Martin Atock, also formerly known as Martin Attock, was an English railway engineer, who is best known as the Locomotive Superintendent of the

Midland Great Western Railway The Midland Great Western Railway (MGWR) was the third largest Irish gauge () railway company in Ireland. It was incorporated in 1845 and absorbed into the Great Southern Railways in 1924. At its peak the MGWR had a network of , making it Irela ...

(MGWR) from 1872 to 1900.

Life

Atock was born in June 1834 in

Preston, Lancashire Preston () is a city on the north bank of the River Ribble in Lancashire, England. The city is the administrative centre of the county of Lancashire and the wider City of Preston local government district. Preston and its surrounding distri ...

to George and Hephzibah Attock. His baptism took place in the parish church of St. John the Evangelist± on 26 June 1834 where the Reverend Roger Carus Wilson recorded his name as ''Martin Atock'' using the common spelling of the surname for the locality rather than that of his father. He moved to

Stratford, London Stratford is a town in east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. Until 1965 it was within the historic county of Essex. Part of the Lower Lea Valley, Stratford is situated 6 miles (10 km) east-northeast of Chari ...

when his father George (Atock) Attock became Carriage and Wagon Superintendent of the

Eastern Counties Railway The Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) was an English Rail transport, railway company incorporated in 1836 intended to link London with Ipswich via Colchester, and then extend to Norwich and Great Yarmouth, Yarmouth. Construction began in 1837 on t ...

(ECR), a predecessor of the

Great Eastern Railway The Great Eastern Railway (GER) was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia. The company was grouped into the London and North Eastern R ...

. He followed father into railway engineering becoming a draftsman. At a meeting of the ECR on 8 July 1857 he was appointed chief draughtsman at wages of £2 10s per week, and was noted as having resigned from the ECR as ''outdoor foreman of the locomotive department'' on 6 November 1861. He married in 1859. In 1861 he relocated to

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

, Ireland in 1861 to take up an appointment as Locomotive Superintendent to the

Waterford and Limerick Railway The Waterford, Limerick and Western Railway (WL&WR), formerly the Waterford and Limerick Railway up to 1896, was at the time it was amalgamated with the Great Southern and Western Railway in 1901 the fourth largest railway in Ireland, with a mai ...

. Whilst there he organised a reading room for the locomotive men at Limerick; incorporated a new wage structure, and persuaded the directors to reduce the weekly working hours down from 58 to the recommended 54 hours per week. His final post was of Locomotive Superintendent of the

at Broadstone works from 1872. Following his retirement in 1900 he died in November 1901 following a short trip to London.

Family

Several members of the Atock/Attock family were involved in railway engineering, including his son Thomas on the MGWR and his younger brother

Frederick Attock Frederick Attock (10 February 1846 – 21 May 1902) was Carriage Superintendent of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) and the first president of Newton Heath L&YR F.C., the club that later became Manchester United F.C. Biography Attoc ...

of the

Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) was a major British railway company before the 1923 Grouping. It was incorporated in 1847 from an amalgamation of several existing railways. It was the third-largest railway system based in northern ...

Engineering

The ''fly-away'' cab was the most distinctive attribute of a Martin Atock locomotive. They were problematic running in reverse and new locomotives and rebuilds after his departure quickly changed to a conventional square cab design. Atock is credited with bringing a degree of standardisation to the MGWR. He implemented a policy of renewing or rebuilding rolling stock every 20 years or so. He was aided by the expansion of Broadstone works in 1878 making it more suitable for the construction of locomotives. It can be said Atock never designed as bad locomotive at the MGWR. He moved away from the

4-2-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles, two powered driving wheels on one axle and no trailing wheels. This type of locomotive is often called a ...

preference of his predecessor, favoured

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 ...

for freight and

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 ...

for passenger/mixed passenger during his tenure. He produced a useful 0-6-0T for branch and shunting. He seemed to avoid

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 ...

and all

bogie A bogie ( ) (in some senses called a truck in North American English) is a chassis or framework that carries a wheelset, attached to a vehicle—a modular subassembly of wheels and axles. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transp ...

designs until the final design of his era, there are various speculations whether this was due to the influence of his successor Cusack or the success of the 4-4-0 elsewhere. On his retirement all MGWR locomotives were of his design apart from

MGWR Class H The Midland Great Western Railway (MGWR) Class H were an 0-6-0 locomotive bought in 1880 from Avonside Engine Company. After 1925 they became Great Southern Railways (GSR) class 619 / Inchicore class J6. Fleet History The MGWR acquired these ...

that he had recommended be purchased for a bargain price.

Notes

References

Sources

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Atock, Martin 1836 births 1901 deaths Locomotive builders and designers English railway mechanical engineers Midland Great Western Railway Locomotive superintendents