1922-1923: Robert Harben Whitelegg

Robert Harben Whitelegg (1871-1957)

President of the Institution of Locomotive Engineers

Robert Harben Whitelegg was born in Merseyside, England in 1871, the son of locomotive engineer Thomas Whitlegg whom he went on to train under at the Plaistow Works of the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (L T & S R)

He was educated at Stratford House School, the Brewers Company School and City of London College.

After short stints at Nasmyth, Wilson and Company's Manchester Works and in Spain Whitelegg returned to the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway where, in 1905, he became the Works Manager at the Plaistow Works before going on to succeed his father as Locomotive Superintendent in June 1910. Whitelegg left the L T & S R when it was amalgamated with the Midland Railway in 1912.

In 1915 he became a consulting engineer in London for the Canadian Locomotive Company, who at the time were supplying locomotives for the military in France. and in 1917 he joined the Admiralty where he was engaged on the standardisation and inspection of shipyard machinery and materials.

In 1918 Whitelegg became Locomotive Superintendent of the Glasgow & South Western Railway at Kilmarnock in Scotland and went on to become their Chief Mechanical Engineer in 1919.

In 1923 the Glasgow & South Western Railway became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway and Whitelegg took up the post of General Manager of Beyer, Peacock and Company in Manchester.

In 1929 Whitelegg left Beyer, Peacock and Company to tour railways and act as a Consulting Engineer in Canada and USA. 

Whitelegg retired in 1941 and dies in 1957.

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