A Worcestershire man has written a biography of one of the great overlooked names from the early days of steam.

George Turner Smith chronicles the life of Thomas Hackworth (1797-1877), the brother of Shildon’s beloved Timothy Hackworth.

Smith believes Thomas has been greatly overlooked by history, having both the fortune and misfortune of being the brother of a renowned railway engineer.

He was party to some of the most famous early railway experiments. He was there at the birth of the Puffing Billy and Wylam Dilly and built some of the first locomotives used on the Stockton and Darlington Railway. He was also a major contributor to the growth of both Shildon and Stockton-on-Tees which, according to Smith, would not be where they are today without his acumen and engineering expertise.

However, his life was eclipsed by the success of his brother, and who once referred to Thomas as ‘poor Tom’ when he was made the scapegoat for a series of problems at Shildon. As a consequence Tom lost both his job and his home, was exploited by his business partner and saw his young family devastated by cholera.

The book is superbly illustrated, with fifty-eight rarely seen photographs and drawings.

The 144 page book, pulished by Fonthill Media, is priced at £16.99 and is available from amazon.co.uk.