R. J. Billinton

Robert John Billinton was the Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Superintendent of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway from 1890 until his death in 1904.

He was born in Wakefield in April 1845, the son of a locomotive contractor and apprenticed to William Fairbairn and Sons of Manchester in 1859. In 1863 he moved to Simpson & Co. Engineers of Pimlico London. In 1870 he was appointed assistant to William Stroudley at the Brighton Works of the LB&SCR. In 1874 he moved to become the assistant of Samuel W. Johnson of the Midland Railway, at Derby. Following Stroudley's death in December 1889, Billinton was appointed as his successor.

Billinton was responsible for the design of a number of successful locomotive classes at Brighton including the D (later D3) class 0-4-4T, the C2 class 0-6-0, the B4 4-4-0, and four classes of radial tank engines E3, E4, E5 and E6. Many of his locomotives were rebuilt with larger boilers by his successor D. E. Marsh.

His son, Lawson B. Billinton (1882-1954) was also the Locomotive Engineer to the LB&SCR from 1912 until his retirement in 1922

ources

*Bradley, D.L. (1972) "The locomotives of the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway: Part 2", The Railway Correspondence and Travel Society, ISBN 0-901115-21-5
*Bradley, D.L. (1974) "The locomotives of the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway: Part 3", The Railway Correspondence and Travel Society, ISBN 0-901115-26 6
*Marshall, John (1978) "A biographical dictionary of railway engineers", David & Charles, ISBN 0-7153-7489-3