Thomas Fleming Bergin

Thomas Fleming Bergin (n/a - 1862) was an Irish civil engineer and early Irish railway official. He was the Company Clerk of the Dublin and Kingstown Railway (D&KR),[1] the first public railway in Ireland.[2] He was also responsible for the design of the Bergin Patent Spring Buffer, the buffering system that it used.[3]

Biography

Bergin, who was by profession a civil engineer, was to join the Dublin and Kingstown Railway (D&KR) in 1832, replacing James Pim as company secretary.[4][5] Lyons notes Pim and Bergin as "two of the most valuable engines the D&KR possessed, although other individuals also played an important part."[6] Murray notes Bergin was to have a "large part of the daily management of the railway", and also notes the Bergin and Pim made an excellent team.[5] Bergin was to remain loyal to the D&KR despite offers from other railways.[7]

Thomas notes the D&KR Chief Clerk (aka Bergin[lower-alpha 1][9]) was sent to the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR)[lower-alpha 2] in June 1833.[9] Dawson notes Bergin observed the sprung buffer / connection system used on the L&MR and determined to develop his own design for the D&KR.[10]

On 16 December 1834 Bergin was to place advertisements in the Dublin newspapers as Clerk of the Company proclaiming the public opening of the D&KR with an hourly service from 9am to 4pm inclusive from Westland-Row to Blackrock and Kingstown.[8]

Bergin was additionally appointed 'Mechanical Engineer in 1835, though as that position was found to be needing a full time appointment Bergin was to revert to Clerk.[7] Bergin retired when the operation of the D&KR was taken over by the Dublin and Wicklow Railway in 1856.[7]

Bergin served as president of the Microscopical Society of Ireland in 1842.[11] He died in December 1862.[7]

References

Notes
  1. Thomas actually uses the term Chief Clerk but as Lyons notes that as Bergin style's himself Clerk of the Company Bergin is the only reasonable candidate here.[8]
  2. The Liverpool and Manchester Railway was in the 1830s the first, and perhaps for a few years only, example of a significant and effective railway with both freight and scheduled passenger operations; additionally it was a relatively short distance from Dublin by steam packet

Footnotes
  1. Mulligan 1990, p. 13.
  2. Mulligan 1990, p. 10.
  3. Murray 1981, pp. 195–199.
  4. Lyons 2015, p. 28.
  5. Murray 1981, p. 22.
  6. Lyons 2015, pp. 28–29.
  7. Murray 1981, p. 97.
  8. Lyons 2015, p. 32.
  9. Thomas 1980, p. 229.
  10. Dawson 2021, p. 224–225.
  11. Baker & Gill (2017)

Sources
  • Baker, Richard, and Denis Gill. "Men, microscopes and meetings—the nineteenth century Dublin microscopists and their work." The Irish Naturalists' Journal (2017): 110-115.
  • Dawson, Anthony (2021). Locomotives of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Transport. ISBN 9781526763983. OCLC 1190858980.
  • Lyons, Garrett (15 October 2015). Steaming to Kingstown and Sucking Up to Dalkey: The Story of the Dublin and Kingstown Railway. Dublin: Londubh Books. ISBN 978-1907535772. OCLC 932822091.
  • Mulligan, Fergus (1990) [1983]. One Hundred and Fifty Years of Irish Railways. Belfast: Appletree Press. ISBN 9780862812331. OCLC 20525095.
  • Murray, Kevin (1981). Ireland's First Railway. Dublin: Irish Railway Record Society. ISBN 0-904078-07-8. OCLC 25224606.
  • Thomas, R. G. H. (1980). The Liverpool & Manchester Railway. London: B. T. Batsford. ISBN 0713405376. OCLC 6355432.
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