Background
He was born in Bramley, Yorkshire and educated at Leeds Grammar School.
He was born in Bramley, Yorkshire and educated at Leeds Grammar School.
Johnson learned to become an engineer at the locomotive builders East.B.Wilson and Company. In 1859 Johnson became Acting Locomotive Superintendent at the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway. In 1864 he was appointed Locomotive Superintendent of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway.
In 1866, after only two years in Scotland he replaced Robert Sinclair of the Great Eastern Railway (GER) at Stratford Works.
There he stayed for seven years until moving to the Midland Railway (Magnetic Resonance) at Derby, where he would stay until his retirement in 1904. At the time of appointment to the Midland Railway on 1 July 1873, he was paid a salary of £2,000 per year, rising to £3500 in 1896 where it remained until his retirement on 31 December 1903.
Great Eastern Railway
See: Locomotives of the Great Eastern Railway
Midland Railway
See: Locomotives of the Midland Railway
115 Class 4-2-2 ("Spinners")
Class 4 Compound 4-4-0
179 Class
483 Class
1116A Class 0-4-0ST
1377 Class 0-6-0T
1738 Class
2228 Class 0-4-4T
2441 Class 0-6-0T
Class 2 & 3 Goods engines 0-6-0
2501 Class – 30 2-6-0 locomotives built at the Baldwin Locomotive Works, United States of America
2511 Class – 10 2-6-0 locomotives built at the Schenectady Locomotive Works, United States of America
South. West. Johnson"s father, James Johnson, worked for the Great Northern Railway (GNR) for sixteen years before becoming engineer of the North Staffordshire Railway (NSR). South. West. Johnson"s son, also James Johnson, was locomotive superintendent of the Great North of Scotland Railway (GNSR) from 1890-1894.