choice for the locality in which it worked, and after having its 3 cylinders replaced with 2, its performance endeared it even less to the local Scottish crews. Coach design Thompson improved passenger safety by introducing steel-bodied coaches to the LNER. Previously the LNER had Gresley-designed coaches, the most famous of which had teak bodies but by 1940s standards these were considered insufficiently safe in a collision. Therefore, during the Second World War Thompson designed new all-steel coaches that became a forerunner of British Railways Mark 1 design. Proposed Pacific Shortly before Thompson's retirement the LNER was short of express passenger locomotives so Thompson initiated plans for a new Pacific design, which he intended to be based on the rebuilt Great Northern. However the LNER design office, having received reports of Great Northern's performance in service, delayed completing the design of the locomotive until Thompson had retired. Even then Thompson laid down a strict set of guidelines for the new locos. The new class (LNER Class A1) was finally designed under Thompson's successor Arthur Peppercorn, who disregarded almost all of Thompson's guidelines. Locomotive list Thompson A1/1 4-6-2 (1945) Thompson A2/1 4-6-2 (1944) Thompson A2/2 4-6-2 (1943) Thompson A2/3 4-6-2 (1946) Thompson B1 4-6-0 (1942) Thompson B3/3 4-6-0 (1943) Thompson B16/3 4-6-0 (1944) Thompson B2 4-6-0 (1945) Thompson K1/1 2-6-0 (1945) Thompson K5 2-6-0 (1945) Thompson L1 2-6-4T (1945) Thompson O1 2-8-0 (1944) Thompson Q1 0-8-0 (1942) Family Thompson was the son-in-law of Sir Vincent Raven, the final CME of the NER. Retirement and death Thompson retired from the LNER in 1946 and died in 1954. References Citations References 1881 births 1954 deaths English railway mechanical engineers Locomotive builders and designers People educated at Marlborough College Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge London and North Eastern Railway people