Samuel Waite Johnson

Johnson learned to become an engineer at the locomotive builders E.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 (MR) at Derby, where he stayed 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 (equivalent to £178,500 in 2019),[3] rising to £3,500 in 1896 (equivalent to £408,000 in 2019)[3] where it remained until his retirement on 31 December 1903.[4]

In 1857, Johnson married Emily Priestman in Chipping Ongar, Essex. By 1871 they had had four daughters and one son and were living in Hackney. By 1891 they were living in Nottingham. Emily died prior to 1911.

S. W. Johnson's father, James Johnson, worked for the Great Northern Railway (GNR) for sixteen years before becoming engineer of the North Staffordshire Railway (NSR).[5] S. W. Johnson's son, also James Johnson, was locomotive superintendent of the Great North of Scotland Railway (GNSR) from 1890 to 1894.[6]