William Grindley Craig (30 March 1819''Scotland, Select Births and Baptisms, 1564–1950'' – 24 January 1886) was a Scottish railway engineer and designer who 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

Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR) was formed in 1847 when the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway joined with authorised but unbuilt railway companies, forming a proposed network from Manchester to Grimsb ...

from 1854–1859. He was present, as an

expert witness An expert witness, particularly in common law countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States, is a person whose opinion by virtue of education, training, certification, skills or experience, is accepted by the judge as ...

, at an enquiry into the

Round Oak rail accident The Round Oak railway accident happened on 23 August 1858 between Brettell Lane railway station, Brettell Lane and Round Oak railway station, Round Oak railway stations, on the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway. The breakage of a defec ...

in 1858. He was succeeded by

Charles Sacre Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

. Craig was born near Glasgow in 1819. He died in

Saint-Jean-de-Luz Saint-Jean-de-Luz (; eu, Donibane Lohitzune,Donibane Lohitzune
Auñamendi Ency ...

in 1886.''England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858–1995''

Career

Taff Vale Railway

He 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

Taff Vale Railway The Taff Vale Railway (TVR) was a standard gauge railway in South Wales, built by the Taff Vale Railway Company to serve the iron and coal industries around Merthyr Tydfil and to connect them with docks in Cardiff. It was opened in stag ...

from 1844 to 1845. His appointment on the TVR was brief, a fate shared by a handful of engineers about this time on that railway.

Neath Abbey Ironworks

He worked in another capacity at the Neath Abbey Ironworks, probably from 1844 to 1849.

Monmouthshire Railway and Canal Company

He worked for the

Monmouthshire Railway and Canal Company The Monmouthshire Railway and Canal Company was a canal and railway company that operated a canal and a network of railways in the Western Valley and Eastern Valley of Newport, Monmouthshire. It started as the Monmouthshire Canal Navigation and op ...

from 1849 to 1854. On the MR&CC Craig was responsible for the following locomotives, all of which were built by private manufacturers, including Neath Abbey Ironworks: * 2 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 ...

(1850) * 2 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 ...

WT (1850) * 1 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 ...

(1850) * 6 x 4-4-0T (1853) * 6 x 0-6-0WT (1854) For more information about these locomotives, see

Locomotives of the Great Western Railway The first Locomotives of the Great Western Railway (GWR) were specified by Isambard Kingdom Brunel but Daniel Gooch was soon appointed as the railway's Locomotive Superintendent. He designed several different broad gauge types for the growing r ...

Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway

Craig worked for the

from 1854 to 1859. This was Craig's last senior railway appointment, succeeding

Richard Peacock Richard Peacock (9 April 1820 – 3 March 1889) was an English engineer, one of the founders of locomotive manufacturer Beyer, Peacock and Company. Early life and education Born in Swaledale, Yorkshire, Richard Peacock was educated at Leeds G ...

Beyer, Peacock and Company Beyer, Peacock and Company was an English railway locomotive manufacturer with a factory in Openshaw, Manchester. Founded by Charles Beyer, Richard Peacock and Henry Robertson, it traded from 1854 until 1966. The company exported locomotives, ...

fame. On the MS&LR, he attracted a salary of £500/annum plus bonus payments based on savings made. He later became a cost-saving himself when his contract was not renewed following a reorganisation. He was replaced by Charles Reboul Sacre, late of the Great Northern Railway, but was retained as a consultant. The locomotives Craig added to MS&LR stock comprised: * 2 x 0-6-0 (1854) * 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 ...

WT (1856) * 3 x 0-6-0 (1858–59) At least one of the company's ships was also designed by him.

Consulting engineer

In 1861 Craig was living in north London, employed as a civil consulting engineer and by ten years later was still there but had added iron merchant to his occupations.

Family

By 1881 he had moved to

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, where his wife Eliza Ellen Langley (1827-1882)(whom he had married in 1848) died. Craig had at least four children, two girls born in

Newport, Monmouthshire Newport ( cy, Casnewydd; ) is a city and county borough in Wales, situated on the River Usk close to its confluence with the Severn Estuary, northeast of Cardiff. With a population of 145,700 at the 2011 census, Newport is the third-largest au ...

, and a boy and girl born during his time at

Gorton Gorton is an area of Manchester in North West England, southeast of the city centre. The population at the 2011 census was 36,055. Neighbouring areas include Levenshulme and Openshaw. A major landmark is Gorton Monastery, a 19th-century Hi ...

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 ...

. He died in St.Jean de Luz Basse Pyrenees, France 24/01/1886, leaving a will and naming one of his spinster daughters as executor.

Sources

* ''The Locomotives of the GWR'', vols. 3 & 10, RCTS * ''Great Central'', vol.1, G.Dow * ''Ian Allan ABC of British Railways Locomotives'', summer 1961 edition, page 58 {{DEFAULTSORT:Craig, William Grindley Locomotive builders and designers Scottish railway mechanical engineers 1818 births 1886 deaths Engineers from Glasgow