Initially he worked in Boston in Lincolnshire as a civil engineer with his father William Lewin, who was an assistant to John Rennie the Elder.

His should not be confused with his son, Stephen Samuel Lewin (c. 1848 – 1909), a successful artist who specialised in historical works often featuring cavaliers and figures in 17th-century costumes.

After working with his civil engineer father, Lewin then set up an architectural practice in Boston and at the same time published a notable series of engravings of Medieval churches in the Parts of Holland in Lincolnshire.

The above dates are a result of new research by the curator currently charged with restoring the locomotive to working order (as a saddle tank) and can be verified against assumptions made in some established texts.

Withdrawn from service circa 1969/70, the locomotive was condemned as a working engine, later being transferred to the collection at Beamish (The North of England Open Air Museum).