- George Tosh
George Tosh (1813 – 1900) was a Scottish engineer and
metallurgist who pioneered the use ofsteel in certain aspects ofsteam locomotive design. He was the secondLocomotive Superintendent of the Maryport & Carlisle Railway (M&CR), between 1854 and 1870.His earlier career is not known, but he was apparently resident in Newcastle by 1839, in Parton,
Cumberland , during 1843-1848, and inMaryport by 1852. He was appointed Locomotive Superintendent of the M&CR about 1854, replacing a Mr Scott. His successor was Hugh Smellie, formerly works manager for the Glasgow & South Western Railway atKilmarnock .Innovations
During his tenure at the Maryport & Carlisle Railway, Tosh was the first to use steel for construction of a locomotive boiler (in 1862), where previously
wrought iron had been the material of choice. The boiler/firebox was constructed by an outside contractor. It was not the first such design in the world – that accolade belonging to a Canadian locomotive, two years earlier – but it was certainly a first in Britain, and pre-empted theLondon & North Western Railway 's developments of the technology.Tosh was also amongst the first railway engineers in the country to introduce
coal -burning (rather than coke) fireboxes and fitted the first steel-tyred wheels to British locomotives. Most of his engines had domeless boilers. Nineteen locomotives of various wheel arrangements were provided during his superintentency.On leaving the Maryport & Carlisle Railway in 1870, his evident interest in metallurgy led Tosh to become an
ironmaster in Lincolnshire.Family
He was married and had at least seven children; at least one of whom, Edmund George, followed his father's footsteps into the iron business. His wife, Isabella, died in 1868.
He died in 1900, in
Scunthorpe .References
Further reading
*British Locomotive Catalogue 1825-1923 V.4 [B.Baxter]
*The Maryport & Carlisle Railway [J.Simmons]
*The British Steam Railway Locomotive from 1825-1925 [E.L.Ahrons]
*British Steam Locomotive Builders [J.W.Lowe] [http://www.steamindex.com/library/lowe.htm]
*UK Census returns 1851-1861External links
The following provide raw information for the expansion of this article...
* [http://www.cultrans.com/april-27-1899/death-of-mr.-e.-g.-tosh.html The Whitehaven News – April 27, 1899 – obituary for Mr Edmund George Tosh] "(George Tosh's son)
– Mentions that George Tosh (snr.) was still alive at this date, and indicates his notability"
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=qVAEAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA239&lpg=PA239&dq=%22george+tosh%22+maryport&source=web&ots=ki7Z3GkGpV&sig=T7gNQPSia32oWlwWTU1x4DTBQ60#PPA239,M1 Newton's London Journal of the Arts and Sciences, Vol VII, 1858 (Google books)] Institution of Mechanical Engineers (June 24-25 1857): an account of a paper read by Mr George Tosh of Maryport, "On the relative evaporating power of brass and iron tubes" [relating to experiments with boiler construction] .
* [http://www.steamindex.com/people/engrs.htm#surnt George Tosh at "Brief Biographies of Major Mechanical Engineers"]For further references, Googling for ' "George Tosh" Maryport ' is productive.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
