R. J. Billinton

Robert John Billinton (5 April 1844 – 7 November 1904) was the Locomotive, Carriage, Wagon and Marine Superintendent of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway from 1890 until his death.

He was born in Wakefield either on 5 April 1844 or on 5 April 1845, the son of a railway contractor and apprenticed to William Fairbairn & Sons of Manchester in 1859. In 1863 he moved to Simpson & Co. Engineers of Pimlico London, and soon afterwards to the Calderdale Iron Works. From 1865 to 1866 he worked with Roland Child mining and civil engineers of Wakefield. He then became assistant works manager to Munro, Walker and Easton of Sheffield where he was responsible for the design and building of locomotives and stationary engines. In 1870 Robert Billinton 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 the following month. He 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. He also designed 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.

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