Sir John Aspinall
Sir John Audley Frederick Aspinall (1851–1937) was a British railway engineer who served successively as Locomotive Superintendent and General Manager of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, pioneered the first direct-current third-rail suburban electrification in Britain, and designed the Lancashire and Yorkshire Atlantic that was among the earliest British 4-4-2 express locomotives.
Born at Liverpool on 25 August 1851, Aspinall was apprenticed at Crewe Works under John Ramsbottom and gained early experience at Inchicore Works on the Great Southern and Western Railway of Ireland, where he rose to Locomotive Superintendent before returning to Britain as CME of the L&YR at Horwich in 1886. He oversaw the construction of Horwich Works — the purpose-built locomotive manufacturing establishment that he laid out on a green-field site in Lancashire — one of the most modern railway workshops in late-Victorian Britain.
Aspinall's L&YR locomotive designs included the Class 27 0-6-0 mineral engine for the railway's heavy coal traffic, the 2-4-2T radial tank for suburban working, and from 1899 the Class 7 4-4-2 'High Flyer' Atlantic — the second Atlantic design in Britain after Ivatt's GNR Klondike and a capable express engine for the L&YR's Manchester–Liverpool and Yorkshire services. His most far-sighted initiative was the electrification of the Liverpool–Southport line at 600 V DC third-rail in 1904 — Britain's first mainline electric multiple-unit operation — a decision that anticipated the comprehensive electrification programmes of subsequent decades. Promoted to General Manager in 1899, Aspinall led the L&YR through the pre-war expansion period and into the wartime years, retiring in 1919. He was knighted in 1917 and served as President of both the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and the Institution of Civil Engineers. He died at Woking on 19 January 1937.
Biography
Sir John Audley Frederick Aspinall (1851–1937) was a British railway engineer who served as Locomotive Superintendent and from 1899 General Manager of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway. He designed the L&YR Class 7 'High Flyer' Atlantic of 1899, the first 4-4-2 in Britain after the Great Northern's, and laid out Horwich Works as a modern locomotive shop.
Born at Liverpool on 25 August 1851, Aspinall was apprenticed at Crewe under John Ramsbottom and worked at Inchicore on the Great Southern & Western Railway of Ireland, first as Works Manager, then as Locomotive Superintendent, from 1875 to 1886.
His L&YR designs included the Class 27 0-6-0 mineral engine, the Aspinall Atlantic, and a major suburban electrification of the Liverpool–Southport line in 1904 (Britain's first 600 V dc third-rail electrification). He was promoted to General Manager in 1899 and held that post for two decades, retiring in 1919. He was knighted in 1917 and elected President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1909. He died at Woking on 19 January 1937.
