Matthew Holmes

Matthew Holmes (1844–1903) was a Scottish locomotive engineer who served as Locomotive Superintendent of the North British Railway at Cowlairs Works, Glasgow, from June 1882 until his death in office. He succeeded Dugald Drummond and gave the NBR an effective standard fleet which lasted into LNER service.

Born at Paisley on 10 April 1844, Holmes was apprenticed on the Edinburgh & Glasgow Railway at Cowlairs and rose to Works Manager before taking the senior post on Drummond's move to the Caledonian. His NBR Class C 0-6-0 of 1888 (LNER J36) was the most prolific North British class and lasted in service until 1967, the last steam locomotive on British Railways main-line service. The NBR Class M 4-4-0 of 1898 worked Anglo-Scottish expresses over the Waverley route.

Holmes died in office at Cowlairs on 3 September 1903 and was succeeded by William Paton Reid.