1925-1926: Robert Whyte Reid

Robert Whyte Reid (1885-1929)

President of the Institution of Locomotive Engineers

IMechE Obituary:

ROBERT WHYTE REID, C.B.E., died on Thursday, 28th March 1929.

Though only 44 years of age he had for two years occupied the high post of Vice-President of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, an appointment which he received on the reconstitution of the management of the company in 1927.

He became an Associate Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1911 whilst Works Assistant in the Carriage and Wagon Department at Derby, and he was transferred to Membership ten years later, having in the meantime advanced to the position of carriage and wagon superintendent of the Midland Railway.

As an engineer Mr. Reid achieved distinction by the reorganization on mass-production principles of the Derby works.

He was appointed to be Member of Council of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in March 1928, and at the following Annual General Meeting was elected by the Members to the Council.

He was the son of another railway engineer, Mr. W. P. Reid, C.B.E., formerly locomotive superintendent of the North British Railway, and was one of the very few engineers who have been promoted to a railway managerial post.

He served his apprenticeship with Messrs. Kelvin and James White of Glasgow, and attended engineering classes at the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College.

Afterwards he joined the electricity department of Woolwich Borough Council as engineer-in-charge of substation equipment, and he continued his studies at the Woolwich Polytechnic.

In 1907 he became a draughtsman and estimator with the Brush Electrical Engineering Company, and he then entered the railway service as an improver in the carriage and wagon shops of the London and North Western Railway at Wolverton.

In 1909 he transferred to the Midland Railway and commenced the career of rapid promotion cut short at so untimely an age.

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