John Aspinall (engineer)
| Sir John Aspinall | |
|---|---|
by George Hall Neale c.1920
|
|
| Born | 25 August 1851 |
| Died | 19 January 1937 (aged 85) |
| Engineering career | |
| Discipline | Civil, Mechanical |
| Institutions | Institution of Civil Engineers (president), Institution of Mechanical Engineers (president) |
Sir John Audley Frederick Aspinall (25 August 1851 – 19 January 1937) was a British mechanical engineer who served as Locomotive Superintendent of the Great Southern and Western and Lancashire and Yorkshire Railways. He introduced vacuum brakes to his locomotives in Ireland, a trend which was followed in Britain, and designed several locomotives. He was also president of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and of the Institution of Civil Engineers.
Aspinall was born on 25 August 1851 in Liverpool to a Roman Catholic judge. He attended the Roman Catholic boarding school of Beaumont College, Berkshire before being apprenticed to engineers John Ramsbottom and Francis Webb of the London and North Western Railway in 1868. He was sent by Webb to the United States of America in 1872 where he was greatly impressed by the larger loading gauge in use there. In 1875 he moved to the Great Southern and Western Railway of Ireland and became their works manager at Inchicore, Dublin. Aspinall was promoted to Locomotive Superintendent in 1882 and introduced a form of vacuum braking to his locomotives which was soon adopted by several other lines, including the London and North Western and Great Northern Railways.
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