The following paragraph was included within a book named 'History of the Manchester Ship Canal' by Sir Bosdin Leech published in 1907 [568] :
Thomas Andrew Walker : 'From the beginning to the end of the sections, wherever you went, the letters " T. A. W. " stared you in the face ; they were stamped on everything you looked at and handles ; every truck had these conspicuous letters on its side. They were the initials of the contractor. Thomas Andrew Walker, a very remarkable man. Born in 1828, we find him sixteen years later busy in the survey of new railway lines. In 1847 he was on the staff of the well-known contractor, Mr. Thomas Brassey, and that gentleman placed such reliance in him that in 1852 he was sent to Canada to take up a responsible position on the Grand Trunk Railway. He obtained the confidence of the people there and started business on his own account, constructing Government railways. He left Canada in order to survey and construct railways in Russia and Egypt. On his return to England in 1865 he took a prominent part (under MR. Fowler the engineer) in the construction of the London underground railways. Along with his brother, Mr. Charles Walker, he had in hand the very difficult task of applying Brunel's Thames Tunnel to railway purposes. In 1879 he carried out the Severn Tunnel under almost superhuman difficulties, and achievement which has made his name famous all over the world. In this huge work he employed 3,000 men and boys, but it was a small work compared with the Ship Canal, in which 16,000 men were engaged.'
The Barry Dock News [140] [361] published the following extensive article on his life and work in November 1889 :
DEATH OF Mr. T. A. WALKER.
The brief but significant line with which head this memoir contains a serious and solemn fact - Mr Thomas Andrew Walker, well-known and eminent contractor for Barry Dock, and other extensive works in different parts of the civilised world, is no more! His death occurred in a comparatively sudden manner at his residence, Mount Ballan, near Chepstow, on Monday morning last! at the age of 62 years, and his demise cast a deep gloom over a large and wide section of the commercial world, Mr Walker being highly respected and esteemed wherever known. The deceased gentleman had been ill for some time past, and on Thursday and Friday last it was believed he could not re-cover from the state of coma into which he had fallen. He rallied somewhat, however, and on Sunday there were great hopes of his recovery, but a relapse set in in the evening, and on Monday morning he quietly passed away,
BIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES TO THE LATE MR. WALKER.
Mr T. A. Walker, whose death we deplore, by whose removal the world has lost one of best pioneers of civilisation, was not, to use, his own words, born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He was not one of those fortunate individuals, but was forced to undertake responsible work early in the year of the railway mania - 1845 - before he had reached the age of seventeen, after a very brief course of instruction at King's College. Both in that year and in 1846 he did considerable work on Parliamentary surveys.
HIS EARLIER PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES.
In 1847 the then great contractor, Mr Brassey, him a position on the North Staffordshire Railway, and Mr Walker remained upon his staff foe seven years, gleaning much valuable experience, the last two years being spent upon Mr Brassey's great contract for the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada. After the completion of this undertaking Mr Walker remained a further seven years in Canada constructing railways for the Government of the Lower Provinces. He returned home, after an absence of nine years, in the year 1861. In 1863 he made some extensive surveys of railways in Russia, and in 1864 and 1865 some further surveys and explorations in Egypt, passing as far south as Metamneh, only 100 miles north of Khartoum, returning home to England in the of 1865.
SUCCESSFUL MANAGEMENT OF A LARGE UNDERTAKING IN LONDON.
On his return home, Mr Walker was offered, an accepted, the management of the construction the Metropolitan and Underground District Railways, those huge undertakings that interweave a subterranean London. This work he undertook for three firms who had jointly undertook to construct them, viz., Messrs Peto and Bets, John Velk, and Waring Bros. The construction of these lines from Edgware-road to the Mansion House, Mr Walker carried out successfully and they were completed on the 18th of July, 1881. Shortly after this, Mr T. A. Walker, in partnership with his brother, the late Mr Charles Walker, undertook the contract for the extension of the East London Railway from the end of Brunel's Thames Tunnel, under the London Docks, through Wapping, Shadwell, and Whitechapel. Here Mr Walker formed a connection that had greatly to do with his future history, and a connection, too, that had much to do with the world of engineering. Sir John Hawkshaw was the engineer in chief, and Mr Walker undoubtedly gained the good opinion of that gentleman, and carried out the work to his satisfaction.
