James Stirling (1835–1917) was a Scottish mechanical engineer. 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

Glasgow and South Western Railway The Glasgow and South Western Railway (G&SWR) was the third biggest of the five major Scottish railway companies prior to the 1923 Grouping. It served a triangular area of south-west Scotland between Glasgow, Stranraer and Carlisle, Cumbria, Ca ...

and later the South Eastern Railway. Stirling was born on 2 October 1835, a son of

Robert Stirling Robert Stirling (25 October 1790 – 6 June 1878) was a Scottish clergyman and engineer. He invented the Stirling engine and was inducted into the Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame in 2014. Early life Robert Stirling was born at Cloag Farm ...

, rector of

Galston, East Ayrshire Galston (Scots language, Lowland Scots: ''Gauston'', Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile nan Gall'') is a town in East Ayrshire, Scotland, which has a population of 4,710 (United Kingdom Census 2021, 2022) and is at the heart of the Parishes of Scotland, c ...

Career

Glasgow and South Western Railway

After working for a village millwright he joined the

(GSWR) where he was apprenticed to his brother

Patrick Patrick may refer to: *Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name * Patrick (surname), list of people with this name People *Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint * Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick ...

, who had been

of that railway since 1853. On completion of his apprenticeship, he spent a year as a fitter at Sharp Stewart in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, before returning to the GSWR drawing office at

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

; he later became works manager. On 1 March 1866, his brother Patrick left the GSWR for the Great Northern Railway (GNR), where he became Works Manager at

Doncaster Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...

, and James was appointed Locomotive Superintendent of the GSWR in his place. Patrick became the Locomotive Superintendent of the GNR from 1 October 1866),

South Eastern Railway

At the end of June 1878 he left the GSWR for the South Eastern Railway. He retired in 1898 and died in

Ashford, Kent Ashford is a town in the Borough of Ashford, Ashford district, in the county of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Great Stour at the southern or Escarpment, scarp edge of the North Downs, about by road southeast of centr ...

in 1917.

Locomotives

Like his brother, James Stirling favoured the domeless boiler, known as the "straightback" and cabs for the enginemen. Although not the first British locomotive engineer to use the

4-4-0 4-4-0, in the Whyte notation, denotes a steam locomotive with a wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles (usually in a leading bogie), four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles, and no trailing wheels. First built in the ...

type, he was the first to produce a 4-4-0 which could be regarded as successful, with his G&SWR 6 Class of 1873. Stirling also invented a steam reverser, using it on most of his designs from 1874. On the South Eastern Railway, Stirling designed just six classes of locomotive in his twenty years – three of these were of the

type for express passenger work, each more capable than the last; his other three classes were an

0-6-0 is the Whyte notation designation for steam locomotives with a wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and no trailing wheels. Historically, this was the most common wheel arrangement used o ...

for goods, an

0-4-4T Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 0-4-4 represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles, and four trailing wheels on two axles. This type was only us ...

for suburban passenger, and an

T for shunting. At his retirement at the end of 1898, the SER had 459 engines, of which 384 were to Stirling's design, and seven others had been purchased to outside design; ten more to Stirling's design would be built in 1899.

Notes

References

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stirling, James (1835-1917) 1835 births 1917 deaths People from Galston, East Ayrshire

James James may refer to: People * James (given name) * James (surname) * James (musician), aka Faruq Mahfuz Anam James, (born 1964), Bollywood musician * James, brother of Jesus * King James (disambiguation), various kings named James * Prince Ja ...