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1890-1891: Joseph Tomlinson
Joseph Tomlinson (1823-1894)
20th President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers
Tomlinson was born in London, England in 1823. After leaving school in 1837, he joined his father, who was passenger superintendent, at the Stockton and Darlington Railway. Over the course of his career he worked for a number of different railways. In 1851, at the time of the Great Exhibition, he was working for the London and South Western Railway, and often drove the special train which took Prince Albert from Windsor to Waterloo and back, often accompanied by his two sons, the Prince of Wales and Prince Alfred.
From 1854 he worked for the Midland Railway, and here he oversaw the transition from coke to coal as the fuel for locomotive engines. This experience came in useful later in his career, when at the Taff Valley Railway he was forced to use coal due to the continued strike of the Rhondda Valley colliers.
After a period as a consulting engineer in Cardiff, he joined the Metropolitan Railway as resident engineer and locomotive superintendent. He improved the line considerably, and was responsible for designing and laying out their new locomotive works at Neasden.
As well as serving on Council and as President in 1890 and 1891, he was also Chairman of the Research Committee on Friction.
He died in 1894.
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