Born in Yorkshire, England,[3] he gained fame as the Chief Mechanical Engineer of the New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) between 1900 and 1913.
In April 1900, the Chief Mechanical Engineer, Thomas Forth Rotheram, left NZR to work for the Western Australian Government Railways and was succeeded by Beattie.
[6] When Beattie was appointed to the position, the title was "Locomotive Superintendent", but it was restyled as Chief Mechanical Engineer early in his term, between July 1901 and April 1902.
[8] Furthermore, although this new class was to haul the heaviest and fastest expresses, it was to burn low grade lignite coal from Canterbury and Otago.
Beattie created the initial design before passing it on to Chief Draughtsman G. A. Pearson to complete,[12] and when the first members of the A class entered service in 1906, they were considered to be the country's most handsome locomotives.