William Stroudley

Born at Sandford-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, William Stroudley began work in 1847 at the local paper mill and in the same year he was apprenticed to John Inshaw's engineering firm in Birmingham.

He was however able to re-organise and modernise the company's Lochgorm Works and reduced the operating costs for the railway's existing fleet.

[3] However, during the 1870s and 1880s increased revenues, particularly from the growth of suburban traffic, enabled him to dramatically improve the performance and reliability of the locomotive stock by introducing a number of very successful standard classes.

They were very similar to two 2-4-0 locomotives constructed at Cowlairs for the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway in the early 1860s when he was the works manager.

Stroudley was responsible for the re-organisation and modernisation of Brighton railway works and the repair facilities at New Cross.

He also designed railway carriages and the steam engines for the LB&SCR cross-channel ferries which operated between Newhaven and Dieppe.

A1 class Stepney on the Bluebell Railway
B1 class Gladstone at the National Railway Museum , York, decorated as it was for the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897 [ 5 ]
Engraving of a ramp in Le Manuel du Mécanicien
Plan view of re-railing ramp: "The rescue wagon must carry four ramps, two for derailments on the left and two for those on the right. It is necessary, wherever possible, to place the edges of the ramps on the actual sleepers rather than the ballast, and do not try to draw more than two wagons at a time, for fear of breakages. Ramps for wagons weigh 35 kilos and those for engines 80 kilos."