Chief Mechanical Engineer - Locomotive Superintendent

Locomotive Superintendent

Initially, when a railway company chose to build its own rolling stock in house, the mechanical engineering aspect was regarded as a subsidiary function to that of the chief engineer and this was reflected in various job titles, such as chief of locomotive department, locomotive foreman and locomotive superintendent.

Later, there was a desire to improve the prestige, and salary, of the locomotive superintendent and a means of achieving those aims was to seek to regrade the post as chief mechanical engineer (CME). John Aspinall of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway was the first CME to be appointed to that post in 1886. A further six British railway companies created the post of CME between 1902 and 1914.