Richard Maunsell

Richard Edward Lloyd Maunsell CBE (pronounced "Mansell") (26 May 1868 – 7 March 1944) held the post of chief mechanical engineer (CME) of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway from 1913 until the 1923 Grouping and then the post of CME of the Southern Railway in England until 1937. He had previously worked his way up through positions in other railways in Ireland, England and India.

This article is about the Chief Mechanical Engineer of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway and later the Southern Railway. For the carriage and locomotive engineer of the South Eastern Railway, see Richard Mansell.
Richard Edward Lloyd Maunsell
Born26 May 1868 (1868-05-26)
Raheny, County Dublin
Died7 March 1944(1944-03-07) (aged 75)
Engineering career
DisciplineLocomotive engineer
851 "Sir Francis Drake", SR Lord Nelson class
932 Blundell's Schools Class 4-4-0 at Eastleigh in 1948

Biography

He was born on 26 May 1868 at Raheny, County Dublin, in Ireland, the seventh son of John Maunsell, a Justice of the Peace and a prominent solicitor in Dublin. He attended The Royal School, Armagh from 1882 to 1886. He commenced studies at Trinity College, Dublin on 23 October 1886 for a law degree, however by this stage he had shown a keen interest in engineering. He concurrently began an apprenticeship at the Inchicore works of the Great Southern and Western Railway (GS&WR) under H. A. Ivatt in 1888.[lower-alpha 1] Following completion of his degree in January 1891 he was able to complete his apprenticeship at Horwich Works[lower-alpha 2] on the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway[1][2] (as Nigel Gresley had done before him). At Horwich, he worked in the drawing office, before occupying the post of locomotive foreman in charge of the Blackpool and Fleetwood District. From there, he went to India[2] in 1894, as assistant locomotive superintendent of the East India Railway, being subsequently district locomotive superintendent of the Asansol District.

He returned in 1896 to become works manager at Inchicore on the GS&WR, moving up to become locomotive superintendent in 1911.[2]

In 1913, he was selected to succeed Harry Wainwright as CME of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SE&CR).[2] When that line was merged in the 1923 grouping, with Urie of the London and South Western Railway retiring and with Billinton of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway having less experience he became chief mechanical engineer of the newly formed Southern Railway.[3] He retired in 1937, Oliver Vaughan Snell Bulleid taking over from him.

He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1918 New Year Honours for his efforts during the First World War.[4]

Locomotives

Maunsell's key skill was engineering management rather than locomotive design, and he made use of design teams to create easy-to-maintain locomotives that could operate the required services with effective performance.[2] O.S. Nock in his book Irish Steam observed Maunsell was known to frequently stress the dictum "make everything get-at-able".[5] He was responsible for several notable locomotive classes and related equipment.

From his second spell at the GS&WR he is jointly credited with his predecessor Robert Coey with the one-off express passenger engine 4-4-0 No. 341 Sir William Goulding.[6] He is also credited there with the design of the GS&WR Class 257 (J4) of eight locomotives which were generally thought of as quite successful. While these were an incremental development of a series of GS&WR 0-6-0 classes of and in particular his predecessor Coey's GS&WR Class 351 (J9) Maunsell's locomotives where the first on the GS&WR to use superheaters and piston valves. With Maunsell departing Inchicore in 1913 the final members of this class were completed under his successor Watson.[7]

While at the SE&CR in 1917 the Maunsell team created two related prototype locomotives: one was a 2-6-0 ("mogul") tender freight locomotive, that was to become SE&CR Class N; the other was a 2-6-4T SE&CR Class K for express passenger work. These were followed by over 200 succeeding locomotives including classes K, K1, N, N1, U, U1 and W. Further locomotives for other railways came from came from kits of parts produced at Woolwich Arsenal; these consisted of six kits purchased by the Metropolitan Railway Metropolitan Railway K Class and 26 kits purchased by Irish Railways classes 372 and 393 some of which were constructed at Inchicore, Maunsell's old establishment.[8]

A major achievement was the introduction of the 4-6-0 SR Lord Nelson Class locomotives and also the 4-4-0 SR Class V or Schools Class, which were the ultimate and very successful development of the British 4-4-0 express passenger type. He also introduced pulverised fuel equipment and new types of valve gear.

Patents
  • GB191419269 (with George Victor Valen Hutchinson), published 26 November 1914, Improvements relating to steam superheaters[9]
  • GB192985 (with James Clayton), published 15 February 1923, Improvements in or relating to condensers for lubricators of the condensation type[10]
  • GB202523 (with James Clayton), published 23 August 1923, A double-feed lubricator[11]
gollark: Oh APIOFORMS. I think my Mojang account has finally stopped working.
gollark: You can also see a little bit of other stuff with the 3D mode.
gollark: There are limited workarounds. But generally no.
gollark: Would you like me to write you better malware?
gollark: Huh.

See also

Notes, references and sources

Notes
  1. In the 1880s at Trinity after the fresher year it was possible for engineers to pursue their professional course concurrently and take an abbreviated B.A. with no need to attend lectures provided annual examinations were passed
  2. Ivatt had worked under Aspinall on the GS&WR before the latter moved to Horwich and they had an apprenticeship sharing agreement

References
  1. Chacksfield (2010), pp. 10–16.
  2. Swift (2012), p. 11.
  3. Swift (2012), p. 14.
  4. "No. 30460". The London Gazette (Supplement). 7 January 1918. p. 370.
  5. Nock (1983), p. 43.
  6. Clements & McMahon (2008), p. 116.
  7. Clements & McMahon (2008), pp. 93–94, 117.
  8. Swift (2012), pp. 7, 9.
  9. "Espacenet - Bibliographic data: GB191419269 (A) ― 1914-11-26". Worldwide.espacenet.com. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
  10. "Espacenet - Bibliographic data: GB192985 (A) ― 1923-02-15". Worldwide.espacenet.com. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
  11. "Espacenet - Bibliographic data: GB202523 (A) ― 1923-08-23". Worldwide.espacenet.com. Retrieved 13 January 2013.

Sources
  • Chacksfield, J.E. (2010). Richard Maunsell - An Engineering Biography (revised ed.). Oakwood Press. ISBN 9780853616955.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Clements, Jeremy; McMahon, Michael (2008). Locomotives of the GSR. Colourpoint Books. ISBN 9781906578268.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Nock, O.S. (1983). Irish Steam. David & Charles. ISBN 0715379615.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Swift, Peter (2012). Maunsell Moguls. Ian Allan. ISBN 9780711034006.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
Business positions
Preceded by
Robert Coey		 Locomotive Superintendent of
Great Southern and Western Railway
1911–1913		 Succeeded by
Watson
Preceded by
Harry Wainwright		 Chief Mechanical Engineer of
South Eastern and Chatham Railway
1913–1923		 Post abolished
Company merged into Southern Railway 
First
Company created by Railways Act 1921
 Chief Mechanical Engineer of
Southern Railway
1923–1937		 Succeeded by
Oliver Bulleid
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