Peter Valentine McMahon
Peter Valentine McMahon(c1866-1940)
1941 Obituary [1]
PETER VALENTINE MCMAHON was assistant chief engineer to the London Passenger Transport Board and had been associated with London tube railways for the whole of his professional career. After receiving his technical training at Finsbury Technical College from 1886 to 1888 he was appointed resident engineer at the Waterford electricity supply station, which was enlarged and reconstructed under his supervision. In 1890 he assisted in the electrical equipment of the City and South London Railway, and was appointed chief assistant engineer upon the opening of the line, and became chief engineer in 1896.
In the following years he carried out important tests and experiments on electric locomotives. He acted as consulting electrical engineer for the extension of the railway in 1900, being responsible for the electrical equipment, which was the first application of the three-wire system of distribution to electric traction, and also for the building of the new rolling stock, and the erection of buildings. In 1912, on the amalgamation of the tube railways, he became superintendent of electric power at the Lots Road power station and continued in this position under the London Passenger Transport Board until 1927, when he became assistant chief electrical engineer. He occupied this position until his retirement in 1933.
Mr. McMahon, whose death in his seventy-third year occurred on 14th September 1940, was elected a Member of the Institution in 1904, and was also a Member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers.