George Brittain (1821, in

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

– 1882) was an English railway engineer, and was Locomotive Superintendent of the Caledonian Railway from 1876 to 1882, between

Benjamin Connor Benjamin Connor or Benjamin Conner was Locomotive Superintendent of the Caledonian Railway 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), ...

and

Dugald Drummond Dugald Drummond (1 January 1840 – 8 November 1912) was a Scottish steam locomotive engineer. He had a career with the North British Railway, LB&SCR, Caledonian Railway and London and South Western Railway. He was the older brother of the eng ...

. Previously he had been locomotive superintendent of the Dundee, Perth and Aberdeen Junction Railway (1859–63) and assistant to Alexander Allan on the

Scottish Central Railway The Scottish Central Railway was formed in 1845 to link Perth and Stirling to Central Scotland, by building a railway line to join the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway near Castlecary. The line opened in 1848 including a branch to South Alloa. The ...

(1863–65). Outdoor superintendent, Caledonian Railway (1865–76) and assistant/deputy to the incumbent and ailing Conner. In common with many of his professional contemporaries he described himself as a

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

in 1861 and 1871 but as a mechanical engineer (locomotive superintendent) in 1881.

Locomotive designs

On his own account, he was responsible for the management of the design of: * 10 x

2-4-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles and no trailing wheels. The notation 2-4-0T indi ...

878 __NOTOC__ Year 878 (Roman numerals, DCCCLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Britain * January 6 – King Alfred the Great is surprised by a ...

* 30 x

0-4-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement with no leading wheels, four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles and two trailing wheels on one axle. While the first locomotiv ...

878-1882( Caledonian Railway 670 Class) * 10 x

4-4-0 4-4-0 is a locomotive type with a classification that uses the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement and represents the arrangement: four leading wheels on two axles (usually in a leading bogie), four po ...

882 __NOTOC__ Year 882 (Roman numerals, DCCCLXXXII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * January 20 – King Louis the Younger dies in Frankfurt. He ...

(

Caledonian Railway 179 Class The Caledonian Railway 179 Class (nicknamed ''Oban bogie'') was a class of 4-4-0 steam locomotives designed by George Brittain for the Caledonian Railway (CR) and introduced in 1882. All ten were built by Dübs and Company in 1882; they cam ...

) * 12 x

879 __NOTOC__ Year 879 (Roman numerals, DCCCLXXIX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * April 10 – King Louis the Stammerer dies at Compiègne, ...

(

Tank locomotive A tank locomotive or tank engine is a steam locomotive that carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of a more traditional tender. Most tank engines also have bunkers (or fuel tanks) to hold fuel; in a tender-tank locom ...

) * 1 x

2-2-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 2-2-2 represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, two powered driving wheels on one axle, and two trailing wheels on one axle. The wheel arrangement both ...

881 __NOTOC__ Year 881 ( DCCCLXXXI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * February 12 – King Charles the Fat, the third son of the late Louis the German, is crowned as Holy Roman Emper ...

* 15 x

2-4-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles and two trailing wheels on one axle. The type is somet ...

880 __NOTOC__ Year 880 ( DCCCLXXX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Battle of Cephalonia: A Byzantine fleet, under Admiral Nasar, is sent ...

* 1 x

0-4-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents one of the simplest possible types, that with two axles and four coupled wheels, all of which are driven. The wheels on the earliest four-coupled locomotives were ...

CT ( Crane tank) * 6 x

0-6-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and no trailing wheels. This was the most common wheel arrangemen ...

ST About 30 of these locomotives saw their way into the stock of the

London, Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally u ...

, some possibly gaining an extended lease of life due to the demands on the railway caused by the Great War. All had outside cylinders. Most of his engines had a reasonable service life for the period but were ill-suited for the age of standardisation that swept the country from the mid-1870s onwards.

Later years

Seen more as a running man than a designer and innovator, and with failing health and support from the board of directors that had appointed him, he was sidelined in a reorganisation of his department and appointed consultant, before resigning his £850/annum post in April 1882. He died shortly afterwards.

Family

He married Margaret Grant, a Scot, by whom he had at least five children, all born in

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern England, Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers River Eden, Cumbria, Eden, River C ...

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...

. His eldest daughter, Louisa Mary Brittain, married Andrew T. Scott on 7 June 1897 at St. John's Episcopal Church,

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

References

Sources

* British Locomotive Catalogue 1825-1923 Vol.4, B Baxter * Forty Years of Caledonian Locomotives 1882-1922, H J Campbell Cornwell * Scottish Locomotive History 1831-1923, C Highet * Caledonian Railway,

O. S. Nock Oswald Stevens Nock, Bachelor of Science, B. Sc., Diploma of Imperial College, DIC, Civil engineer, C. Eng, Institution of Civil Engineers, M.I.C.E., Institution of Mechanical Engineers, M.I.Mech.E., Institute of Locomotive Engineers, M.I.Loco. ...

* The Locomotive (1946) * Scottish census returns {{DEFAULTSORT:Brittain, George 1821 births 1882 deaths British railway pioneers Locomotive builders and designers English railway mechanical engineers Caledonian Railway people 19th-century British businesspeople

Locomotive designs

Later years

Family

See also

References

Sources