John Gray (locomotive engineer)

[1] John Gray was born 29 August 1810 in Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, England.

[2] In 1838 he was working for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway where he was the first engineer to use the balanced slide valve on locomotives, and later applied a form of expansion gear.

In 1845 he was appointed locomotive superintendent of the Croydon Dover and Brighton Joint Committee, which then operated the pooled locomotive fleets of the London and Croydon Railway, the South Eastern Railway and the London and Brighton Railway.

On the dissolution of this committee and the formation of the London Brighton and South Coast Railway in 1846 Gray was appointed Locomotive Superintendent at Brighton works.

However in 1847 he was dismissed from this post as a result of problems over the late delivery of locomotives from Timothy Hackworth.