John Chester Craven

John Chester Craven was the locomotive carriage and wagon superintendent of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway from 1847 until his resignation in 1870.

He was born in Leeds in 1813 and began an apprenticeship with Robert Stephenson and Company of Newcastle, later transferring to Fenton, Murray and Jackson of Leeds. After various engineering jobs, he became locomotive engineer for the Eastern Counties Railway at Stratford Works in 1845. In December 1847 he took up his principal post at Brighton where he re-organised and enlarged the railway works.

From 1852 Craven began to design locomotives for the company, producing a large number of specialised locomotives designed for specific duties rather than introducing standardised classes. This policy eventually created a chaotic situation on the railway and when the directors pressed him to reduce the number of new classes in 1869, Craven offered his resignation. He was superseded by William Stroudley. Craven died in 1887.

ources

* Marshall, John (1978) A biographical dictionary of railway engineers, David & Charles.