William Fernihough

He is noted for his work on the balancing of railway engines in particular the counterbalanced driving wheel[a] The simple expedient of putting iron as balancing weights under on the driving wheels was due to William Fernihough of the Eastern counties Railway, who really ought to have patented the idea; it would have made him a multi-millionaire before there were any Fernihough served his apprenticeship at George Forrester and Company at Vauxhall, Liverpool.

[12] On 27 October 1845, Fernihough appeared before the Gauge Commission and by the analysis of Bardell's thesis gave the first published account of the mathematics and mechanics of the wheel balancing problem.

[13] Nock, in 1957, described Fernihough's method of balancing the reciprocating parts of an engine by adding weights in the driving wheels" as "now universal — not theoretically perfect, but a judicious compromise between the mathematically exact and the practical minimum.

[2] In 1848, Fernihough was tasked by the South Eastern Railway (SER) to build a locomotive / directors' inspection carriage combination at the works at Bricklayers Arms.

Progress was slow, and after 21 months the locomotive superintendent James Cudworth resorted to sending the vehicle to Ashford works to be completed where it emerged as No.