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Charles Collett
Charles Benjamin Collett (10 September 1871 – 5 April 1952) was Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Great Western Railway from 1922 to 1941. He designed (amongst others) the GWR's Castle and King Class express passenger locomotives. Education and early career Collett was educated at the Merchant Taylors' School (then at Charterhouse Square, London) and the City and Guilds College of London University. He then became an engineering pupil at Maudslay, Sons and Field, a firm that built marine steam engines. In 1893 he entered the GWR Drawing Office at Swindon as a junior draughtsman. Four years later he was put in charge of the buildings section, and in 1898 became assistant to the Chief Draughtsman. In June 1900 he was appointed Technical Inspector, and soon after Assistant Manager, at the Swindon Works. In 1912 he rose to be Manager of the Works, then in 1919 he was made Deputy Chief Mechanical Engineer of the GWR. Chief Mechanical Engineer Collett's predecessor, George Jacks ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chief Mechanical Engineer
Chief mechanical engineer and locomotive superintendent are titles applied by British, Australian, and New Zealand railway companies to the person ultimately responsible to the board of the company for the building and maintaining of the locomotives and rolling stock. In Britain, the post of ''locomotive superintendent'' was introduced in the late 1830s, and ''chief mechanical engineer'' in 1886. Emerging professional roles In the early Victorian era, projected canal or railway schemes were prepared by groups of promoters who hired specialists such as civil engineers, surveyors, architects or contractors to survey a route; and this resulted in the issue of a prospectus setting out their proposals. Provided that adequate capital could be raised from potential investors, agreements obtained from the landowners along the proposed route and, in Britain, an Act of Parliament obtained (different terminology is used in other countries), then construction might begin either by a new compan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
