Charles Fairburn

For Fairbairn, the Victorian engine works, see William Fairbairn & Sons.

Charles Fairburn
Born	September 5, 1887(1887-09-05) Bradford, Yorkshire, England
Died	October 12, 1945(1945-10-12) (aged 58)
Nationality	British
Education	Brasenose College, Oxford
Work
Engineering discipline	Electrical

Charles Edward Fairburn (5 September 1887 — 12 October 1945) was Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway.

Biography

Born in Bradford in 1887, Fairburn won a scholarship to Brasenose College, Oxford University, in 1905, gaining first class honours and being the first graduate to graduate from Oxford's new Engineering School. He then served two years under the tutelage of Henry Fowler at the Midland Railway. In 1912 Fairburn joined the Siemens Dynamo Works of Stafford, as a researcher. Between 1913 and 1916 he was assistant to the Resident Engineer on the Shildon-Newport electrification of the North Eastern Railway, being responsible for the design of overhead line electrification equipment and electric locomotives.

Fairburn served as an Experimental Officer in the Royal Flying Corps in the First World War. Afterwards, he joined English Electric as head of their railway electrification department. By 1931 he had risen to Chief Engineering Manager of the Traction Department of EE and had been involved in electrification schemes in forty-nine countries and helped the development of diesel locomotives.

In 1934 Fairburn joined the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) as Chief Electrical Engineer. In 1938 he was appointed Deputy Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) under William Stanier. Fairburn was made Acting CME when Stanier was called away on war work in 1942 and was officially made CME on Stanier's retirement in 1944. During war-time, production of new locomotives was to the proven designs of Stanier, The only locomotive of his brief reign to emerge being that of the LMS Fairburn 2-6-4T, a modified version of the LMS Stanier 2-6-4T.

Fairburn died of a heart attack aged 58 on 12 October 1945. He was succeeded by H.G. Ivatt; another candidate for the job, Robin Riddles, being promoted to Vice-President 5 days later.

References

• Rogers, Colonel H.C.B. (1970). The Last Steam Locomotive Engineer: R.A.Riddles. London: George Allen & Unwin. pp. 131–132. ISBN 0 0438 5053 7. 

External links

• Brief Biographies of Mechanical Engineers at www.steamindex.com

Business positions
Preceded by William Stanier	Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway 1944 – 1945	Succeeded by Henry George Ivatt

Persondata
Name	Fairburn, Charles
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	5 September 1887
Place of birth	Bradford, Yorkshire, England
Date of death	12 October 1945
Place of death