David Jones (25 October 1834 - 2 December 1906) was born in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England, where his father was an engineer. He became

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 ...

for the

Highland Railway The Highland Railway (HR) was one of the smaller British railways before the Railways Act 1921, operating north of Perth railway station in Scotland and serving the farthest north of Britain. Based in Inverness, the company was formed by merger ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. He was credited with the design of the first British 4-6-0 which was strongly influenced by a Scottish locomotive design for

Indian Railways Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tot ...

Career

London and North Western Railway

Jones spent part of his

apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a Tradesman, trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners ...

under John Ramsbottom, the district superintendent of the North Eastern Division of

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 L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lo ...

Highland Railway

He joined what would later become the Highland Railway in 1855 at age twenty-one. In 1870, he became its locomotive superintendent and, like most such occupants of that position, spent much of his time rebuilding old

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...

s in order to extract a few more years from them. Although he was a fervent

disciple A disciple is a follower and student of a mentor, teacher, or other figure. It can refer to: Religion * Disciple (Christianity), a student of Jesus Christ * Twelve Apostles of Jesus, sometimes called the Twelve Disciples * Seventy disciples in t ...

of Alexander Allan, Jones' new designs tended to break away from the Allan tradition, which had lasted so long in

Locomotive designs

In 1894 he introduced the Highland Railway Jones Goods Class, the first 4-6-0 to operate on any British Railway. In 1899 the three

Avonside Engine Company The Avonside Engine Company was a locomotive manufacturer in Avon Street, St. Philip's, Bristol, England between 1864 and 1934. However the business originated with an earlier enterprise Henry Stothert and Company. Origins The firm was original ...

4-6-0 engines built for the

North Mount Lyell Railway The North Mount Lyell Railway was built to operate between the North Mount Lyell mine in West Coast Tasmania and Pillinger in the Kelly Basin of Macquarie Harbour. History At the start of the Twentieth century it was constructed to take o ...

are attributed in design to Jones Ellis, Rae (1990) The North Mount Lyell Railway, Tasmania. Part 3: Locomotives and Rolling Stock, Light Railways, No 9, Vol XXVII, July 1990, pp.1-20 - Ellis also attributes Jones's design to the

Emu Bay Railway The Emu Bay Railway was a Tasmania, Australian railway company. The railway was significant during full operation, in that it linked the Tasmanian Government Railways system at Burnie with that at Zeehan that further linked to the Mount Lyel ...

4-8-0's of 1900 and 1911

Accidents and death

Jones retired in 1896, after a

scalding Scalding is a form of thermal burn resulting from heated fluids such as boiling water or steam. Most scalds are considered first- or second-degree burns, but third-degree burns can result, especially with prolonged contact. The term is from the L ...

, experienced during tests of the large goods 4-6-0, had robbed him of the use of his left leg and he died in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 1906, after a car accident had deprived him the use of his other.

Notes

External links

* http://www.steamindex.com/people/jones.htm {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, David Locomotive builders and designers 1834 births 1906 deaths Engineers from Manchester