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Who was James McConnell?

McConnell was locomotive superintendent of the LNWR’s Southern Division at Wolverton from 1846 to 1861. He started work at Wolverton on 15 February 1847 on a salary of £700 per annum. He gradually replaced the stock of undersized locomotives inherited from Edward Bury by locomotives better suited to the loads and schedules of the time. He made his reputation with the Bloomers, 2-2-2 passenger machines with 7ft driving wheels which appeared in 1851 and were considered one of the finest locomotive classes of the time. He was a proponent of big boilers, and he experimented with a smokebox steam drum that can be regarded as an early form of superheater whose effect, if any, would have been felt only at high speeds.