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Edward Thompson (1881-1949) was Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London and North Eastern Railway between 1941 and 1946. 1881 (MDCCCLXXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ...
1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1949 calendar). ...
Chief Mechanical Engineer and Locomotive Superintendent are titles applied by British railway companies to persons in charge of building or maintaining locomotives. ...
LNER timetable for Autumn 1926 detailing the resumption of services after the General Strike. ...
This article is about the year. ...
1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ...
Biography
Edward Thompson came from an academic background having taken Mechanical Science Tripos at Pembroke, Cambridge. This is unlike is predecessor Nigel Gresley who gained practical experience as a pupil at Horwich Works. After graduation Thompson working in both industry and the railways for a while, when in 1912 he was appointed Carriage and Wagon Superintendent for GNR. He remained at this post for 18 years until he became Workshop Manager at Stratford works in 1930. This was his final post before becoming CME of LNER in 1941 after the untimely death of Nigel Gresley. Edward Thompson retired from the post of CME in 1946. Pembroke is the name of a number of towns around the world: Pembroke, Ontario, Canada Pembroke, Malta Pembroke, Bermuda Pembroke, Pembrokeshire, in west Wales, United Kingdom Pembroke, Georgia, United States of America Pembroke, Kentucky, United States of America Pembroke, Maine, United States of America Pembroke, Massachusetts, United States of America...
Shown within Cambridgeshire Geography Status: City (1951) Region: East of England Admin. ...
Sir Nigel Gresley Sir Herbert Nigel Gresley (19 June 1876 – 5 April 1941) was one of Britains most famous Steam locomotive engineers who rose to become Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER). ...
Horwich railway works was built in 1886 by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in Horwich, near Bolton in Greater Manchester when it moved from its original works at Miles Platting. ...
GNR may be: Railways: Great Northern Railway of Great Britain. ...
The London and North Eastern Railway or LNER was the second-largest of the Big Four railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. ...
Sir Nigel Gresley Sir Herbert Nigel Gresley (19 June 1876 – 5 April 1941) was one of Britains most famous Steam locomotive engineers who rose to become Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER). ...
Its widely know that Gresley and Thompson disagreed on a number of issues. Many have interpreted this bitterness as NER (Thompson) vs. GNR (Gresley. Thompson happened to be the son-in-law of Sir Vincent Raven. The biggest disagreement between the two was on Gresley’s 3cyl conjugated valve gear. While this valve gear arrangement worked well during peace time, it experienced problems due to low maintenance during World War 2. This did give Thompson some justification for the criticism of the design. The Ner is a river in central Poland, with sources to the south east of Åódź. It is one of the subsidiaries of the Warta River. ...
GNR may be: Railways: Great Northern Railway of Great Britain. ...
Sir Vincent Litchfield Raven KBE (3 December 1858-14 February 1934) was chief mechanical engineer of the North Eastern Railway from 1910 to 1922. ...
Practices When Thompson was appointed CME of the LNER he started a much needed standardisation program. This program demonstrated Thompson's dislike for Gresley’s engineering practices. Many notable Gresley designs were rebuilt under this practice including the P2 Mikados, V2 Express goods and A1 Pacifics. The A1 chosen for rebuilding was non other than ‘Great Northern’, this being the original Gresley prototype for the class. Some have stated that this rebuild was sheer vindictiveness on Thompson’s part towards his old chief. LNER Class V2, 60800 Green Arrow at Crewe Works open day on 1st June 2003. ...
The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) Class A1/A3 is a class of 4-6-2 steam locomotives, designed by Nigel Gresley. ...
While Thompson criticised many of Gresley’s practices, equal comment can be made about many of Thompson’s designs. His Pacific rebuilds where not the best of designs. They all retained 3 cylinders, but with divided drive and 3 sets of independent Walschaerts valve gear. Thompson attached great importance to having connecting rods equal in length. This was not necessary, and as a result the outside cylinders were placed behind the front bogie with the inside cylinder well forward. This arrangement created long exhaust channels and encouraged flexing and fracture of the loco frames. All of his Pacifics where particularly prone to wheel slips. Such were the problems with his Pacifics they preceded many of the older counterparts to the scrapheap. The Walschaert valve gear on a Pennyslvania Railroad K4s. ...
Thompson’s L1 class suburban tanks also left a lot to be desired - they were a mechanical disaster. The 5ft 2in wheels were to small for the fast outer suburban services and they quickly knocked themselves apart. The axle boxes suffered, water tanks split, oil pipes broke off, and crossheads wore rapidly.
On the other hand Thompson built one of the most successful LNER designs, the Thompson B1. This was a simple two-cylinder design mixed traffic engine, with a 4-6-0 wheel arrangement. Over 400 of these locos were built between 1946 and 1952 four years after thompsonns death / in a total of 8 batches. The boiler used in the class formed the basis for the rebuilding of many pre-grouping classes, including the ex-GCR O4 2-8-0 freight locos. The Thompson B1 compared equally with the LMS Black 5 engines during the BR exchange trials. It could be argued that the B1 is a better engine than the Black 5 due to its cheaper cost of manufacture. Preserved in inauthentic LNER Apple Green livery 1306 Mayflower was actually one of those locomotives built by British Railways after nationalisation in 1948, numbered 61306 and never named. ...
45333 and 44665 inside Annesley shed on 11 September 1965. ...
Thompson sadly died three and a half years later in 1949, three years after his retirement from being CME of the LNER
Locomotives - A1/1
- A2/1
- A2/2
- A2/3
- Thompson B1
- Thompson B2
- Thompson K1
- Thompson L1
- Thompson O1
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