Thomas Parker (11 July 1829 – 25 November 1903)Thomas Parker (1829-1903)
Grace's Guide, accessed 29 July 2015. was Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Superintendent of the

Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR) was formed in 1847 when the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway joined with authorised but unbuilt railway companies, forming a proposed network from Manchester to Grims ...

from 1886–1893. He introduced a new type of locomotive in Britain, which used a

Belpaire firebox The Belpaire firebox is a type of firebox used on steam locomotives. It was invented by Alfred Belpaire of Belgium in 1864. Today it generally refers to the shape of the outer shell of the firebox which is approximately flat at the top and s ...

Life

Parker was born in

Ayrshire Ayrshire (, ) is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county, in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. The lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area of Ayrshire and Arran covers the entirety ...

in 1829, and began his career as an apprentice at the

Greenock Greenock (; ; , ) is a town in Inverclyde, Scotland, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The town is the administrative centre of Inverclyde Council. It is a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, and forms ...

works of the

Caledonian Railway The Caledonian Railway (CR) was one of the two biggest of the five major Scottish railway companies prior to the 1923 Grouping. It was formed in 1845 with the objective of forming a link between English railways and Glasgow. It progressively ex ...

. In 1858 he moved away from Scotland. At the

he was Carriage and Wagon Superintendent at the railway's Gorton works. He was one of the first to construct 6-wheeled

bogie A bogie ( ) (or truck in North American English) comprises two or more Wheelset (rail transport), wheelsets (two Railroad wheel, wheels on an axle), in a frame, attached under a vehicle by a pivot. Bogies take various forms in various modes ...

coaches, and in 1885 he produced one of the first

dining car A dining car (American English) or a restaurant car (British English), also a diner, is a passenger railroad car that serves meals in the manner of a full-service, sit-down restaurant. These cars provide the highest level of service of any rai ...

designs in Britain. In 1886, he replaced Charles Reboul Sacre as locomotive, wagon and carriage superintendent. In 1891 he introduced the first locomotive on a British railway to use a

, which had been used on export locomotives built by the local manufacturer Beyer Peacock since 1872. The continuous

vacuum brake The vacuum brake is a brake, braking system employed on trains and introduced in the mid-1860s. A variant, the automatic vacuum brake system, became almost universal in British train equipment and in countries influenced by British practice. Va ...

and internal

communication cord Communication is commonly defined as the transmission of information. Its precise definition is disputed and there are disagreements about whether unintentional or failed transmissions are included and whether communication not only transmit ...

were introduced by the railway, gaining

Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for Business and Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...

approval in 1893. Parker retired in 1893 and was succeeded by

Harry Pollitt Harry Pollitt (22 November 1890 – 27 June 1960) was a British communist who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) from July 1929 to September 1939 and again from 1941 until his death in 1960. Pollitt ...

. He died in

Gorton Gorton is an area of Manchester in Greater Manchester, England. It is to the southeast of Manchester city centre. The population at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 36,055. Neighbouring areas include Levenshulme and Openshaw. A ...

in 1903.

Sources

* LNER Encyclopedia (see below)

References

External links

LNER Encyclopedia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parker, Thomas 1829 births 1916 deaths Great Central Railway people Locomotive builders and designers Scottish railway mechanical engineers