Sir William Arthur Stanier, (27 May 1876 – 27 September 1965) was a British railway engineer, and was

chief mechanical engineer 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 London, Midland and Scottish Railway.

Biography

Sir William Stanier was born in Swindon, where his father worked for the Great Western Railway (GWR) as William Dean's Chief Clerk, and educated at Swindon High School and also, for a single year, at Wycliffe College. In 1891 he followed his father into a career with the GWR, initially as an office boy and then for five years as an apprentice in the workshops. Between 1897 and 1900 he worked in the Drawing Office as a draughtsman, before becoming Inspector of Materials in 1900. In 1904,

George Jackson Churchward George Jackson Churchward (31 January 1857 – 19 December 1933) was an English railway engineer, and was chief mechanical engineer of the Great Western Railway (GWR) in the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1922. Early life Churchward was born at ...

appointed him as Assistant to the Divisional

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 ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. In 1912 he returned to Swindon to become the Assistant Works Manager and in 1920 was promoted to the post of Works Manager. In late 1931, he was "headhunted" by Sir Josiah Stamp, chairman of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS), to become the Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of that railway from 1 January 1932. He was charged with introducing modern and more powerful locomotive designs, using his knowledge gained with the GWR at Swindon. Stanier built many successful designs for the LMS, particularly the "Black 5" mixed traffic 4-6-0 and the 8F 2-8-0 freight locomotive. His Princess Coronation Class 4-6-2 No.6220 ''Coronation'' set a new British record of 114 mph, beating the previous record set by a Gresley A4. During WWII, Stanier worked as a consultant for the Ministry of Supply, and retired in 1944. He was knighted on 9 February 1943 and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society on his retirement, only the third locomotive engineer after Edward Bury and

Robert Stephenson Robert Stephenson FRS HFRSE FRSA DCL (16 October 1803 – 12 October 1859) was an English civil engineer and designer of locomotives. The only son of George Stephenson, the "Father of Railways", he built on the achievements of his father ...

to receive that honour. He was also president of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers for 1944, and was a vice president of the

Stephenson Locomotive Society The Stephenson Locomotive Society (SLS) was founded in the UK in Autumn 1909 for the study of rail transport and locomotives. More recently, on 1 January 2017, the SLS became a private company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales ...

for a number of years until his death in 1965. He died in Rickmansworth in 1965. In 1906, he had married Ella Elizabeth, daughter of Levi L Morse. They had a son and a daughter.

Locomotive Designs

Duchess of Sutherland 6233 LMS 2 (43920141475)

William Stanier, with the backing of Sir Josiah Stamp, chairman of the company, reversed the small engine policy, which the LMS had inherited from 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 ...

, with beneficial results. Locomotive designs introduced by Stanier include: * LMS Class 2P 0-4-4T (designed in the Midland Railway design office) * LMS Class 3MT 2-6-2T * LMS Class 4MT 2-6-4T (3-cyl) * LMS Class 4MT 2-6-4T (2-cyl) * LMS Class 5MT 2-6-0 * LMS Class 5MT "Black Five" 4-6-0 * LMS Class 6P "Jubilee" 4-6-0 *

LMS Rebuilt Royal Scot Class The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) Rebuilt Royal Scot Class is a class of 4-6-0 steam locomotives. 70 members of this class were rebuilt by the LMS and its successor British Railways (BR) from LMS Royal Scot Class engines by the rep ...

* LMS Class 8P "Princess Royal" 4-6-2 * LMS Class 8P "Princess Coronation" 4-6-2 Pacific * LMS Class 8F 2-8-0 *

LMS Turbomotive The LMS Turbomotive was a modified LMS Princess Royal Class steam turbine locomotive designed by William Stanier and built by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in 1935. It was inspired by the Swedish Ljungström locomotives first intro ...

Legacy

Stanier's designs were a strong influence on the later British Railways standard classes of steam locomotives designed by R A Riddles, who adopted LMS design principles in preference to those of the other "Big Four" railway companies. There is a secondary school in Crewe called Sir William Stanier School.

References

Bibliography

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External links