William Kelly Wallace (1883–1969) was an Irish railway engineer who joined the Northern Counties Committee and later became Chief Civil Engineer of the London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS). He was awarded a civil

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in the

1946 New Year Honours The 1946 New Year Honours were appointments by many of the Commonwealth Realms of King George VI to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and to celebrate the passing of 1945 and the beginni ...

Biography

William Kelly Wallace was born in 1883 and educated privately. He joined the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It ama ...

Northern Counties Committee (NCC) railway in Ireland in 1906, after three years of practical training. He gained knowledge as a railway engineering, particularly in bridges inspecting all 228 bridges from Belfast to Londonderry in 1910. In 1919 he an assistant engineer to Bowman Malcolm. Although primarily a civil engineer, he was appointed to the joint positions of Locomotive Engineer and Civil Engineer on the NCC in 1922 when Bowman Malcolm retired. In 1924 he became chief engineer, a position he held till 1930. In collaboration with the Manager, James Pepper, he initiated a renewal programme in which, not only were new locomotives built, but suitable classes of older locomotives would be "heavily rebuilt", in the main following the style of the

and, later, the London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS). As Civil Engineer, Wallace took over the task of completing the new bridge across the

River Bann The River Bann (from ga, An Bhanna, meaning "the goddess"; Ulster-Scots: ''Bann Wattèr'') is one of the longest rivers in Northern Ireland, its length, Upper and Lower Bann combined, being 129 km (80 mi). However, the total lengt ...

at Coleraine, County Londonderry from Bowman Malcolm. This opened for traffic in March 1924. He oversaw the installation of colour light signalling at York Road station, Belfast which was commissioned in 1926. This was the first of its kind in Ireland and among the earliest large installations in the United Kingdom. Wallace devised an innovative method of constructing reinforced concrete bridges using T-section pre-cast concrete beams carried on reinforced concrete piers. Four beams created the bridge deck on to which ballasted track could be directly laid. In September 1930 he left the NCC to become Chief Stores Superintendent (Euston) on the LMS. In 1933 he became Chief Civil Engineer. Wallace was an advocate of British Standard track and flat-bottom rails and among the works he carried out were extensive trials of flat-bottom track with two types of baseplate on the former Midland and Caledonian mainlines. He also initiated an assessment of continuously welded rail (CWR). In 1946 he designed the Adam Viaduct, the first

prestressed concrete Prestressed concrete is a form of concrete used in construction. It is substantially "prestressed" ( compressed) during production, in a manner that strengthens it against tensile forces which will exist when in service. Post-tensioned concreted i ...

railway bridge in the United Kingdom. In 1948 he left the railway service.William Kelly Wallace: Chief Civil Engineer, London, Midland and Scottish Railway
- '' National Archives'' Wallace was known for having a dry sense of humour and was popular with his colleagues. He was appointed President of the

Institution of Civil Engineers The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters are located in the UK, whi ...

for 1955–56, after being on its council and committees for 11 years. In 1949 he chaired the first meeting of its associated society, the British Geotechnical Society, and he received an honorary doctorate of science from

Queen's University, Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

in 1956. William Kelly Wallace died in Surrey in May 1969.

Biography

References

Further reading