View source for Frederick Hawksworth

{{Short description|British engineer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2017}}
{{Infobox engineer
|name = Frederick Hawksworth
| image                     =
| caption                   = 
| nationality               = British
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1884|2|10|df=y}}
| birth_place               = Swindon, England
| death_date = {{death date and age|1976|7|13|1884|2|10|df=y}}
| death_place               = Swindon, England
| education                 = Apprentice [[Swindon Works]]
| discipline           = Mechanical Engineering
| employer             = [[Great Western Railway]]
| significant_design   = [[GWR 1000 Class|County Class]], [[GWR 6959 Class|Modified Hall Class]], [[GWR 9400 Class|9400 Class]]
}}

'''Frederick William Hawksworth''' (10 February 1884 &ndash; 13 July 1976), was the last [[Chief Mechanical Engineer]] of the [[Great Western Railway]] ([[Great Britain]]) (GWR).

==Early career==
Hawksworth spent his entire career at the [[Swindon Works]] of the GWR. He joined the company as an apprentice in 1898, aged 15, becoming an apprentice draughtsman in 1905 under [[George Jackson Churchward]].<ref>{{cite book | last =Marshall | first =John | title =A biographical dictionary of railway engineers |publisher =David and Charles | date =1978  | location =Newton Abbot | pages =109 | isbn =0715374893}}</ref>
Hawksworth was one of Churchward's "Bright Young Men", and was involved in his revolutionary designs including the general arrangement drawings for [[GWR 111 The Great Bear|"The Great Bear"]].

Following Churchward's retirement in December 1921, Hawksworth was appointed Chief Draughtsman to his successor [[Charles Collett]] where he co-ordinated the work on the [[GWR 6000 Class|King Class]]. In 1932 he was appointed Assistant, to the Chief Mechanical Engineer, following the departure of [[William Stanier]] to the [[London Midland and Scottish Railway]]. Soon afterwards he became Principal Assistant. However, having been at the forefront of [[steam locomotive]] development, ideas at [[Swindon Works]] had somewhat stagnated under the later years of Collett, now in his seventies and whose reluctance to give up the CME's post resulted in Hawksworth's lateness in taking up this position.<ref name = "Cook">Cook, KJ, Swindon Steam 1921-1951, Ian Allan 1974</ref>

According to one obituary, Hawksworth "was instrumental in getting the stationary locomotive testing plant at Swindon modernised and the development of testing practice which took place during the later 1930s was eventually accepted by British Railways as a nation Standard."<ref name="Obituary: Mr F.W. Hawksworth">{{Citation | title = Obituary: Mr F.W. Hawksworth | pages =16 | newspaper = The Times | location = London | date = 14 July 1976}}</ref>

==Chief Mechanical Engineer==
Hawksworth became CME following Collett's retirement at the age of 70 in 1941. He continued in the design tradition which he had been involved in throughout his career, but also made some important improvements. In particular increased [[superheater|superheat]] started to be fitted to the larger classes under his regime, and the works started to make much more use of welded construction. Another prominent new concept was a tender with slab sides, using welded construction, giving a much smoother appearance than the traditional design with stepped sides and riveted plates.

===Modified Hall Class=== 
His first design to be built, from 1944, was the [[GWR 6959 Class|Modified Hall]], a significant development of the [[GWR 4900 Class|Collett design]] with increased superheat and very different cylinder and frame construction.

===County Class=== 
After the war there were four more new designs, mostly improvements of earlier types. The [[GWR 1000 Class|'County' Class]] [[4-6-0]] was the last and most powerful GWR 2-cylinder 4-6-0, the culmination of a line that began with the [[GWR 2900 Class|'Saints']] 42 years before. The chassis was similar to the modified Hall, but the boilers were to a new design, larger in diameter than the Std 1 (Hall) boiler but smaller in diameter and appreciably shorter than the [[GWR Castle Class|Castle]] boiler. This boiler used tooling which was available from [[London, Midland and Scottish Railway|LMS]] [[LMS Stanier Class 8F|8F 2-8-0]] boilers which Swindon had built for the Railway Executive during [[World War II]] and was pressed to 280psi, higher pressure than any previous GWR boiler.<ref name="Cook" /> They used some of the names from the vanished [[GWR 3800 Class|Churchward County Class 4-4-0s]].

===9400 Class=== 
[[File:Southall Locomotive Depot Hawksworth '9400' geograph-2954993-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg |thumb|9415 at a yard]]
The [[taper boiler]]ed [[GWR 9400 Class|9400 Class]] [[0-6-0]] [[pannier tank]], was built in large numbers by outside contractors. These were similar to the [[GWR 5700 Class|5700 class]] under the footplate but had a much larger boiler giving them more power and adhesive weight - and thus braking capacity. Only the first ten, built by the [[Swindon]], appeared under the [[Great Western Railway|GWR]]. The last two designs were only seen in [[British Railways]] livery.

===1500 Class===
[[File:GWR 1500 Class 1501 Locomotive Severn Valley Railway (2).jpg|thumb|right|1501 on the [[Severn Valley Railway]], October 2022.]]
Arguably his most radical design was the [[GWR 1500 Class|1500 Class]]. This had the same boiler as the 9400 but an all new short wheelbase chassis with outside [[Walschaerts]] valve gear and no running plate, and made considerable use of welded construction. They were designed for easy maintenance by the trackside.

===1600 Class=== 
The last Hawksworth design was a very light conventional 0-6-0 pannier tank, the [[GWR 1600 Class|1600 Class]].  This was a modernisation of the [[GWR 2021 Class|2021 Class]], which was now life expired.

===Oil firing===
{{Main|GWR oil burning steam locomotives}}
Between 1946 and 1950, Hawksworth was involved in an experimental effort to introduce oil-firing in place of the coal that, post-war, was being exported to earn currency. It was halted when the increasing price of oil made it uneconomical.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Griffiths |first1=Denis |title=Locomotive engineers of the GWR |date=1987 |publisher=Stephens |location=Wellingborough |pages=47, 123|isbn=0-85059-819-2}}</ref>

===Other designs===
Hawksworth was involved in the ordering of the [[GWR diesel shunters]] and two experimental [[Gas turbine-electric locomotive]]s Nos. 18000 and 18100.

===Proposed Designs===
{{Main|GWR Cathedral Class}}
Hawksworth had worked on GWR No.111 ‘The Great Bear’ and planned to build a Pacific type for the Great Western, but the design never came to existence.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Griffiths |first1=Denis |title=Locomotive engineers of the GWR |date=1987 |publisher=Stephens |location=Wellingborough |isbn=0850598192 |pages=46–48}}</ref> However, a model has been made for [[Train Simulator Classic|Train Simulator 2022]], by Caledonia Works, who have dubbed them 8000 Class ‘Cathedrals’.<ref>{{cite web |title=GWR 8000 Class "Cathedrals" {{!}} Caledonia Works |url=https://caledoniaworks.com/product/gwrcathedralclass/ |website=Caledonia Works |access-date=24 March 2022}}</ref>

==British Railways==
Hawksworth remained Chief Mechanical Engineer through the formation of the [[Western Region of British Railways]] in 1948, continuing to work on [[locomotive]] design until retiring at the end of 1949.<ref>{{cite journal |date=February 1950 |title=Retirement of Two C.M.E.'s |journal=[[The Railway Magazine]] |volume=96 |issue=586 |page=74 |publisher=Transport (1910) Ltd |location=London }}</ref>

==Retirement and death==
He was chairman of the Swindon magistrates from 1951 until 1959 and was made a freeman of the borough in 1960. He died in Swindon in July 1976. His ashes are buried in [[St Mark's Church, Swindon|St. Mark's Church]], adjacent to the former site of Swindon Works.<ref name="Obituary: Mr F.W. Hawksworth"/>

==Preservation==
Examples of all the Hawksworth designs except the 'Counties' survive. The Great Western Society is in the process of building a new 'County', a replica of No.1014 ''County of Glamorgan'', using the frames of a 'Modified Hall', parts of the boiler of an LMS Class 8 2-8-0, and an original chimney from No.1006 ''County of Cornwall'', a regulator from No.1011 ''County Of Chester'', and a reverser from No.1024 ''County Of Pembroke''.

His preserved locomotives are as follows: 'Modified Halls' No.6960 ''Raveningham Hall'', No.6984 ''Owsden Hall'', No.6989 ''Wightwick Hall'', No.6990 ''Witherslack Hall'', No.6998 ''Burton Agnes Hall'', and No.7903 ''Foremarke Hall''. Two '9400' panniers remain, No.9400 and No.9466. Just one of his '1500' and '1600' Classes remain each, No.1501 and No.1638. Another 'Modified Hall' did survive, No.7927 ''Willington Hall'', however its boiler went to the new-built 'Grange' and the frames are being used in the aforementioned replica 'County'.

Some of these locomotives were sent to Barry Scrapyard before preservation, these being Nos.6960, 6984, 6989, 6990, 7903, 7927 and 9466. However, several of his locos sent to this scrapyard were scrapped, including '9400's Nos.8419, 8473, 8475, 8479, 9436, 9438, 9439, 9443, 9445, 9449, 9459, 9462, 9468, 9491, 9492, 9496, and 9499.

==See also==
* {{Section link|Locomotives of the Great Western Railway#Frederick Hawksworth (1941-1949)}}
* [[List of GWR standard classes with two outside cylinders]]

=== Hawksworth’s Locomotive Designs ===
{{columns-list|colwidth=20em|
* [[GWR 1000 Class|County Class {{nobr|4-6-0}}]]
* [[GWR 1500 Class|1500 Class {{nobr|0-6-0PT}}]]
* [[GWR 1600 Class|1600 Class {{nobr|0-6-0PT}}]]
* [[GWR 6959 Class|Modified Hall Class {{nobr|4-6-0}}]]
* [[GWR 9400 Class|9400 Class {{nobr|0-6-0PT}}]]
* [[GWR diesel shunters|Diesel shunters]]
* Gas turbine-electric locomotives (BR [[British Rail 18000|18000]] and [[British Rail 18100|18100]])
}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20051001012247/http://www.swindonweb.com/guid/peophawk0.htm Biography]
*[https://www.flickr.com/photos/swindonlocal/4000924591/ 1947 Portrait]

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{{s-bef|before=[[Charles Collett|C. B. Collett]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Chief Mechanical Engineer]] of the [[Great Western Railway]] |years=1941–1947}}
{{s-non|reason=Company nationalised''' as part of '''[[British Rail]]ways}}
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{{GWR Locomotives}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hawksworth, Frederick}}
[[Category:English mechanical engineers]]
[[Category:1884 births]]
[[Category:1976 deaths]]
[[Category:Locomotive builders and designers]]
[[Category:People from Swindon]]
[[Category:Great Western Railway people]]
[[Category:British Rail people]]
[[Category:English railway mechanical engineers]]