SPOONER, JAMES (1789-1856), railway engineer
Date of birth: 1789
Date of death: 1856
Child: Charles Easton Spooner
Gender: Male
Occupation: railway engineer
Area of activity: Business and Industry; Engineering, Construction, Naval Architecture and Surveying
Author: David Thomas
Born 1789, died Portmadoc, 18 August 1856. He came to Maentwrog from Birmingham. At the request of W. A. Madocks and afterwards of Samuel Holland, he surveyed a narrow-gauge railway from Blaenau Ffestiniog to Portmadoc, to carry slates from the quarries to the harbour. This line, called ' The Festiniog Railway,' was completed in April 1836. It became the pioneer of narrow-gauge railways throughout the world.
His son
CHARLES EASTON SPOONER (1818 - 1889), railway engineer,
was born at Maentwrog. He assisted his father and afterwards became his successor as engineer of the Festiniog railway. He wrote and lectured much on the subject of narrow-gauge railways, and his book, Narrow Gauge Railways, 1871, is a standard work. He died 18 November 1889.
Author
- David Thomas, (1880 - 1967)
Sources
- Robert Isaac Jones, Y Gestiana, 1892
- Edward Davies, Hanes Porthmadog (1913), 1913
Published date: 1959
Article Copyright: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/
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