Benjamin Connor or Benjamin Conner 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

Caledonian Railway The Caledonian Railway (CR) was a major Scottish railway company. It was formed in the early 19th century with the objective of forming a link between English railways and Glasgow. It progressively extended its network and reached Edinburgh an ...

from 1856 to 1876. He was born in Glasgow in 1813 and died there on 3 February 1876. Connor married Helen Dick and had five children: James (born 1854), Cristina (born 1858), Alexander (born 1860), Benjamin (born 1864) and William (born 1867).

Design

''The Railway Gazette'' described Connor as a "very celebrated engineer" because of his 1839 design of the passenger locomotive which was an enlargement on the locomotives available at the time. A locomotive built from his drawings was exhibited at the 1862 London International Exhibition.

Career

Connor was apprenticed to James Gray of Glasgow. Later he worked for Murdoch, Aitken & Co, Glasgow, where he learned locomotive engineering. He moved to England, working in Liverpool and Manchester, and then returned to Scotland to work for W.M. Neilson. After this he worked for

Robert Napier and Sons Messrs Robert Napier and Sons was a famous firm of River Clyde, Clyde shipbuilders and marine engineers at Govan, City of Glasgow, Glasgow founded by Robert Napier (engineer), Robert Napier in 1826. It was moved to Govan for more space in 1841. Hi ...

and learned marine engineering. He was appointed locomotive superintendent of the Caledonian Railway in 1856.

Locomotives

References

Sources

* ''Ian Allan ABC of British Railways Locomotives'', January 1961, page 58 British railway pioneers Locomotive superintendents Scottish railway mechanical engineers 19th-century Scottish people Caledonian Railway people 1813 births 1876 deaths 19th-century British businesspeople {{UK-engineer-stub