5 April 2016. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
- ^ "ADS Advance".
- ISBN 978-0-85361-477-7. X56.
- ^ "BBC - Nation on Film - Railways - Golden age".
- ^ Burke's Peerage General Armory. p. 427.
- ^ "Drakelow Hall – General History". Burton-on-Trent. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
- ^ Debrett's Peerage. 1936. p. 352.
Further reading
- Hughes, Geoffrey (2001). Sir Nigel Gresley: The Engineer and his Family. The Oakwood Library of Railway History. Usk: Oakwood Press. ISBN 978-0-85361-579-8. OL118.