The Railway Chemists as Materials Testers

Abstract

The bread and butter of the railway chemist were to check that materials purchased by the company accorded with their specifications, and indeed the chemists were often involved with setting those specifications. The chemist could be called upon to test almost anything: from metals, lubricants, paints, fuels and water, to articles such as soap, wallpaper, and even sherry. In the course of their analytical work, the chemists devised a number of new analytical methods or improved existing ones, and a significant number of publications emanated from the railway laboratories. The chemist was frequently asked to examine goods tendered for carriage to check that they had been correctly described, and was required to assess the validity of claims for goods damaged in transit. The chemist became the scientific jack-of-all trades in a railway works, and could be asked to assist in any technical matter which lay outside the competence of the engineers.