How a maverick engineer helped shape modern rail

Oliver Bulleid was the Southern Railway's last chief mechanical engineer

While the achievements of engineers like Isambard Kingdom Brunel and George Stephenson are known the world over, one of the most interesting was the last chief mechanical engineer of the Southern Railway, Oliver Bulleid.

As part of Railway 200's year-long campaign to celebrate 200 years of the modern railway, the BBC is celebrating a man who made a huge impact in the industry.

Bulleid was renowned for his magnificent speedy pacific locomotives.

These included the Merchant Navy Class, built in Eastleigh, and the West Country & Battle of Britain class engine, which can still be seen at the Swanage Railway in Dorset.

Born in 1882 in New Zealand, he was an innovator from an early age.

He returned to the UK with his mother following the death of his father in 1889 and, while working for the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) as a young man, he reputedly redesigned the coat hanger.

He reasoned that most men travelling in the company's sleeping cars would remove their jacket before their trousers, so literally raised the bar so passengers could hang their trousers on it without having to remove their jacket from the hanger.

By World War Two, Bulleid's drive for efficiency served him well in the war effort, particularly as he was now the chief mechanical engineer of the Southern Railway.

The south was on the front line and his new employer desperately needed cheap, powerful, and reliable steam engines to haul freight, including vital supplies and munitions.

One of the engines was the Q1, which was unconventional - some might say ugly – as it was stripped back to save on materials, but lightweight and powerful.

But this was just what was needed.

Bulleid's Q1 was an unconventional train design

After the war, Bulleid then designed Britain's only double-decker train.

Having travelled widely in Europe, he may have taken inspiration from double-deckers on the continent, which provided extra capacity without the expense of making station platforms longer.

But these 4DD units, which were built in Eastleigh and Lancing, were not straightforward.

The upper decks were staggered, with the floor of the upper deck around 4ft higher than that of the lower deck, due to the more restricted loading gauge on railways in the UK.

A small group of enthusiasts are currently restoring one, and Tim Parry from the Bulleid 4DD group says he remembers travelling on them fondly.

Britain's only double decker train was Bulleid's 4DD, which is being restored by

"It was always exciting to see if a double decker came into the station, there was always a rush to get upstairs and sit on the drop down seats," he says.

Though Mr Parry went on to say that it was not always a pleasant experience travelling on the double-deckers though, especially in rush hour.

"There were plenty of complaints because there wasn't really very good ventilation, everybody smoked back then and the windows upstairs wouldn't open," he says.

"Passengers on the lower decks complained about the smell of people's feet inches from their heads on the upper deck, as people didn't bathe so often in those days."

But the double-deckers had reasonably long lives, lasting in service from 1949 to 1971.

However, some of Bulleid's designs were unsuccessful.

The Leader looked comparatively modern, but it was a steam engine with the firebox in the middle.

The experimental locomotive was designed to compete with diesel and electric locomotives, however spiralling costs meant only one was ever built.

The same was true of a turf-burning locomotive powered by peat he designed for Irish railways.

Oliver Bulleid's Tavern Cars were also criticised when they were introduced on British Railways in 1949.

Tim Parry from the Bulleid 4DD Group is helping restore one of the double-decker units

Passengers at Waterloo could step on board carriages painted in mock brickwork bearing the names of pubs, like the White Horse, Jolly Tar or the Green Man.

The interiors were like country pubs with mock Tudor beams, reportedly based on the interior of the Chequers Inn in Pulborough in West Sussex.

Once inside you could happily drink away the journey – but you could not see out of the window as they were boarded up to prevent people lingering in there too long.

The windows of the restaurant cars often paired with them were soon opened up again.

But, despite the derision, the tavern cars made a profit, so they must not have been that unpopular.