John Dickson (c1819-13 June 1892), was a railway contractor responsible for the promotion, construction and operation of several railway lines in England and Wales, especially in and around Swansea. His finances were never securely based and he was forced into bankruptcy on three occasions.
Early days (to 1857)
Dickson was born in Berwick-on-Tweed in about 1819. He first appears in the historical record in Ireland in 1840 when he married Elizabeth McMurray of Drogheda. His first daughter Catherine was born the following year at Killyman in County Tyrone. He remained in Ireland until 1847, and judging by the places of birth of subsequent children he was on the move all the time – Helen was born in County Sligo (1842), James in Dublin (1844) and Anna in Drogheda (1845). He appears to have been involved in some capacity under William Dargan on the construction of the Dublin and Drogheda Railway (1841-4) and the Great Southern and Western Railway (1845-7). There is also a possibility that he worked under Dargan on the Ulster Canal.
In 1847 Dickson left Ireland and returned to England, settling at Wellington, Shropshire, for reasons that are still not entirely clear, but where he quite quickly established himself as a person of some influence, especially in the still relatively new field of railway engineering. In 1852 he went into partnership with one McKensie (or McKenzie) and founded the Shropshire works on a site adjacent to the Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway, between Wellington and Oakengates.Ken Jones, The Wenlock Branch, Wellington to Craven Arms (Usk : The Oakwood Press, 1998), p 37 According to a contemporary newspaper report, the Shropshire Works occupied a site of eight acres and possessed "appliances for making and constructing almost every article connected with a railway, from the simple block of wood that secure the rail to the sleepers, to the carriages which roll over them."The Wellington Journal, August 1855, quoted by Jones, ibid. Dickson and McKensie were said to have sunk £30,000 in the venture and some time before the publication of the report had completed 170 wagons for the Newport & Abergavenny Railway Company, "in a short space of two months," and were engaged on the production of "a large number of passenger carriages" for the Great Western Railway company.
Early in his time at Wellington, Dickson made the acquaintance of Alfred Darby (I), a member of the celebrated Shropshire iron-founding dynasty and the then manager of the family's Coalbrookdale Works.
It seems likely that one reason Dickson chose to settle at Wellington is that he had successfully tendered for a portion of the Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway line between Shrewsbury, Wellington and Oakengates, which was constructed during the years 1847-9. Two years after the opening of the S & BR, in February 1851, Dickson constructed, apparently at his own expense, a branch line from Waterloo sidings, east of Wellington, to the Ketley Ironworks and entered into an agreement with the latter to work all traffic, whether by rail or road, from the works to the S & BR.Jones, ibid.
Dickson and McKensie worked on two further local railway contracts, the Madeley branch of the Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway (completed in 1854) and the Ketley-Horsehay section of the Wellington and Severn Junction Railway (1855-7).D. Cole and F.D. Smith, Contractors' locomotives. Pt VI ([London] : Union Publications, 1982), p 6 The latter contract undoubtedly owed much to Dickson's association with Darby and the Coalbrookdale Company, who were expected to subscribe to the line, and indeed the alignment made use of, and superseded, his earlier private railway to the Ketley Ironworks for a short distance. Dickson had in fact surveyed the entire line from Ketley to Lightmoor, and given evidence before the House of Lords committee that examined the Bill, but was only awarded the contract for the northern portion of the undertaking, work on which was begun with much pomp and ceremony in August 1855. In October 1855 it was reported that the works were in active progress and that the cost of building the line would be about £4,000 to £5,000 per mile, but at a shareholders' meeting in March 1860 the Chairman revealed that the actual cost had been much nearer £13,000 per mile. Dickson had tendered less than £10,000 for the entire contract, from which it appears that he had woefully underestimated the cost.Jones, op. cit., pp 39-42 Unsurprisingly, in January 1857 he was made a bankrupt for the first time. Ironically, work on the Ketley-Horsehay line was in a sufficiently advanced state for a trial run to be made by shareholders in February 1857,Wellington Journal, 21 February 1857 and for it to be opened for goods and mineral traffic on 1 May of the same year.
In addition to these works on his own doorstep, Dickson tendered unsuccessfully in 1855 for the Llanidloes and Newtown Railway.Ivor Bulmer-Thomas, Top Sawyer: a biography of David Davies of Llandinam (London : Longmans, Green, 1938), pp 33-4 Under the aegis of the Shropshire Works, he also operated a rolling stock business at this period and is known to have tendered for the supply of ballast wagons and wheels to the South Wales Railway in 1855 and to have supplied carriages to the Llanelly Railway in 1856Lawrence Popplewell, A Gazetteer of the railway contractors and engineers of Wales and the Borders 1830-1914 (Bournemouth : Melledgen Press, 1984), pp [12-13] and also wagons and brake vans to the Belfast and County Down Railway at much the same time.Edward M. Patterson, The Belfast & County Down Railway (Newton Abbot : David & Charles, 1982), p 35)
In 1854 Dickson, in partnership with J.G. McKenzie, won his first contract in south Wales, an area that was to become his home for most of the rest of his life. This was for the Gyfylchi Tunnel on the South Wales Mineral Railway.The Cambrian 2 August, 9 August, 16 September 1854 The financial position of the railway company prevented an immediate start being made until 1856 when he was additionally offered a contract to construct the entire line. He started work in April 1856The Cambrian 28 March 1856 but made little progress and in September 1856 Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the engineer of the SWMR, was instructed to pay off Dickson and re-let the contract.
In July 1855 Dickson won a contract from the Swansea Harbour Trust for various work connected with the town's North Dock.The Cambrian 13 July 1855 This was followed by a number of further contracts in 1855-6 for related work. Most of the work was still uncompleted when he was declared bankrupt on 20 January 1857. He was described as 'Builder, Stone and Timber merchant, Brickmaker and Contractor for Public Works'.The London Gazette, 23 January 1857, p 264
Activities around Swansea and Neath (1857-1867)
The period between Dickson's first and second bankruptcies was the most active and successful of his career with the construction of two railways (albeit of modest length) and the promotion of many other schemes which failed to materialise because his vision outstripped his resources. The methods which were adopted by Dickson and his backers in the financing of both these railways were typical of those employed on other 'contractors' lines', a phenomenon that was particularly prevalent at this period.For a discussion of 'contractors' lines' and their finances, including specific references to Dickson, see Harold Pollins, 'Railway contractors and the finance of railway development in Britain' in Railways in the Victorian economy: studies in finance and economic growth, ed. M.C. Reed (Newton Abbot : David & Charles, 1969), pp 212-28
Dickson was discharged on 3 June 1857The London Gazette, 9 June 1857, p 2044 and settled near Neath, presumably hoping to build on the contacts he had made in the area since 1853. During the years 1859-61 he claimed to have been involved in some way with the promotion of the Swansea and Neath Railway (the extension into Swansea of the Vale of Neath Railway), although it is not possible to establish the exact role that he played in this.Dickson's claims to have taken a leading part in the promotion of the Swansea & Neath Railway are based on his own statement in The Cambrian, 14 May 1886, p 8c, and on a further letter by Dickson quoted by E.E. Rowse, Proposed re-opening of Wind Street station and Swansea on the main line (priv. print, c1890)
In 1861, having assembled a group of financial backers, Dickson promoted the Dulais Valley Mineral Railway, a scheme to build a short line from the Vale of Neath Railway at Neath up the Dulais Valley to Banwen with a view to opening up the coal reserves of the valley. It was authorised in 1862.25 & 26 Vict c. cxciii. Royal Assent 29 July 1862 The following year Parliament approved the extension of the railway to Brecon and the change of its name to the Neath and Brecon Railway.26 & 27 Vict c. cxxx. Royal Assent 13 July 1863 Where it crossed the Great Forest of Brecon the route of the extension followed the now disused Brecon Forest Tramroad which Dickson purchased in 1863. He saw the railway as potentially forming part of a link from the Midlands and north of England to south Wales and he probably had hopes of selling it on completion to one of the major English companies.For a history of the company, see Gwyn Briwnant-Jones, Denis Dunstone and Tudor Watkins, The Neath and Brecon Railway: a history (Llandysul : Gomer, 2005) Also in 1863, in partnership with one Russell, Dickson won a contract to construct the Anglesey Central Railway. As was typical of contractors' lines at this period, Dickson & Russell were willing to accept payment in shares.For a history of this company, although with little mention of Dickson's involvement, see J.M. Dunn, 'The Anglesey Central Railway', Railway Magazine, v 106 (1960) pp 225-30, 248
The construction and operation of these two lines were to occupy him until his second bankruptcy in 1867 but at the same time as he was working on their construction he was also preparing plans and for far-reaching extensions to the Neath and Brecon Railway. These included extensions from Sennybridge to the Central Wales Line at Llangammarch Wells27 & 28 Vict c. cccxvi. Royal Assent 29 July 1864 and a short line to connect the N&BR to the Swansea Vale Railway near Ystalyfera27 & 28 Vict c. ccxciii. Royal Assent 29 July 1864 which was later to be constructed (although not by Dickson) as the Swansea Vale and Neath and Brecon Junction Railway. Both of these projects were authorised by Parliament in 1864, but a grandiose plan to extend the N&BR into Swansea and build a central station in the town was rejected in the same session.
In 1863 Dickson started to build St Andrew's Presbyterian church in Swansea for the benefit of the Scottish community in the town. It was completed in 1864 and opened on 12 August.F.C. Glover, 'The Founding of St Andrew's Swansea', Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society of England, 13 (1966), pp 102-5
A renewed attempt to extend the N&BR to Swansea was made in 1864, this time by purchasing the Swansea Canal and building the railway on its banks, but this too failed. Also in 1864 Dickson and others formulated plans to purchase the Oystermouth Railway at Swansea and build a main-line railway alongside it to a deep-water harbour at Mumbles. In pursuit of this goal he acquired the foreshore rights all round Swansea Bay from the Duke of Beaufort in June 1864 and in October reached an agreement with George Byng Morris, the mortgagee in possession, to purchase the Oystermouth Railway. However, his Mumbles Railway & Pier Bill of 1865 failed to win the approval of Parliament.Dickson's own version of his actions and purposes at this time is given in a statement by him published in The Cambrian 14 May 1886, and in a letter by him in the same paper, 4 June 1886