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Why William
Marriott?
William Marriott , after an apprenticeship
at the Ransomes & Rapier engineering firm in Ipswich,
took on the role of (unpaid) Assistant Engineer for the
railway contractor Wilkinson & Jarvis, then constructing
the Yarmouth & North Norfolk Railway. So successful
was he that he was offered a permanent post as Engineer.
In his own words, taken from the M&GN
Joint Railway Society publication "40 Years of a
Norfolk Railway", Mr Marriott recalled :
"In the year 1881 I was on the point
of giving notice to the firm in which I was employed and
starting out on my own for America. I had served my apprenticeship
as a mechanical engineer with the well-known firm of Messrs
Ransomes and Rapier of Ipswich, and after a brief absence
had returned to them as a draughtsman. This did not hold
out the prospects I desired, hence my wishing to go abroad.
However, one morning I received a letter from a Lady,
the wife of a civil engineer in London with whom I had
served articles, saying that Mr Jarvis, a friend who had
been staying with them, had promised to give me six weeks
experience on a railway they were constructing in Norfolk,
and I was to start at once. I was not to have a salary,
simply the experience, and I had some difficulty in obtaining
the consent of my employers to leave so quickly."
Such a success at the job was the young William that 2
Years later, in 1883, upon the formation of the Eastern
& Midlands Railway (fore runner to the M&GN),
William was made Engineer for the line – at the
ripe old age of 26! Appointment to the dual role of Locomotive
Superintendent followed 2 years later. When the E&M
was amalgamated into the M&GN in 1893, he continued
in these roles for the enlarged railway, adding that of
Traffic Manager from 1919 until his retirement in 1924.
William Marriott and his M&GN railway works, in Melton
Constable, were pioneers in many improvements to the railway.
In the early 1900s he took out patents for his own design
of rail chairs and fishplates. He also patented a wagon
braking apparatus. In 1915 five patents were taken out
for various improvements to reinforced concrete constructions
and in 1922 one for the moulding of concrete blocks. This early use of reinforced concrete for various
M&GN railway structures was in the forefront of
the development of the concrete industry and has left
a unique legacy in Norfolk. Sheringham still has concrete
telegraph-, signal- and mile-posts, dating from the early
years of the 20th Century, whilst Cromer signal box is
built of concrete blocks, all made in the concrete works
at Melton.
Marriott has often been called the "Father
of the M&GN”, with just cause, and the Railway gained
the title of “Marriott’s Tramway” in
some quarters.
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