Benjamin Outram

Benjamin Outram (1 April 1764 - 22 May 1805) was an English civil engineer.

Related Topics:
1 April - 1764 - 22 May - 1805 - English - Civil engineer

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Born at Alfreton in Derbyshire, Outram was a civil engineer, surveyor and industrialist with an ironworks 'Benjamin Outram & Company' (which he had formally co-founded with local landowner Francis Beresford, fellow engineer William Jessop and John Wright, a Nottingham banker, on 10 December 1792) at Butterley in Derbyshire.

Related Topics:
Alfreton - Derbyshire - Surveyor - William Jessop - Nottingham - 10 December - 1792 - Butterley

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He is, perhaps, best known for the 44 ft (13 m) long single-span Holmes Aqueduct on the Derby Canal, which opened in February 1796 and was the world's first cast-iron aqueduct (it was demolished in 1971). It was cast by Benjamin Outram & Company and it predated Thomas Telford's much longer aqueduct on the Shrewsbury Canal at Longdon-on-Tern by one month.

Related Topics:
Aqueduct - Derby Canal - 1796 - 1971 - Thomas Telford - Shrewsbury Canal - Longdon-on-Tern

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He also constructed Stodhart Tunnel on the Peak Forest Tramway, which was the first railway tunnel in Derbyshire, and Marple Aqueduct on the Peak Forest Canal for which he was the consulting engineer.

Related Topics:
Tunnel - Peak Forest Tramway - Marple Aqueduct - Peak Forest Canal

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Outram was the leading advocate in the construction of tramways using L-section rails, which were manufactured at his ironworks together with all the waggons.

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His first tramway was a line, just over a mile (1.6 km) in length, constructed for use by Benjamin Outram & Company, to carry limestone from quarries at Crich to Bullbridge Wharf on the Cromford Canal. This dates from 1793 and it had a gauge of 3 feet 6 inches (1.067 m), the rails and waggons being supplied by Benjamin Outram & Company. Later in the same year, work began on the construction of the Little Eaton Gangway, which was a feeder for the Derby Canal, and in the following year work began on the construction of the Peak Forest Tramway, which was a feeder for the Peak Forest Canal.

Related Topics:
Crich - Cromford Canal - Little Eaton Gangway - Derby Canal

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Some people say that the word "tramway" comes from his own surname but this is incorrect. It comes from the Low German word "traam" which mean a "beam" (of a wheelbarrow).

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He was also the consulting engineer for the construction of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal but he died of a brain fever in London in 1805 before his mighty Standedge Canal Tunnel was completed in 1811.

Related Topics:
Huddersfield Narrow Canal - Standedge Canal Tunnel - 1811

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After his death, Benjamin Outram and Company was renamed Butterley Company Ltd in 1809.

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