Robert Sinclair (1 July 1817 – 20 October 1898) was the Locomotive Superintendent of several British railway companies including the Caledonian Railway and the Great Eastern Railway. He also worked for railways in France, Luxembourg and India.
He was born in London and retired to Italy where he died.
Contents
Career
Early years
He was apprenticed to a shipbuilder and later worked for Robert Stephenson, the Grand Junction Railway and the Paris and Rouen Railway.
Chief mechanical engineer
He was Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Caledonian Railway (CR) from 1847–1856, the Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) from 1856–1862 and, following a merger of railways, of the Great Eastern Railway (GER) from 1862–1865.
Consulting engineer
Sinclair resigned from the GER 1865, and became a consulting engineer. In this capacity, he designed a fast 2-4-2 locomotive for the Great Luxemburg Railway, and an outside cylinder 2-4-0 for the East Indian Railway. The Luxembourg 2-4-2 design was later adapted into a 2-4-2T for commuter services on the GER.
Locomotive designs
Caledonian, see Locomotives of the Caledonian Railway
ECR/GER, see Locomotives of the Great Eastern Railway
Innovations
Sinclair was an early user of:
the Giffard injector
the use of steel for railway axles and wheel tyres
roller bearings for carriages