Reginald David Walker, Manager and Chief Engineer, Kowloon-Canton Railway, 1930s

IDJ has sent the following newspaper article which was published in the Hong Kong Sunday Herald in a 1930s long series entitled Hong Kong Personalities.

HF: I have retyped the original article to aid clarity and searches.

Hong Kong Personalities

Reginald David Walker HK Sunday Herald 8th September 1935 From IDJ

MR. R.D. WALKER

This is the fifty-eighth of the exclusive series of sketches of leading Colony residents by Mr A.S. Konya, the talented Hungarian artist.

Our Personality this week is Mr. Reginald David Walker, M.C.,A.R.C.S., D.I.C., M.Inst. C.E., Chartered Civil Engineer, Manager and Chief Engineer, Kowloon-Canton Railway.

Mr. Walker was born on October 23, 1892, the son of Mr. Andrew Walker, a mechanical engineer, at Gillingham, Kent. He received his education at the Mathematical School, Rochester, and London University, taking his engineering at the Royal College of Science, South Kensington, and the City and Guilds Engineering College, South Kensington, and gaining the Diploma of the Imperial College of Science Technology after a post-graduate course in railway engineering.

A cadet of the London University O.T.C., Royal Engineers, from 1913 to 1915, he joined the Field Company (Territorial) R.E. for service overseas in June 1915, with the rank of Lieutenant, and saw service in France, Salonika, and Palestine and was mentioned in dispatches and received the M.C. for his work in the last-named country, where he served as Reconnaissance Officer for the 60th Division from the operations at Beersheba to the fall of Jerusalem.

From April 1918 to May 1920 he was attached to the Railway Operating Division, Egyptian Expeditionary Force; from January to May 1920 as Officer Commanding R.O.D.

Demobilised in 1920 with the rank of Captain, he went, after a few months in England, to the Federated Malay States. In December of that year, as Assistant Engineer (open lines), F.M.S. Railways. Appointed District Engineers, Tanjong Malim, in December 1923, he received the thanks of the F.M.S. Government early the following year for special services rendered and in October 1925 was Engineer-in-charge of the consolidation work of the Pass Section at Kuala Kangsar. In 1926 he was appointed Maintenance Assistant to the Engineer for Way and Works and in 1928 Special Service Assistant  to this department , the appointment continuing until 1931, broken only by a short period, in 1930, of special leave to America, to study railway conditions there. In December 1926 and January 1927 he was in charge of the Pahang flood relief and reconnaissance work. Other important work on which Mr. Walker was engaged was an investigation, in 1933, into the possibilities of developing the access to the Prai wharves.

Going on leave in July 1933, he was transferred to Hong Kong and arrived in the Colony in March 1934 to take up his appointment as Acting Manager and Chief Engineer, K.C.R., receiving the substantive appointment on August 11 following.

Mr. Walker is the author of various books, including “Principles of Underdrainage” and “Modern Trains in Permanent Way Maintenance and Design” and of various brochures on railway and other engineering subjects.

Mr. Walker is a keen Volunteer, and is at present a Major in the H.K.V.D.C., commanding the R.O.D. cadre. His principal recreation is golf, which he started to play at the early age of five, under the tuition of his father, a noted golfer of his day. During his University and Army days he was a runner of distinction. He won many cups as a half-miler, including the Royal Engineers Championship event (open to all R.E.’s then in England) in 1915, his time being 1 min. 50 2.5 secs.

See: There is a Walker Road in Hong Kong named after Reginald David Walker, though I don’t know exactly where it is. See – https://www.hk-place.com/view.php?id=330

Source: Hong Kong Sunday Herald 8th September 1935.

This article was first posted on 5th October 2021.

Related Indhhk articles:

  1. The Kowloon Canton Railway (British Section) Part 1 – The Beginning, Three Possible Routes…
  2. The Kowloon Canton Railway (British Section) Part 2 – Construction
  3. The Kowloon-Canton Railway (British Section) Part 3 – the construction of Kowloon Station
  4. The Kowloon Canton Railway (British Section) Part 4 – The Early Years (1910 to 1940)
  5. The Kowloon Canton Railway (British Section) Part 5 – The Post War Years (1945 to 1978)
  6. Kowloon – Canton Railway (British Section) Part 6 – Modernisation
  7. Kowloon – Canton Railway (British Section) – Kowloon Station Relocation
  8. Hong Kong proposal to link railways in Canton, newspaper article 1934
  9. Beacon Hill Tunnel, KCR, longest tunnel in China 1910
  10. KCR Whampoa Railway Siding

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