Reid A. Railton (1895–1977) was a British automotive engineer, and designer of

land Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of the planet Earth that is not submerged by the ocean or other bodies of water. It makes up 29% of Earth's surface and includes the continents and various islan ...

and water speed record vehicles.

Biography

Reid Antony Railton was the son of a

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 ...

stockbroker: Charles Withingon Railton and his wife Charlotte Elizabeth (née Sharman), Reid was born in Chorley, Alderley Edge, Cheshire and was christened on 13 August 1895 at the local parish church. He was educated at

Rugby School Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. Up ...

and

Manchester University , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

. He joined

Leyland Motors Leyland Motors Limited (later known as the Leyland Motor Corporation) was a British vehicle manufacturer of lorries, buses and trolleybuses. The company diversified into car manufacturing with its acquisitions of Triumph and Rover in 1960 and 1 ...

in 1917 where he worked with

J.G. Parry-Thomas John Godfrey Parry-Thomas (6 April 1884 – 3 March 1927) was a Welsh engineer and motor-racing driver who at one time held the land speed record. He was the first driver to be killed in pursuit of the land speed record. Early life and ed ...

on the

Leyland Eight The Leyland Eight was a luxury car produced by Leyland Motors from 1920 to 1923. The car was designed by the chief engineer of Leyland Motors, J.G. Parry-Thomas and his assistant Reid Railton, and was intended to be the finest car available. I ...

luxury car. He left in 1922 to set up the Arab Motor Company where he was chief designer. Only about twelve cars were built, of which two low-chassis cars survive. One is in the

Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...

and the other one (chassis number 6, engine number 10, registration UW 2) is now in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

having been rebuilt and rebodied by David Barker in the early 1990s. In 1927, on the death of his friend Parry-Thomas, Railton closed the Arab factory and moved to

Brooklands Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfields, ...

working for

Thomson & Taylor Thomson & Taylor were a motor-racing engineering and car-building firm, based within the Brooklands race track. They were active between the wars and built several of the famous land speed record breaking cars of the day. Thomas Inventions Devel ...

becoming their Technical Director with responsibility for John Cobb's 1933 Napier Railton car which took the Outer Circuit record in 1933 and

Sir Malcolm Campbell Major Sir Malcolm Campbell (11 March 1885 – 31 December 1948) was a British racing motorist and motoring journalist. He gained the world speed record on land and on water at various times, using vehicles called ''Blue Bird'', including a 1 ...

's Blue Bird Land Speed Record cars of 1931 to 1935. His greatest achievements were probably in designing the

Railton Special The ''Railton Special'', later rebuilt as the ''Railton Mobil Special'', is a one-off motor vehicle designed by Reid Railton and built for John Cobb's successful attempts at the land speed record in 1938. It is currently on display at Thinkt ...

carBirmingham Stories: "Britain makes the speed record its own"
with which John Cobb set the Land Speed Record at in 1947 and designing the E.R.A. racing cars built in 1933–34 at Thompson & Taylors at

. He also tuned the

Hudson Hudson may refer to: People * Hudson (given name) * Hudson (surname) * Henry Hudson, English explorer * Hudson (footballer, born 1986), Hudson Fernando Tobias de Carvalho, Brazilian football right-back * Hudson (footballer, born 1988), Hudso ...

chassis used on the Railton car, named after him. As well as cars he designed high-speed boats, including the jet-powered '' Crusader'' in which John Cobb was killed in 1952 while travelling in excess of attempting to break the Water Speed Record. In 1939 he moved to

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

to work for the Hall-Scott Motor Company. He died in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

, in 1977 at the age of 82.

Vehicles designed by Reid Railton

Campbell-Napier-Railton Blue Bird The Campbell-Napier-Railton Blue Bird was a land speed record car driven by Malcolm Campbell. After Henry Segrave's Golden Arrow, clearly a more powerful engine was required for ''Blue Bird'', with a chassis and transmission to handle it. A su ...

Campbell-Railton Blue Bird The Campbell-Railton Blue Bird was Sir Malcolm Campbell's final land speed record car. His previous Campbell-Napier-Railton Blue Bird of 1931 was rebuilt significantly. The overall layout and the simple twin deep chassis rails remained, but litt ...

Crusader (speedboat) ''Crusader'' was a jet-powered speed boat piloted by John Cobb. The combination of an aerodynamically stable hullform and turbojet propulsion was proposed by Reid Railton, Cobb's adviser. A rocket-powered scale model was tested at Haslar. The ...

Napier-Railton The Napier-Railton is an aero-engined racing car built in 1933, designed by Reid Railton to a commission by John Cobb, and built by Thomson & Taylor. It was driven by Cobb, mainly at the Brooklands race track where it holds the all-time lap ...

Railton Mobil Special Railton may refer to: * Railton (surname) * Railton (car), a former marque of British automobiles * Railton, Kentucky, a place in the US; see List of tornadoes in the Super Outbreak * Railton, Tasmania, a town in Tasmania, Australia See also * Cam ...

References

External links

The Auto Channel
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Railton, Reid British automobile designers Brooklands people People educated at Rugby School 1895 births 1977 deaths Land speed record people British expatriates in the United States

Biography

Vehicles designed by Reid Railton

See also

References

Further reading

External links