Sir John Fowler, 1st Baronet

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John Fowler
An 1868 engraving of Sir John Fowler by Thomas Oldham Barlow from a portrait by Sir John Everett Millais
Personal information
Name	John Fowler
Nationality	English
Birth date	15 July 1817
Birth place	Wadsley, Sheffield, South Yorkshire
Date of death	10 November 1898 (aged 81)
Place of death	Bournemouth, Dorset
Work
Engineering Discipline	civil engineer
Institution memberships	Institution of Civil Engineers (president)
Significant projects	Forth Bridge, Millwall Dock
Significant design	Fowler's Ghost fireless locomotive

Sir John Fowler, 1st Baronet KCMG (15 July 1817 – 10 November 1898) was a railway engineer in Victorian Britain. He helped build the first underground railway in London, the Metropolitan line in the 1860s, a shallow line built by the "cut-and-cover" method. His finest achievement was the Forth railway bridge built in the 1880s.

[edit] Early life

Fowler was born in Wadsley, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, and was educated privately. He trained under J.I. Leather of the Sheffield waterworks and then under J.U. Rastrick on the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway. In 1839, again under Leather, he became resident engineer on the Stockton and Hartlepool Railway until its completion in 1841 when he was appointed engineer, general manager and locomotive superintendent. In 1844 he set up for himself as a consulting engineer in London and was also engaged on lines east of Sheffield which became part of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway.^[1] He became a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1847, the year the Institution was founded, and a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1849. On 2nd July 1850 he married Elizabeth Broadbent of Manchester; they had 4 sons.

[edit] Bridges

Fowler designed the first railway bridge over the River Thames, Pimlico bridge which was completed in 1860.^[1] With Sir Benjamin Baker, he designed the Forth Bridge, a cantilever bridge, and Millwall Dock in east London. He was called in after the Norwood Junction rail accident when a cast iron bridge on the London-Brighton railway line fractured as a train passed over (1891). The girder failed from a large internal hole which had not been detected at installation. Since he had designed and built most of the bridges on the line, he advised that many should be strengthened or replaced, given the heavier locomotives then in use compared with those when the bridges were first built. Cast iron beam bridges had failed frequently and were barred from use as under-bridges by the Board of Trade after the Norwood accident.

[edit] Railways

Manchester Central Station (1880)

In 1860 Fowler was appointed engineer of the Metropolitan Railway, the first section of which opened on 9th January 1863. Of the 13 miles of the current Circle Line of the London Underground 11 miles were built under Fowler, plus 4 miles of branches. The shallow depth of this line alsio involved a considerable amount of work including underpinning buildings and diverting sewers. During this time, Fowler designed the Fowler's Ghost locomotive, and he is also credited with the introduction of the 4-4-0 tank locomotive to the Metropolitan.^[1] During 1869 he consulted on railways in Egypt and the floowing year on a railway in India.

Between 1875 and 1880 Fowler worked together with Richard Johnson, Andrew Johnston and Charles Sacré on building Manchester Central railway station for the Cheshire Lines Committee railway company.^[2] This large brick and iron rail terminus was noted as an engineering achievement, its 210 feet (64 m)-wide engine shed roof being the widest unsupported iron arch in Britain after London St Pancras.^[3]

[edit] Forth bridge

Forth Bridge

Together with Benjamin Baker and William Arrol he designed and built the world-famous Forth railway bridge using the principle of the cantilever. The construction created a continuous railway connection from Edinburgh to Aberdeen, and the design replaced an earlier proposal by Thomas Bouch for a suspension bridge. After the Tay Bridge disaster, the plans were scrapped.

The bridge is famous for being one of the first to use steel throughout. The bridge is regarded as an engineering marvel. It is 2.5 km (1.5 miles) in length, and the double track is elevated 46 m (approx. 150 ft) above high tide. It consists of two main spans of 1,710 ft (520 m), two side spans of 675 ft, 15 approach spans of 168 ft (51 m), and five of 25 ft (7.6 m). Each main span comprises two 680 ft (210 m) cantilever arms supporting a central 350 ft (110 m) span girder bridge. The three great four-tower cantilever structures are 340 ft (104 m) tall, each 70 ft (21 m) diameter foot resting on a separate foundation. The southern group of foundations had to be constructed as caissons under compressed air, to a depth of 90 ft (27 m). At its peak, approximately 4,600 workers were employed in its construction. Initially, it was recorded that 57 lives were lost; however, after extensive research by local historians, the figure has been revised upwards to 98.

He is credited with the building of the Albert Edward Bridge at Coalbrookdale, Shropshire in 1864 and near identical Victoria Bridge at Upper Arley, Worcestershire in 1861. Both remain in use today carrying out their originally designed function of carrying railway lines across the River Severn. Albert Edward Bridge carries the railway line from Lightmoor Junction to Ironbridge Power Station. Victoria Bridge carries the preserved Severn Valley Railway between Arley and Bewdley.

Following the death of Isambard Kingdom Brunel in 1859, Fowler was retained by the Great Western Railway Company as a consulting engineer, and a ex-Great Western Railway Sir Watkin class locomotive was named Fowler in his honour.

[edit] Fowler's Ghost

Metropolitan Railway steam locomotive number 23, the only surviving locomotive from the world's first underground railway, is preserved at London's Transport Museum

Fowler was also the designer of an experimental fireless locomotive (nicknamed Fowler's Ghost) which was tried out on the Metropolitan Railway in the 1860s. It stored energy in heated bricks (on the same principle as a storage heater) but was unsuccessful.

Three different designs were produced but only one locomotive was actually built and this has led to some confusion. The first design was for a 2-2-2 saddle-tank and a drawing of this has been published in some books as a representation of the real machine, although it was never built.

The locomotive actually built, by Robert Stephenson and Company, was a broad-gauge 2-4-0 tender engine. It was of fairly conventional appearance but very unconventional inside. The boiler had a normal firebox and this was connected to a large combustion chamber containing a quantity of fire brick. The combustion chamber communicated with the smokebox through a set of very short firetubes. Exhaust steam was condensed by a water-jet condenser and there was a pump to maintain a vacuum in the condenser. The idea was that it would operate as an ordinary coal-fired locomotive in the open but, when approaching a tunnel, the dampers would be closed and steam would be generated using stored heat from the firebricks. It was tried out in 1861 but was a dismal failure.

Following this unsuccessful trial a third design was produced, this time for a 4-2-2 saddle tank. It would, again, have had the hot brick heat store but, above the boiler drum, would have been a second steam/water drum to allow for large variations in water level. This machine was never built and, instead, conventional steam locomotives with condensing apparatus were used.

The Metropolitan Railway advertised the 2-4-0 locomotive for sale in 1865 and some parts of it were bought by Isaac Watt Boulton.

[edit] Later life

Funerary monument, Brompton Cemetery, London

In 1865, he was elected president of the Institution of Civil Engineers, the youngest ever president.

In 1890, he was created a baronet, Fowler of Braemore.

He died in Bournemouth, Dorset, at the age of 81 and is buried in Brompton Cemetery, London.[1]

He was succeeded to the baronetcy by his son, Sir John Arthur Fowler, 2nd Baronet (d. 25 March 1899). The baronetcy became extinct in 1933.

[edit] References

• The Chronicles of Boulton's Siding by Alfred Rosling Bennett, first published by the Locomotive Publishing Company in 1927, new impression by David & Charles 1971, ISBN 0 7153 5318 7
• Peter R. Lewis, Beautiful Railway Bridge of the Silvery Tay: Reinvestigating the Tay Bridge Disaster of 1879, Tempus, 2004, ISBN 0-7524-3160-9.
• Charles McKean Battle for the North: The Tay and Forth bridges and the 19th century railway wars Granta, 2006, ISBN 1-86207-852-1
• John Rapley, Thomas Bouch : the builder of the Tay Bridge, Stroud : Tempus, 2006, ISBN 0-7524-3695-3
• PR Lewis, Disaster on the Dee: Robert Stephenson's Nemesis of 1847, Tempus Publishing (2007) ISBN 978 0 7524 4266 2

[edit] External links

• 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica article
• Biography