He is best known for a series of simple but competent locomotives produced under his direction at the company's Ashford railway works in the early years of the twentieth century.
Until new standard designs could be prepared, which would be acceptable on both the SER and LCDR sections of the SECR, it was necessary to fulfil immediate locomotive requirements in other ways.
[7] Five 4-4-0 express passenger engines of Stirling's B class, which had been introduced on the SER in 1898, were built at Ashford in June and July 1899.
In almost all cases, the actual design work was supervised by Surtees, with Wainwright specifying broad requirements and also deciding the finish and livery.
[19][20] The H class of 0-4-4T suburban passenger engines comprised 64 locomotives built at Ashford between 1904 and 1909, with a final two completed in 1915 after Wainwright's retirement.
12 came from Beyer, Peacock & Co., whilst the other ten were built in Berlin by A. Borsig; these were delivered before the outbreak of war on 3 August 1914, but were not paid for until May 1920.