George Whale

George Whale(7 December 1842 – 7 March 1910) was a British locomotive engineer who worked for the London and North Western Railway (LNWR). Whale was born in Bocking, Essex. In 1858 he entered Wolverton Works under James Edward McConnell, and from 1862 under John Ramsbottom. In 1865 he entered the drawing office at Crewe Works, and in 1867 joined the LNWR running department under J. Rigg. In 1898 he was made responsible for the running of all LNWR locomotives. He replaced Francis William Webb as Locomotive Superintendent from 1903. Webb's compounds were generally considered a failure and Whale sought to introduce the Precursor class based on designs from previous eras as well as scrapping or rebuilding the compounds. He left the post of...