James Edward McConnell (1815–1883) was one of the first locomotive engineers of the

London and North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the LNWR was the largest joint stock company in the world. Dubbed the "Premier Line", the LNWR's main line connec ...

(LNWR). He was

Locomotive Superintendent 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 locomotive ...

of the LNWR's Southern Division at

Wolverton railway works Wolverton railway works, known locally as Wolverton Works or just The Works, was established in Wolverton (Milton Keynes), Wolverton, Buckinghamshire#Ceremonial county, Buckinghamshire, by the London and Birmingham Railway Company in 1838 at t ...

from 1847 to 1862 and oversaw the design of the " Bloomer" and "Patent" locomotives. He was also one of the founding members of the

Institution of Mechanical Engineers The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) is an independent professional association and learned society headquartered in London, United Kingdom, that represents mechanical engineers and the engineering profession. With over 110,000 member ...

, and its first chairman, discussing the issue of an institute in 1846 at

Bromsgrove Bromsgrove is a town in Worcestershire, England, about north-east of Worcester and south-west of Birmingham city centre. It had a population of 34,755 in at the 2021 census. It gives its name to the wider Bromsgrove District, of which it is ...

Biography

McConnell was born at

Fermoy Fermoy () is a town on the Munster Blackwater, River Blackwater in east County Cork, Ireland. As of the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, the town and environs had a population of approximately 6,700 people. It is located in the barony (Ir ...

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

, Ireland, on 1 January 1815. In July 1841 McConnell joined the

Birmingham and Gloucester Railway The Birmingham and Gloucester Railway (B&GR) was the first name of the railway linking the cities in its name and of the company which pioneered and developed it; the line opened in stages in 1840, using a terminus at Camp Hill railway station, ...

as foreman of locomotives. Since the Rainhill Trials in 1829, it had been accepted 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 a method by which coal could be burned smokelessly. One such engineer was McConnell, who designed a boiler suitable for coal in 1852. McConnell died at

Great Missenden Great Missenden is a village and civil parish in the Misbourne Valley in the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, England, situated between the towns of Amersham and Wendover. It adjoins the village of Little Kingshill, and is a mile from Lit ...

, Buckinghamshire, England, on 11 June 1883.

Notes

Sources

* * ''Ian Allan ABC of British Railways Locomotives'', January 1961, part 3, page 58 * * Jack, Harry (2001): ''Locomotives of the LNWR Southern Division – London & Birmingham Railway and Wolverton Locomotive Works.'' Sawtry, RCTS. * * * *
Glossary for the LNWR Society

at steamindex.com

Biography

See also

Notes

Sources

Further reading