Samuel Waite Johnson

Born	14 October 1831
Died	14 January 1912
Nationality	English
Employer	E. B. Wilson and Company, Leeds (apprentice); Great Northern Railway, Boston (Manager 1856); Edinburgh & Glasgow Railway (Locomotive Superintendent 1859); Great Eastern Railway (Locomotive Superintendent 1866); Midland Railway (Locomotive Superintendent 1873–1903)

Samuel Waite Johnson (1831–1912) was a British locomotive engineer who served as Locomotive Superintendent of the Midland Railway at Derby for thirty years from 1873 to 1903, establishing the Midland's instantly recognisable house style of gracefully proportioned locomotives in the railway's deep crimson lake livery and producing the Spinner single-driver express engines that were among the most beautiful locomotives ever built in Britain.

Born at Bramley, Leeds on 14 October 1831, Johnson was apprenticed to E.B. Wilson and Company at the Railway Foundry in Leeds — the firm that had built the celebrated Jenny Lind locomotives — and held successively more senior posts on the Great Northern Railway, the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway, and the Great Eastern Railway before joining the Midland at Derby in 1873.

Johnson's design approach gave the Midland a coherent and unified fleet where Matthew Kirtley's varied inheritance had not, and the Midland's insistence on locomotive cleanliness and the elaborate crimson lake livery made Johnson's engines among the most visually admired of any British railway. His Spinner class single-driver 4-2-2 express locomotives, introduced from 1887 and progressively enlarged through successive batches, were among the last and most capable British single-driver express engines — their 7 ft 9 in driving wheels carrying the Midland's Anglo-Scottish expresses via the Settle-Carlisle route at speeds that commanded respect. Steam sanding equipment, which Johnson fitted as standard, made the single-driver practical on an express service in a way that had been impossible for the earlier generation of singles without it.

Johnson's other major designs included the three generations of Midland 0-6-0 goods engines and the Midland Compound 4-4-0, developed with Walter Smith on the three-cylinder compound principle, which Deeley and subsequently the LMS developed into the most numerous British compound type. Johnson retired in 1903 and died at Nottingham on 14 January 1912.

Biography

Samuel Waite Johnson (1831–1912) was a British locomotive engineer who served as Locomotive Superintendent of the Midland Railway at Derby Works from 1873 until 1903. He gave the Midland its instantly recognisable house style of well-proportioned, gracefully-curved locomotives in the railway's deep crimson lake livery, and is celebrated above all for the Spinner Class 4-2-2 single-driver express engines.

Born at Bramley, Leeds on 14 October 1831, Johnson was apprenticed to E. B. Wilson and Company at the Railway Foundry, Leeds. He held increasingly senior posts on the Great Northern Railway, the Edinburgh & Glasgow Railway and the Great Eastern Railway before joining the Midland in 1873.

His Spinner singles, introduced in 1887 and progressively enlarged, were built in the era after the steam-sander made it possible for a single-driver to handle express trains reliably; they were among the most elegant locomotives ever built in Britain and held the express timings on the Anglo-Scottish trains via the Midland route. Other Johnson designs included the Midland 1F, 2F and 3F 0-6-0 goods classes, collectively the largest groups of 0-6-0 locomotives in Britain, and the 1377 Class 0-6-0T 'Half Cab' shunters.

Johnson retired in 1903 and was succeeded by Richard Deeley. He died at Nottingham on 14 January 1912.

Locomotives designed

134 Class — Samuel W. Johnson's 1872 GER 0-4-4T suburban class, built at Stratford for the GER's growing London suburban services.
6 Class — Samuel W. Johnson's 1875 Midland Railway 0-4-4T suburban class, built at Derby for MR London suburban services and outer-suburban passenger work.
Class 477 — Samuel W. Johnson's 1871 GER 0-6-0 goods class, built at Stratford.
GER 418 Class — Robert Sinclair's 1862 Eastern Counties Railway (later GER) 2-4-0 passenger class, built at Stratford for ECR/GER expresses.
GER Johnson — Samuel W. Johnson's 1868 GER 2-4-0 passenger class, built at Stratford. Johnson moved on to the Midland Railway in 1873 and his GER design influenced his subsequent celebrated MR singles.
Midland 990 Class — Johnson's 1899 Midland Railway 990 class 4-2-2 — the last and largest of Johnson's celebrated single-driver expresses, with the new Belpaire firebox replacing the round-top of the earlier 115/118 series. 10 built between 1900 and 1903. Worked Midland Railway expresses on the Settle & Carlisle and Manchester routes; the last MR singles in service. None preserved.
Midland 990 Class Spinner — Reference to Midland 990 class — see that entry.
Midland Railway 115 Class — Johnson's 1889 Midland Railway 115 class 4-2-2 "Spinner" single-driver express — the celebrated MR singles, the last great British single-drivers and arguably the most beautiful express engines of the 19th century. 95 built between 1887 and 1900; the leading example, MR No. 118 (later 673), is preserved at the NRM York.
Midland Railway 483 Class — Johnson's 1896 Midland Railway 483 class 4-4-0 — Johnson's larger-boilered 4-4-0s for MR Carlisle and Manchester expresses. Some lasted into BR days as Class 2P after rebuilding by Fowler.
Midland Railway 6 wheel tank — Johnson's 1877 Midland Railway 0-6-0T standard shunting tank, built at Derby.
Midland Railway J Class — Johnson's 1890 Midland Railway J class 0-6-0 goods, built at Derby — Johnson's standard MR goods engine, hundreds built between 1875 and 1908 in successive batches with progressive enlargement.