T. W. Worsdell

Born	14 January 1838
Died	28 June 1916
Nationality	English
Employer	Birkenhead Railway (apprentice); Crewe Works (Chief Draughtsman); Pennsylvania Railroad, Altoona (Locomotive Superintendent); Great Eastern Railway, Stratford (Locomotive Superintendent 1881–1885); North Eastern Railway, Gateshead (Locomotive Superintendent 1885–1890)

Biography

Thomas William Worsdell (1838–1916) was a British locomotive engineer who served as Locomotive Superintendent of the Great Eastern Railway from 1881 to 1885 and of the North Eastern Railway from 1885 until 1890. He was the elder brother of Wilson Worsdell, who succeeded him at Gateshead, and his career was uniquely transatlantic for a Victorian-era British engineer.

Born at Liverpool on 14 January 1838, T. W. Worsdell served his apprenticeship on the Birkenhead Railway and rose under John Ramsbottom at Crewe to become Chief Draughtsman. From 1865 to 1871 he was with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Altoona, establishing the connection that brought his younger brother Wilson there as an apprentice.

He returned to Britain in 1871 to design the Crewe-built carriages for the Royal Train, then became Locomotive Superintendent at Stratford on the GER. From 1885 he was on the NER, where he introduced the von Borries two-cylinder compound system on a series of Atlantics, 4-4-0s and 0-6-2 tanks. The compounds were soon abandoned by his brother and successor, but Worsdell's basic 0-6-0 (NER Class C, LNER J21) was a successful and long-lived simple-expansion design. He retired in 1890 and lived at Arnside, Westmorland until his death on 28 June 1916.

Locomotives designed

GER M15 — Thomas Worsdell's 1884 GER M15 class 2-4-2T (LNER F4 class) — built at Stratford for GER London suburban services. 160 built between 1884 and 1909, the GER's standard suburban tank for 25 years.
GER Y14 — Thomas Worsdell's 1883 GER Y14 class 0-6-0 goods — the GER's standard goods engine for nearly 50 years, 289 built between 1883 and 1913. The Y14 was the first locomotive class to feature in a documented "locomotive built in record time" challenge: in 1891, Stratford Works built and steamed an entire Y14 from frames to first fire in 9 hours 47 minutes. One Y14 (LNER J15 class No. 564) is preserved on the North Norfolk Railway in working order.
NER Class C / C1 — Thomas Worsdell's 1886 NER Class C 0-6-0 goods — the NER's standard goods engine of the late 1880s and 1890s, built at Darlington. C1 was the rebuilt-with-larger-boiler variant.