[5][6] Barton Wright became an apprentice at the Swindon Works of the Great Western Railway (GWR) at the age of 17, under Daniel Gooch, who was related through his paternal aunt.
[8] In October 1854, he was appointed the first locomotive, carriage and wagon superintendent of the Madras Railway, taking up his post at the Perambur Loco Works in March 1855.
Locomotives supplied to the Madras Railway during this period were to the specification of John Hawkshaw; mostly 2-4-0 for passenger trains, 0-4-2 for mixed traffic, and 0-6-0 for goods.
[11] Hurst was due to retire in 1875, and the LYR board decided to replace all four men by a single locomotive superintendent, and the post was advertised in August 1875.
[25] Space was still tight, and there was no room to expand the works any further, since the surrounding area was fully occupied with other buildings, including houses.
Ramsbottom gave his advice to the LYR Board on 19 March 1884, and it was decided to build a new locomotive works in open country, where expansion would be easier.
Various potential sites were examined by Ramsbottom and Barton Wright, and at a meeting on 21 May, they were informed by Elias Dorning, the LYR land agent, of an estate of 350 acres (140 ha) at Horwich.
[26][27] But before Horwich Works was ready to begin construction and repair of locomotives, Barton Wright tendered his resignation on 23 June 1886.
[32] After retirement from Lancashire and Yorkshire railway, Barton Wright entered private practice as an engineer in London, and became a director of the Assam Railways and Trading Co.[33] He acquired interests in tea plantations, including the Balmadies and Bitherookardu estates[34] near Gudalur in the Nilgiri Hills in Southern India in the 1880s, later managed by his sons.
His third son Edward William Barton-Wright was a pioneering promoter of Asian martial arts in the Western world: see Bartitsu.
His sister, Lydia, married Sir Molyneux Nepean, 2nd Baronet, of Mapperton House, of Loder’s Court, of Bothenhampton, Dorset, and of Lee Hall, Northumberland.
It spent the latter part of its life as one of the works shunters at Horwich, and like other locomotives used there, was transferred to service stock and never given a BR number.