Alexander McDonnell was an Irish
locomotive engineer and
civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...
. He was born in
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
on 18 December 1829 and died in
Holyhead on 14 December 1904. He was educated at
Trinity College Dublin
, name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin
, motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin)
, motto_lang = la
, motto_English = It will last i ...
, where he graduated with an honours BA in mathematics (1851).
He brought order and standardisation to the workshops and locomotive designs of the
Great Southern and Western Railway
The Great Southern and Western Railway (GS&WR) was an Irish gauge () railway company in Ireland from 1844 until 1924. The GS&WR grew by building lines and making a series of takeovers, until in the late 19th and early 20th centuries it was the l ...
of Ireland, and was later employed to do the same for the
North Eastern Railway in England, although resistance to his changes meant little progress was made before he left.
Career
McDonnell was apprenticed at Newall and Gordon in Westminster before working as an engineer at the
Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway
The Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway was a railway company formed to connect the places in its name. When it sought Parliamentary authorisation, it was denied the southern section, and obliged to use the Monmouthshire Railway between Pon ...
– later to become part of the
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 mill ...
.
From 1864 to 1883 he was Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Superintendent of the
Great Southern and Western Railway
The Great Southern and Western Railway (GS&WR) was an Irish gauge () railway company in Ireland from 1844 until 1924. The GS&WR grew by building lines and making a series of takeovers, until in the late 19th and early 20th centuries it was the l ...
of Ireland at
Inchicore
Inchicore () is a suburb of Dublin, Ireland. Located approximately west of the city centre, Inchicore was originally a small village separate from Dublin. The village developed around Richmond Barracks (built 1810) and Inchicore railway works ...
. McDonnell reformed the GS&WR workshop practices and improved their speed and efficiency. He also introduced practices then in use at
Crewe Works
Crewe Works is a British railway engineering facility located in the town of Crewe, Cheshire. The works, which was originally opened by the Grand Junction Railway in 1840, employed around 7,000 to 8,000 workers at its peak. In the 1980s, a lo ...
and standardised parts between locomotive classes.
McDonnell was noted for his ability to recognise, and employ, men of talent. By doing this, he initiated the "Inchicore school" of locomotive engineers, who would include
Sir John Aspinall,
H.A. Ivatt, and
R.E.L. Maunsell.
[
From 1 November 1882, McDonnell was Locomotive Superintendent of the North Eastern Railway (NER) in England; he succeeded Edward Fletcher, who had retired. He found that Fletcher's locomotives, although good, did not use standardised components. McDonnell decided that in future, locomotives would use shared standard parts where possible, and that locomotive design and construction would utilise the practices which he had used at Inchicore.] His first locomotive design for the NER, the '38' class 4-4-0, incorporated a number of unpopular features; and some popular features of Fletcher's engines were omitted. Worse, although the new locomotives were larger than Fletcher's most recent designs, they were no more capable. His only other design for the NER, the '59' class 0-6-0, were also unpopular; in this case, the engines were of similar size to Fletcher's most recent 0-6-0, but were less powerful. As a consequence, McDonnell resigned from the NER in September 1884, receiving a year's salary as severance pay
Severance may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Severance'' (film), a 2006 British horror film
* ''Severance'' (novel), a 2018 novel by Ling Ma
*''Severance'', a 2006 short-story collection by Robert Olen Butler
* ''Severance'' (TV series), ...
. McDonnell was not replaced immediately, the NER's locomotive department then being managed by a committee chaired by Henry Tennant.
Locomotive designs
GS&WR
* GS&WR Class 2 – 4-4-0
4-4-0 is a locomotive type with a classification that uses the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement and represents the arrangement: four leading wheels on two axles (usually in a leading bogie), four pow ...
* GS&WR Class 21
The Great Southern and Western Railway (GS&WR) Class 21 (Or perhaps more simply engine numbers 21 to 40) consisted of half of the initial order of 40 passenger locomotives ordered for the GS&WR and which entered service between approximately 184 ...
– 2-4-0
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles and no trailing wheels.
The notation 2-4-0T indicate ...
* GS&WR Class 47
The Great Southern and Western Railway (GS&WR) Class 47 consisted of twenty locomotives designed by Alexander McDonnell and introduced from 1883. They were intended for branch lines around Cork and for Dublin—Kildare and Dublin-Kilkenny servi ...
– 0-4-4 back tank
* GS&WR Class 90
The Great Southern and Western Railway Class 90 is a class of steam locomotive. They were one of the smallest steam locomotives to be inherited by the CIÉ on its formation.
History
In 1875 Inchicore Works outshopped two railmotors, steam ...
– 0-6-0T
* GS&WR Class 91
The Great Southern and Western Railway (GS&WR) was an Irish gauge () railway company in Ireland from 1844 until 1924. The GS&WR grew by building lines and making a series of takeovers, until in the late 19th and early 20th centuries it was the l ...
– 0-6-4T Inspection saloon/locomotive
* GS&WR Class 101
The GS&WR Class 101, classified as Class 101 or Class J15 by the Great Southern Railways, was a class of 0-6-0 steam locomotives designed for working goods traffic although they did, and were quite capable of, working branch and secondary pas ...
– 0-6-0
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and no trailing wheels. This was the most common wheel arrangement ...
* GS&WR Class 203 – 0-6-4T
* GS&WR Class 204 – 0-6-0T
* GS&WR Class Sprite – 0-4-2T
T, or t, is the twentieth letter in the modern English alphabet and the ISO basic Latin alphabet. Its name in English is ''tee'' (pronounced ), plural ''tees''. It is derived from the Semitic letters taw (ת, ܬ, ت) via the Greek lette ...
NER
* NER Class '38' 4-4-0
* NER Class '59' ( LNER Class J22) 0-6-0
See also
* Steam locomotives of Ireland
* Locomotives of the North Eastern Railway
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:McDonnell, Alexander
1829 births
1904 deaths
Locomotive superintendents
Irish people in rail transport
Irish railway mechanical engineers
North Eastern Railway (UK) people