Occupation Rail Engineer Parents Isabella Plunkett Died January 18, 1906 | Name Francis Sheilds Known for Sydney Railway Company | |
Other names Francis Webb Wentworth-Sheilds Spouse(s) Adelaide Baker (m.1860) Relatives John Gore Sheilds (brother) | ||
Children Francis Wentworth-Sheilds | ||
Francis Webb Sheilds (8 October 1820 – 18 January 1906) was a civil engineer on the Sydney Railway Company during its construction but before its opening.
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In Great Britain and Ireland, Sheilds worked on a number of railway projects, including the then 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) Dublin and Kingstown Railway. He considered himself to be a born railway engineer.
City Surveyor
Sheilds was the Sydney City Surveyor in 1843 for a few years where he worked on water works. He resigned, 1849, in order to take up a post with the Sydney Railway Company.
Sydney Railway Company Engineer
Sheilds main claim to fame is that he persuaded the Company, the Government and the other two mainland colonies, Victoria and South Australia, to change the gauge of these railways from 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) to 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm), Sheilds being Irish and 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) being the Irish gauge, leading via tortuous steps to the national break of gauge.
He resigned in 1850 when his pay was cut due to financial difficulties of the Company.
His replacement, a Scot named James Wallace, recommended a change back to 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm). The other two mainland colonies having ordered rolling stock refused to follow suit.
Sheilds' recommendation, helped by the Board of Trade, is the origin of all the breaks of gauge between 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) and 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) in Australia. Having shown that gauge wasn't all that important, other states including parts of South Australia adopted the supposedly cheaper narrow gauge of 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm).