William Bridges Adams

William Bridges Adams (1797 – July 23, 1872) was an author, inventor and locomotive engineer.

Overview

Born in Madeley, Staffordshire, he is best known for his patented Adams Axle — a successful radial axle design in use on railways in Britain until the end of steam traction in 1968 — and the railway fishplate. His writings, including "English Pleasure Carriages" (1837) and "Roads and Rails" (1862) covered all forms of land transport. Later he became a noted writer on political reform, under the pen name "Junius Redivivus" (Junius reborn); a reference to a political letter writer of the previous century.

Locomotives

Although Adams’s inventions and writings became well-known, the locomotives he produced made little impact. He founded the Fairfield Locomotive Works in Bow, East London, in 1843, where he specialized in light engines, steam railcars (or railmotors) and inspection trolleys. These were sold in small numbers to railways all over Britain and Ireland, including the "Fairfield" steam carriage for the broad gauge Bristol and Exeter Railway and the "Enfield" for his most important customer, the Eastern Counties Railway, with its headquarters at nearby Stratford. The business failed some years later, although by this time Adams had expanded his interests to include clothing design and journalism.

Confusion with William Adams

Confusingly, one of the first railway companies to use his axle-box design widely was the London and South Western Railway where the Locomotive Superintendent, the creator of the Adams Bogie, was also named William Adams. By further coincidence he too had formerly operated a locomotive works in Bow, but this was not a private concern but the depot of the North London Railway. The LSWR locomotives now known as Adams Radials are named for the Locomotive Superintendent, but they are famous for the axle invented by William Bridges Adams.

Marriages

Adams was married three times. His second wife was the poet Sarah Flower Adams and they lived for many years at the now demolished Sunnybank in Loughton, where there is a blue plaque to the couple jointly.

References

*Simmons, Jack and Biddle, Gordon (1997)."The Oxford Companion to British Railway History", Oxford University Press.
*Wood, H. T. revised Harrington, Ralph (2004). "The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", Oxford University Press.
*"English Pleasure Carriages" has a modern reprint under ISBN 0239000730.
* [http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=242&chapter=7745&layout=html&Itemid=27 Writings of Junius Redivivus (i)] The first of three appreciations by John Stuart Mill in his autobiography.

External links

* [http://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/pics/adams_tank.html Adams Radial]
* [http://www.gwsmainline.org/zzrailmotor/railmotorwhy.html The GWR Steam Railmotor Project]