Alfred Dickinson
Alfred Dickinson (1856-1941)
1939 M.I.E.E., M.Inst.C.E., M.I.M.E., F.R.G.S. Private Address: Salam Bungalow, Rhyl, Flint. Age: 83. Career: Trained as Rly. Engr.; 1883, General Manager, South Staffs Tramways; 1890, Genl. Manager and Engr., City of Birmingham Tramways (then the largest mechanised tramway system in the world); introduced Elect. Traction to Staffs., Birmingham, and other systems, and patented Swivelling under-running electric collector; constructed elect. tramways in Madrid, Barcelona, Cape Town, Hong Kong, etc.; Engr. to Tata Hydro-Elect. Co. Bombay.; late Principal, Alfred Dickinson and Co.
1941 Obituary [1]
ALFRED DICKINSON was born near Peterborough on the 29th February, 1856, and died at Rhyl on the 21st January, 1941.
He served as a pupil under Mr. Charles Sacre from 1870 to 1877, and then joined the engineering staff of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway Co., being in charge for some time of the running sheds and workshops at Cornbrook.
In 1883 he became Locomotive Superintendent, and in 1885 Engineer and General Manager, to the South Staffordshire Tramway Co.
In 1892 he converted a 10-mile section of the company's system to overhead trolley working, using the lateral trolley which he specially designed for the purpose. While with the South Staffordshire Tramway Co. he acted also as consulting engineer to the City of Birmingham Tramways.
He left the company in 1895 and set up in practice as a consulting engineer, with offices in Birmingham and London. His work was mainly concerned with the design and construction of tramways throughout the world, but he was also consulting engineer to the Tata hydro-electric undertaking, India, and to the Tasmanian Government in connection with their hydro-electric schemes. Among the tramway schemes for which he was responsible were those at Barcelona, Bordeaux, Brisbane, Cape Town, Dublin, Gloucester (jointly with Mr. Robert Hammond), Hong Kong and Singapore.
He was elected a Member of The Institution in 1895.