Charles Fairburn

Charles Edward Fairburn (1887–1945) was a British railway engineer who served as Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway from May 1944 until his sudden death in October 1945 — one of the shortest CME tenures in LMS history, but one that left a lasting legacy through the Fairburn 2-6-4T tank locomotive that became one of the most successful British suburban tank engine designs of the post-war era.

Born at Bradford on 5 August 1887, Fairburn was educated at Bradford Grammar School and read engineering at Brasenose College, Oxford — an unusual academic background for a locomotive engineer of his generation, when most entered the profession through workshop apprenticeships. He joined Siemens Brothers and subsequently English Electric, where he became Manager of Traction, developing a deep expertise in electric traction systems that would mark his later railway career. He moved to the LMS in 1934 as Electrical Engineer, becoming Deputy CME under Stanier in 1937 and taking over day-to-day management of the CME's office from 1942 when Stanier was seconded to the Ministry of Production for war work.

Fairburn's principal design contribution was the 2-6-4T of 1945 — a modification of Stanier's own 4MT 2-6-4T with a shortened wheelbase to improve route availability, minor detail improvements, and updated production methods. The Fairburn tank proved highly successful: 277 were eventually built by both the LMS and subsequently BR, and the type became one of the standard suburban and secondary passenger tank engines of the BR era, working across the Midland, North Western, and Scottish regions on intensive commuter and stopping services.

Fairburn's electrical engineering background showed in his strong advocacy of the 1,500 V DC Manchester–Sheffield Woodhead Route electrification then being planned, and he would likely have championed further LMS electrification had he survived. He died unexpectedly at Glasgow on 12 October 1945 — the cause recorded as heart failure — and was succeeded by H.G. Ivatt, who completed the transition to the nationalisation era.