RAILWAYANA
Autograph Letter Signed from Robert Hawthorn to William Johnstone, Engineer of Glasgow & South Western Railway, with vignettes, 1 page 4to with address-leaf, Newcastle, 21 December 1852. Arranging a meeting. ('... I had arranged to be in Glasgow tomorrow evening and therefore will have pleasure in waiting upon you on Thursday morning ...')

Robert Hawthorn set up business at Forth Bank Works in 1817, building marine and stationary steam trains. His brother joined him in 1820, and the firm became R and W Hawthorn. They later became interested in locomotives and sold thier first engine in 1831; subsequently they completed a number of orders for the Stockton and Darlington railway. They were great innovators - with mixed success - and their locomotives had many original features. In 1850 they built their first tank locomotive which was supplied to the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway. In 1859 they built an engine for the Cape Town Wellington Railway in South Africa. Later nicknamed 'Blackie', this engine is still on show at Cape Town station. William Johnstone was the general manager of the Glasgow & South Western Railway from 1840 to 1874. The University of Glasgow now awards annual prizes to Civil Engineering finalists in his memory.

The vignettes in the letterhead are of a steam locomotive (the Hawthorn), and a beam engine.
[No: 26374]