Jump to content
Users will currently see a stripped down version of the site until an advertising issue is fixed. If you are seeing any suspect adverts please go to the bottom of the page and click on Themes and select IPS Default. ×
RMweb
 

Who Am I ?


EddieB

Recommended Posts

This quiz concerns well-known people connected with railways - be they engineers, board members, notable staff members, politicians, artists, historians, authors or photographers, plus of course those drawn from the motley ranks of eccentrics that follow our hobby.

 

I'll stipulate two rules, that the subject of the question is not a member of the RMWeb Community and that they should be traceable via the internet (i.e. no obscure names plucked from company minutes)..

 

To start things off, here's the first one.

 

Although generally regarded as French, I was born in Sydenham of Baltic-German ancestry.

 

My most famous work was carried out in France, where I was responsible for a steam locomotive development that bears my name. Aside from numerous French locomotives, my system was also used in Germany and Belgium. Three locomotives of this type were purchased by a British railway for evaluation.

 

I adapted my surname to a French style when I settled in France.

 

Who am I?

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Born 1925 I am a British Peer, (the 7th to hold the title) who's title is associated with an island of the British isles, but connected to a railway on a different island which I saved from bankruptcy in 1967 by leasing and operating parts of for 5 years.

 

One section of the railway in question survives today in nationalised ownership and it's latest loco is named in my honour.

 

 

[P.S. Name, not just the title please.]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, choosing to work in places of railway interest. I spent two years at Swindon, once meeting Churchward, but making the acquaintance of William Stanier whose introduction obtained many privileges for me on railways all over the world.

 

My first trip to Europe was a motor-cycle tour to Budapest in 1929 and from that time I visited at least one foreign country every year.

 

I served in the Royal Navy during the second World War. This gave further opportunities to travel and study railways overseas.

 

When my income dropped with the introduction of the NHS, I offset some of the shortfall by writing books and articles, mostly on railway subjects. In the early nineteen-sixties I foulnd myself approached by the BBC for a series a radio broadcasts.

 

Once, while photographing a steam-hauled special train carrying the President of France, I was mistaken for Richard Dimbleby by a horde of some 200-autograph hunting women.

 

Photography of locomotives and trains has always been a means to an end, to serve a more technical interest in the subjects. My first published photograph was in the Railway Magazine in January 1925.

 

My photographs now form part of the National Railway Museum collection.

 

Who am I?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

Like many of these sort of things Eddie - they're easy if you know the answer and that one meant zero research for me.

 

This one might well be the same for those who know but not so easy for others. This man moved to New Zealand with his parents and six siblings in the 1850s and as well as being a learned man with an interest in engineering and the natural sciences he became a newspaper editor in that country. He later returned to England where he wrote on railway matters for a number of years but notwithstanding his wider railway interest and writing his name has become indelibly linked with one particular event.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

Notwithstanding his name this man was born in England although of Sicilian lineage, and he worked originally for a company which made electric clocks although he moved on to railway employment. He devised a system of electric interlocking and was involved with early 'tube' railway in London. He lived into his 80s.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

I once sold Bond Minicars for a living and then managed the same railway for many years. I was known for many things but usually wore sandals. Tthough I'm no longer around I still run on the railway.

 

Over tou You

 

Jamie

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...