Robert Attwooll Way (1854-1901)
Agent and chief engineer at Assam-Bengal Railway, India.
Died 1901 aged 46.[1]
1901 Obituary [2]
ROBERT ATTWOOLL WAY, son of Mr. Robert A. Way, of Brook House, Nottington, Dorchester, was born on the 29th January, 1854, and was educated at the Grammar School, Warminster, Wilts.
In 1869 he was articled to Mr. James Lemon, of Southampton, and while in that town he attended lectures and classes at the Hartley Institute.
Two years later Mr. Lemon cancelled his articles in order to enable him to enter the Royal Indian Engineering College at Coopers Hill, from which he was appointed an Assistant Engineer in the Public Works Department of the Government of India.
He proceeded to India in 1873, and was posted to the Rajputana State Railway. Between 1875 and 1879 he was engaged on extensive junction works in Agra to accommodate the broad and narrow-gauge lines, including a large junction station.
In 1879 he was transferred as Executive Engineer to Kathiawar, and placed in charge of the survey and construction of the Gouda1 branch of the Bhavnagar-Gondal Railway, for which work he received the recognition of the Government of Bombay.
He was next engaged on the Bengal and North Western Railway, and subsequently was placed in charge of the construction of the Gunduck Bridge on the Tirhoot State Railway, for the satisfactory and economical completion of which he was formally thanked by the Government of India.
In 1887 Mr. Way's services were lent to the Bengal-Nagpur Railway Company as Superintending Engineer of the construction works of the Bengal division of the line, extending from Asansol Junction to Bilaspur, a distance of 371 miles.
That post he held until January, 1889, when he was appointed Engineer-in-Chief of the Delhi-Umballa-Kalka Railway. In that capacity he had charge of the construction of that line from the commencement, and on its completion in 1892 he reverted to Government service, and for the next few years was employed on surveys for lines to connect Assam and Burma.
In April, 1896, his services were lent to the Assam-Bengal Railway Company as agent and Chief Engineer.
Mr. Way retained that post until his death, which took place at Chittagong from an attack of dysentery on the 6th April, 1901.
His ability as an engineer was considerable, his services were sought on several occasions by private railway companies, and he was regarded as one of the coming men in connection with railway development in India.
Mr. Way married in 1898 Kate, daughter of the late Mr. Edward Andrew Chudleigh, of Liverpool, and leaves one son.
He was elected a Member of the Institution on the 3rd May, 1887.
1901 Obituary.[3]
...agent and chief engineer for the Assam-Bengal Railway at Chittagong...