Joseph Hamilton Beattie

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Joseph Hamilton Beattie
Born12 May 1808
Died18 October 1871(1871-10-18) (aged 63)
NationalityBritish
OccupationEngineer
Children William George Beattie
Engineering career
DisciplineLocomotive engineer
Employer(s) London and South Western Railway
Beattie 2-4-0 well tank LSWR Beattie well tank (Boys' Book of Locomotives, 1907).jpg
Beattie 2-4-0 well tank

Joseph Hamilton Beattie (1808-1871) was a locomotive engineer with the London and South Western Railway. Joseph Beattie was born in Ireland on 12 May 1808. [1] He was educated in Belfast and initially apprenticed to his father, a Derry architect. He moved to England in 1835 to serve as an assistant to Joseph Locke on the Grand Junction Railway and from 1837 on the London and Southampton Railway. After the line opened he became the carriage and wagon superintendent at Nine Elms and succeeded John Viret Gooch as locomotive engineer on 1 July 1850.

Contents

Locomotives

Initially he designed a series of singles, but the weight of the Southampton and Salisbury expresses led to the development of 2-4-0s. He continued to develop the design over the next 20 years. In addition he developed a series of 2-2-2 and 2-4-0 well tanks and three classes of 0-6-0s. His locomotives were amongst the most efficient of the time. Three of his most famous locomotive design, the 0298 Class 2-4-0 well tanks, [2] were in service for 88 years, until 1962. 2 have been preserved - see the Swanage Railway, [3] Bodmin & Wenford Railway [4] and the National Railway Museum, York.

Locomotive classes

Locomotive classes designed by J.H. Beattie [5]
ClassWheel arrangementDriving wheelsYears builtBuildersQuantityPurposeNotes
Hercules 2-4-05 ft 6 in (1.7 m)1851–55 Nine Elms 15Goods
Tartar 2-2-2WT6 ft 0+1⁄2 in (1.8 m)1852 Sharp Brothers 6Suburban passenger
Sussex 2-2-2WT5 ft 6 in (1.7 m)1852Nine Elms8Suburban passenger
Saxon 2-4-05 ft 0 in (1.5 m)1855–57Nine Elms12Goods
Canute 2-2-26 ft 6 in (2.0 m)1855–59Nine Elms12Passenger
Chaplin 2-2-2WT5 ft 6 in (1.7 m)1856Nine Elms3Suburban passenger
Minerva 2-4-0WT5 ft 6 in (1.7 m)1856Nine Elms3Suburban passenger
Nelson 2-4-0WT5 ft 0 in (1.5 m)1858Nine Elms3Suburban passenger
Tweed 2-4-06 ft 0 in (1.8 m)1858–59Nine Elms6Passenger
Clyde 2-4-07 ft 0 in (2.1 m)1859–68Nine Elms13Express passenger
Nile 2-4-0WT5 ft 9 in (1.8 m)1859Nine Elms3Suburban passenger
Undine 2-4-06 ft 6 in (2.0 m)1859–60Nine Elms12Passenger
Eagle 2-4-06 ft 0 in (1.8 m)1862Nine Elms3Passenger
Gem 2-4-05 ft 0 in (1.5 m)1862–63Nine Elms6Goods
298 2-4-0WT5 ft 6 in (1.7 m)1863–71 Beyer, Peacock 70Suburban passenger15 more ordered by W.G. Beattie
Falcon 2-4-06 ft 6 in (2.0 m)1863–67Nine Elms17Passenger
Lion 0-6-05 ft 0 in (1.5 m)1863–71Nine Elms32GoodsSix more ordered by W.G. Beattie
221 0-6-05 ft 1 in (1.5 m)1866–72Beyer, Peacock18GoodsSix more ordered by W.G. Beattie
231 2-4-06 ft 0 in (1.8 m)1866Beyer, Peacock6Passenger
Volcano 2-4-06 ft 0 in (1.8 m)1866–69Nine Elms12PassengerSix more ordered by W.G. Beattie
Vesuvius 2-4-06 ft 6 in (2.0 m)1869–71Nine Elms14Passenger18 more ordered by W.G. Beattie

Innovations

Beattie was a highly innovative engineer, introducing the country's first successful 2-4-0 locomotive, pioneering feedwater heating, balanced slide valves and coal-burning fireboxes. Since the Rainhill Trials in 1829, it had been accepted that the smoke emitted by burning coal was a nuisance. [6] Railway companies accepted the need to burn coke (a smokeless fuel) in their locomotives, but this was much more expensive than coal, and several locomotive engineers sought a method by which coal could be burned smokelessly. [7] One such engineer was Beattie, who designed a boiler suitable for coal in 1853. [8]

Death

On 18 October 1871, [1] Beattie died of diphtheria and was succeeded as locomotive engineer by his son William George Beattie.

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The LSWR 318 class was a class of six passenger 4-4-0 tank locomotives supplied by Beyer, Peacock and Company in 1873 for the newly completed Exeter-Plymouth line. They proved to be unsuited to the task for which they were purchased but were found alternative employments elsewhere on the system.

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The Beattie well tanks were a series of 111 steam locomotives of seven different designs produced for the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) between 1852 and 1875. The first three designs were of the 2-2-2WT wheel arrangement, the last four being 2-4-0WT. Most were designed by Joseph Hamilton Beattie, the LSWR Mechanical Engineer, but the last few locomotives built to the seventh design incorporated modifications made by his son and successor, William George Beattie.

References

  1. 1 2 Marshall 1978, p. 24.
  2. ↑ "LSWR 0298 Class 2-4-0WT". 6 February 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2008.
  3. ↑ "Swanage Railway News Gallery Page 275". Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 19 January 2007.
  4. ↑ "LSWR (SR) Beattie Well Tank 2-4-0 WT No 30587". Archived from the original on 18 May 2011. Retrieved 19 January 2007.
  5. ↑ Bradley 1965, pp. 50–88, 100–114.
  6. ↑ Ahrons 1987, p. 12.
  7. ↑ Ahrons 1987, p. 131.
  8. ↑ Ahrons 1987, pp. 133–134.
Business positions
Preceded by Locomotive Superintendent of the
London and South Western Railway
1850–1871		Succeeded by
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