August von Borries

Who was August von Borries?

August Friedrich Wilhelm von Borries was one of Germany's most influential railway engineers, who was primarily concerned with developments in steam locomotives.

Von Borries graduated from the Royal Institute of Trade in Charlottenburg, and then spent a year working at the Bergisch-Märkische railway. In 1875 he joined the service of the Hanover division of the Prussian state railways and subsequently became their Chief Mechanical Engineer. In 1880 he designed the first Prussian compound locomotive, built by Schichau in Elbląg. This showed significant fuel savings. His work on compound locomotives was done in collaboration with the British engineer Thomas William Worsdell and the two men obtained several British patents together. The 1880 locomotive was a two-cylinder compound but, in 1899, he designed a four-cylinder compound locomotive. Another innovation was the use of nickel steel for boilers in 1891.

In 1902 he left the Prussian state railways and took a professorship of Railway Engineering at the Technical University of Charlottenburg.

He wrote widely on locomotive matters, including a textbook on locomotives.