2-888-457 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Mr. John Locke, M.P. for Honiton, 1850. Locke '...studied engineering under the late Sir George Stephenson, and...acted as his principal assistant in the construction of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway - the first of the great iron-ways that now in every direction gird the kingdom...The London and Southampton was the second great, line constructed by Mr. Locke; and it was followed by the Manchester and Sheffield, with its magnificent viaducts and tunnel at Woodhead, hewn through three miles of solid rock...He is known as a distinguished engineer in France...He laid out and executed the line from Paris to Rouen, and the far greater work from Rouen to Havre, and for which last he received from the late King, Louis Philippe, the decoration of the Legion of Honour. He has also the merit of the introduction of passenger railways into Spain...'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.