Career
He was an important early locomotive engineer Early years
At the age of thirteen he began work on the Stockton and Darlington Railway. He was fireman on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, and was present at its opening.
Eventually he became a driver on the London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR).
He is believed to have driven the first L&BR train (and the first main line train) to enter London. Midland Railway
In 1839 he was appointed, first a locomotive foreman, and then in 1841, Locomotive Superintendent of the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway.
When that railway became one of the constituents of the Midland Railway, he became the Midland"s Locomotive Superintendent. When he died in 1873 hundreds of locomotives to his design existed, many of which were to last into the days of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, some fifty years later.
