Robert Wallace Urie
Robert Wallace Urie (22 October 1854 - 6 January 1937) was a Scottish locomotive engineer who was the last chief mechanical engineer of the London and South Western Railway following the retirement of Peter Drummond in 1913 until his own retirement at the grouping of 1923. His son D. C. Urie was a locomotive engineer with the Highland Railway and later the London, Midland and Scottish Railway.
Preserved 4-6-0 freight locomotive No. 825 (as built by Maunsell to the Urie design) at Pickering, October 2005. Robert Urie made a significant contribution to the development of more powerful express passenger and goods locomotives for use on the London and South Western Railway main line. In particular his LSWR Class H15, LSWR N15 Class and LSWR Class S15 locomotives continued to be built by the Southern Railway under Richard Maunsell's direction.
1937 Obituary [1]
ROBERT WALLACE URIE was the last locomotive engineer of the London and South Western Railway. He was born in Ardeer in 1854 and was educated at Glasgow High School. In. 1869 he commenced a six years' apprenticeship, in Glasgow, which was divided between Messrs. Gauldie, Marshall and Company, Messrs. Dubs and Company, and Messrs. William King and Company. During the succeeding years he was employed by various locomotive-building firms as a draughtsman. He then joined the Caledonian Railway in a similar capacity under Mr. Dugald Drummond, M.I.Mech.E., and was later engaged on investigations on higher steam pressures.
In 1890 Mr. Urie was appointed chief draughtsman at St. Rollox, and six years later was made works manager. He went with Mr. Drummond to the London and South Western Railway in 1897, and was appointed works manager at Nine Elms. Twelve years later the works were moved from Nine Elms to Eastleigh. Mr. Urie's appointment as locomotive superintendent dated from 1912, and he held that position until the merging of the London and South Western Railway in the Southern Railway in 1923, when he retired.
He served on a committee of locomotive engineers responsible for the design of standard locomotives during the War, and organized Eastleigh works for the production of munitions. His own locomotive designs were invariably two-cylinder machines, and included three varieties of 4-6-0 tender engines, one of which formed the pattern for the king Arthur class; and some heavy 4-8-0 and 4-6-2 tank engines. Mr. Urie was also the inventor of the "Eastleigh" superheater. His death occurred at Largs, Ayrshire, on 6th January 1937.
He had been a Member of the Institution since 1898.