Thomas Fleming Bergin

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Thomas Fleming Bergin (n/a - 1862) was an Irish civil engineer and early Irish railway official. He was the Company Clerk of the Dublin and Kingstown Railway (D&KR), [1] the first public railway in Ireland. [2] He was also responsible for the design of the Bergin Patent Spring Buffer, the buffering system that it used. [3]

Contents

Biography

Bergin, who was by profession a civil engineer, was to join the Dublin and Kingstown Railway (D&KR) in 1832, replacing James Pim as company secretary. [4] [5] Lyons notes Pim and Bergin as "two of the most valuable engines the D&KR possessed, although other individuals also played an important part." [6] Murray notes Bergin was to have a "large part of the daily management of the railway", and also notes the Bergin and Pim made an excellent team. [5] Bergin was to remain loyal to the D&KR despite offers from other railways. [7]

Thomas notes the D&KR Chief Clerk (aka Bergin [lower-alpha 1] [9] ) was sent to the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR) [lower-alpha 2] in June 1833. [9] Dawson notes Bergin observed the sprung buffer / connection system used on the L&MR and determined to develop his own design for the D&KR. [10]

On 16 December 1834 Bergin was to place advertisements in the Dublin newspapers as Clerk of the Company proclaiming the public opening of the D&KR with an hourly service from 9am to 4pm inclusive from Westland-Row to Blackrock and Kingstown. [8]

Bergin was additionally appointed 'Mechanical Engineer in 1835, though as that position was found to be needing a full time appointment Bergin was to revert to Clerk. [7] Bergin retired when the operation of the D&KR was taken over by the Dublin and Wicklow Railway in 1856. [7]

Bergin served as president of the Microscopical Society of Ireland in 1842. [11] He died in December 1862. [7]

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References

Notes

  1. ↑ Thomas actually uses the term Chief Clerk but as Lyons notes that as Bergin style's himself Clerk of the Company Bergin is the only reasonable candidate here. [8]
  2. ↑ The Liverpool and Manchester Railway was in the 1830s the first, and perhaps for a few years only, example of a significant and effective railway with both freight and scheduled passenger operations; additionally it was a relatively short distance from Dublin by steam packet

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Mulligan 1990, p. 13.
  2. ↑ Mulligan 1990, p. 10.
  3. ↑ Murray 1981, pp. 195–199.
  4. ↑ Lyons 2015, p. 28.
  5. 1 2 Murray 1981, p. 22.
  6. ↑ Lyons 2015, pp. 28–29.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Murray 1981, p. 97.
  8. 1 2 Lyons 2015, p. 32.
  9. 1 2 Thomas 1980, p. 229.
  10. ↑ Dawson 2021, p. 224–225.
  11. ↑ Baker & Gill (2017)

Sources


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