William Moorsom: Difference between revisions

▲Moorsom's preference was for locomotives, from experience gained observing mineral railways in the north. The general opinion at that time was that adhesion working was not possible on such an incline and the directors of the company, set out to buy stationary engines for cable working. They found the cost prohibitive so, with the backing of the Deputy Chairman, Mr. Samuel Baker, Moorsom was allowed to continue with what at the time was a considerable gamble. The resulting [[Lickey Incline]] has entered railway folklore.

▲Since no English manufacturer would, or could, supply him, he ordered [[4-2-0]] locomotives from [[Norris Locomotive Works|Norris]] of [[Philadelphia]] in the [[United States]]. The loco they supplied had four foot drivers, cylinder bore of 101 inches and 18 inch stroke, weighing less than 10 tons.

▲Moorsom was also awarded the Telford Medal for his method of using iron caissons filled with concrete and masonry to form the foundations of a three-arch viaduct across the river Avon, near Tewkesbury.

▲In passing, one of his assistants was [[Herbert Spencer]], the philosopher, regarded as the founder of [[social science]]. F. R. Conder was critical of Moorsom's management style and engineering abilities in his ''Personal Recollections of English Engineers'' (1868)<ref>F. R. Conder, ''Personal recollections of English engineers, and of the introduction of the railway system into the United Kingdom'' (1868); repr. as J. Simmons, ed., ''The men who built railways'' (1983) in Chrimes 2004</ref> Spencer was less recriminatory in his ''Autobiography'' (1904)<ref>,H. Spencer, ''An autobiography'', 1 (1904), 140–86 in Chrimes (2004)</ref> describing Moorsom as a kind man, although he felt that he had treated some subordinates meanly. Chrimes <ref>Mike Chrimes, 'Moorsom, William Scarth (1804–1863)’, ''Oxford Dictionary ofNational Biography,'' Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [ 19158, accessed 19 Jan 2008</ref> suggests that his problems may have been ''"due to the financial pressures of bringing up a large family, combined with working for companies which had limited financial resources."''

▲The period of 1844–45 proved to be especially busy with new lines from Birmingham to Wolverhampton, Shrewsbury, Newton, and Chester,; the Yarmouth Junction, from Diss and Beccles, the Irish Great Western, from Naas, by Tullamore, to Galway, the Metropo­litan Counties Junction, from Gravesend, by Reigate, Dorking, Weybridge, Staines, Rickmansworth, St. Albans, Chelmsford, and Billericay to Tilbury, the London, Hammersmith, Staines, and Windsor, 25 miles, and several smaller lines. The [[Southampton and Dorchester Railway]] in 1847 was especially notable as "Castleman' Corkscrew" due to the inststence of its promoters that it should serve as many of the local communities as possible. At this time, Moorsom, surveyed the line from Exeter and Plymouth to Falmouth, the West Cornwall Railway, from Truro to Penzance

▲In 1845 he was in [[Ireland]] working on the [[Waterford and Kilkenny Railway]] Of note was a timber viaduct over the River Nore,85 feet in height and of 200 feet span, at the time the largest of its type in the British Isles.

▲In 1850 he won the Prussian government's engineering prize for his design for a bridge across the Rhine at [[Cologne]] on the line from Prussia's Rhine Province to [[Antwerp]] in [[Belgium]] for the ''Königlich Preußische und Großherzoglich Hessische Staatseisenbahn'' (K.P.u.G.H.St.E.). However the design was not used.

▲During this period he had been appointed engineer to the [[Cromford and High Peak Railway]] which was in deep financial difficulty. In 1857 the [[Stockport, Disley and Whaley Bridge Railway]] was opened, with a proposal to link with the Cromford line.<ref>Hodgkins, D.J., (1983) ''Captain Moorsom and the Attempt to Revive the Cromford And High Peak Railway,'' Derbyshire Archaeological Journal Vol 103 Pp 137‑159</ref> Plans were laid to capitalise on this by substantially improving the line. However the necessary funds were not forthcoming and there was oppostition from other railway companies. The CH&HPR and Moorsom parted company in about 1856.

▲Over the years he had gained the reputation of taking on too many schemes: a weakness in which he was not alone, but some of his surveys were found to be wanting. He was frequently replaced by other engineers, and he found it difficult to obtain work. In 1856 he was asked to survey the railway from [[Kandy]] to [[Colombo]] Ceylon ([[Sri Lanka]]) Under pressure to complete the work before the rainy season, he began early in January and pre­sented his report in May, and part of the work proved to be faulty.

▲In 1860, his wife Isabella died and, in 1862 he was Engineer the [[Ringwood, Christchurch and Bournemouth Railway]]

▲He had been elected an Associate of the [[Institution of Civil Engineers]], on 24 March 1835, and was transferred to the class of Members on the 20th of February, 1849. Among a number of papers that he read was, in 1852, ''Description of the viaduct erected over the river Nore, near Thomastown .'' He became a Member of the Society of Arts on the 31st of January, 1843.

▲He occupied his retirement by writing a history of his regiment and died of cancer, after a long and painful illness, at his home, 17A Great George Street, Westminster, on 3 June 1863, aged 61, and was buried at Kensal Green cemetery.