Daniel Gooch
| Sir Daniel Gooch, Bt | |
|---|---|
Sir Daniel Gooch by Leslie Ward, 1882
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| Born |
24 August 1816 Bedlington, Northumberland, England |
| Died | 15 October 1889 (aged 73) |
| Nationality | English |
| Engineering career | |
| Projects |
Great Western Railway Transatlantic telegraph cable |
Sir Daniel Gooch, 1st Baronet (24 August 1816 – 15 October 1889) was an English railway locomotive and transatlantic cable engineer and Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1865 to 1885. He was the first Superintendent of Locomotive Engines on the Great Western Railway from 1837 to 1864 and its chairman from 1865 to 1889.
Gooch was born in Bedlington, Northumberland, the son of John Gooch, an ironfounder, and his wife Anna Longridge. In 1831 his family moved to Tredegar Ironworks, Monmouthshire, South Wales, where his father had accepted a managerial post, and it was there that Daniel would begin training under Thomas Ellis senior, who together with Ironmaster Samuel Homfray and Richard Trevithick pioneered steam railway locomotion. Gooch wrote in his diaries "Large works of this kind are by far the best school for a young engineer to get a general knowledge of what he needs in after life." and "...I look back upon the time spent at Tredegar as by far the most important years of my life...". He trained in engineering with a variety of companies, including a period with Robert Stephenson and Company,in Newcastle upon Tyne, as a draughtsman. At the age of 20 he was recruited by Isambard Kingdom Brunel for the Great Western Railway, under the title "Superintendent of Locomotive Engines", taking office on 18 August 1837.
Whilst working in Newcastle he met his future wife, Margaret Tanner, the daughter of Henry Tanner, a Sunderland shipowner. He stayed in touch with Margaret when he moved south to work for Brunel.
Gooch's earliest days with the company were a struggle to keep the miscellaneous collection of 7 ft 0 1⁄4 in (2,140 mm) broad gauge steam locomotives previously ordered by Brunel working. When working at Robert Stephenson and Company he had helped design two 5-foot 6-inch gauge locomotives for the New Orleans Railway, which had never been delivered. Gooch persuaded Brunel to buy the two locomotives, North Star and Morning Star and had Stephenson convert them to 7-foot gauge before delivery. These were the only reliable locomotives that the company had at that time and became the basis of the GWR Star Class. He and Brunel improved the blastpipe arrangement of the North Star to improve its fuel efficiency. Eventually Gooch moved on from the Star class and designed the new GWR Firefly Class of 2-2-2 express passenger locomotives, introduced in 1840. In comparative trials by the Gauge Commissioners, Ixion of this class proved capable of speeds greater than its standard gauge challenger. In 1843 Gooch introduced a new form of locomotive valve gear.
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