Who Am I ?

[EddieB]

James Allport?

[jamie92208]

Well done Eddie. Yes Sir James Allport, General manager of the Midland railway from 1857 to 1880. He oversaw the great expansion of the Midland to Carlisle and London and of course the construction of the Settle and Carlisle. When he retired he and his wife were presented with portraits painted by a Mr Williams. (not the historian) Williams wanted to paint a scene, illustrative of the Midland Railway and Allport replied, Blea Moor. His quote was. "If I have any one work i my life that gave me more anxiety than another, it was the Settle and Carlisle line." he died in the Midland Grand Hotel.

 

Over to you then Eddie.

 

Jamie

[The Stationmaster]

Not the one I had in mind then Jamie - which was one of the NER chaps who had a similar sort of portrait which used to hang in one of the Board Rooms in York HQ. (still haven't found the book)

[EddieB]

Wasn't sure as Allport's service as General Manager wasn't contiguous, being first appointed in 1853, with a gap between 1857 and 1860.

 

I'll be back to set a new one later.

[EddieB]

This person was promoted to and served as Superintendent and General Manager of a penurious independent railway from its opening early in the last Century until he was forced to resign over alleged misdemeanours some fourteen years later (although one published history of the railway still has him in office four years after). He was the most prominent member of a railway family (from which I am descended).

 

During his tenure he converted a former Metropolitan carriage as a VIP saloon, in which he travelled the line.

[EddieB]

Time for a clue, perhaps.

 

There is a modern preservation society that has adopted the name of the railway concerned, who have also converted a carriage into a replica of the inspection saloon.

[jamie92208]

Is it Colonel Stephens by any chance.

 

Jamie

[EddieB]

No, not Colonel Stevens or one of his lines. Finding the railway should lead to the man.

[EddieB]

As it has been established that we're dealing with the Mid Suffolk Light Railway, who was its General Manager?

[EddieB]

At the risk of introducing a herring of the red variety, this one has really szlumped.

 

Any more attempts before I call time?

[multiprinter]

How about Alfred Szlumper ?

[PLD]

I can come up with only one reference to a 'H R Gillingwater formerly of the LDECR' being the Superintendent / General Manager of the Middy, but no dates given so don't know if he is our man??

Paul

[EddieB]

I can come up with only one reference to a 'H R Gillingwater formerly of the LDECR' being the Superintendent / General Manager of the Middy, but no dates given so don't know if he is our man??

Paul

 

You've got it. He started his career with the Great Eastern, his father John having been stationmaster at Diss (and who was the brother of my great-great-grandfather, the first of three generations who careers began on the Great Eastern). The modern Mid-Suffolk preservation society recently modified a carriage into a replica of Gillingwater's inspection saloon.

 

Charles Szlumper, of that (slightly more) famous railway family served as resident engineer on the "Middy", but I'm afraid "szlumped" was a red herring.

 

Well done, Paul - over to you.

[PLD]

Can't take much credit - never heared of him before but it was the only name that came up in a google search for "M&GN Superintendent"

 

Lets try this hopefully easier one...

A Liberal Party politician, Born in 1863. He was a long serving member of his home town council before being elected member of parliament for the same town at the 1910 general election.

 

The railway connection came in 1911 when he purchased a local estate complete with a major industrial concern and associated railway. In 1935 the railway connection was expanded when he leased another local concern (in the same industry) which was the only significant customer of another railway which was by then owned by one of the big four.

The industrial operation closed in 1946 but the railway continued to operate as a public service until his death in 1950. Later, the railway was the subject of a preservation scheme and continues to operate today. The motive power includes a Loco named after him which originated on the second line mentioned above.

[Red Devil]

Henry Hayden Jones ?

[PLD]

Yes Mark, and without me needing to mention his semi-biographical incarnation as Sir Handel Brown aka the 'Thin Controller!!'

 

Sir Henry Haydn Jones - from 1909 owner of the Abergynolwyn Estate which included the Bryn Eglwys slate quarry and the Talyllyn Railway, and later lessee of Aberllefenni Quarry, the main customer of the Corris Railway.

Today ex Corris Railway no 3 runs on the Talyllyn named 'Sir Haydn'.