Chief Railway Engineer
A resident of North Sheen, he rebuilt Richmond Bridge, Feltham goods yard and reconstructed Waterloo Station in 1915
Born in Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire 1858, the fourth son to a Polish tailor Albert Szlumper, Alfred and his brothers James and
William were destined to become successful engineers.
From 1880 he became engineering assistants on the South Eastern and Chatham, then the Great Indian Peninsula Railway based
out in India, then the London and South-Western Railway Company, first as assistant then in charge of projects for 12 years. He
rose to Divisional Engineer and in 1914 Chief Engineer. He held this role until his retirement in 1927.
Alfred and his wife Fannie were living in Putney c1901-1911. They had a daughter Frances and son Gilbert a civil engineer, who
travelled around the world as Docks and Marine manager of L&SW Railway in Southampton before rising to Southern Railway
General Manager, a Major General and a CBE.
Alfred’s impressive CV included the redesign and rebuilding of bridges to increase their strength and load-bearing capacity at
Barnes, Richmond, and Kingston; the gravitational shunting yard at Feltham, not to mention completion of the reconstruction
of Waterloo Station 1914-15. During the war his skills served both the War Office and the Admiralty, becoming President of the
Permanent Way Institution and a valuable member of the Institution of Civil Engineers. Although he retired in 1927 he remained
happy to be consulted on railway projects. He died at his home in Sheen Common Drive, North Sheen in 1934, aged 76.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_W._Szlumper
