physics

Samuel Waite Johnson

Samuel Waite Johnson is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Samuel Waite Johnson rather than just read about it. In short: Samuel Waite Johnson (14 October 1831 – 14 January 1912) was an English railway engineer, and was Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the Midland Railway from 1873 to 1903. He was born in Bramley, Yorkshire and educated at Leeds Grammar School.

Key takeaways

Samuel Waite Johnson belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Samuel Waite Johnson to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Samuel Waite Johnson from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Samuel Waite Johnson (14 October 1831 – 14 January 1912) was an English railway engineer, and was Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the Midland Railway from 1873 to 1903. He was born in Bramley, Yorkshire and educated at Leeds Grammar School.

Career Johnson learned to become an engineer at the locomotive builders E.B.Wilson and Company. In 1859 Johnson became Acting Locomotive Superintendent at the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway. In 1864 he was appointed Locomotive Superintendent of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway. In 1866, after only two years in Scotland he replaced Robert Sinclair of the Great Eastern Railway (GER) at Stratford Works. There he stayed for seven years until moving to the Midland Railway (MR) at Derby, where he stayed until his retirement in 1904. At the time of appointment to the Midland Railway on 1 July 1873, he was paid a salary of £2,000 per year (equivalent to £188,000 in 2025), rising to £3,500 in 1896 (equivalent to £402,600 in 2025) where it remained until his retirement on 31 December 1903.

Locomotive designs

Great Eastern Railway See: Locomotives of the Great Eastern Railway

Midland Railway See: Locomotives of the Midland Railway

115 and 2601 classes of 4-2-2 Spinners Class 4 compound 4-4-0 179 class 483 class 1116A class 0-4-0ST 1377 class 0-6-0T 1738 class 6 class 0-4-4T (1875) 1252 class 0-4-4T (1875–76) 1532 class 0-4-4T (1881–86) 1823 class 0-4-4T (1889–93) 2228 class 0-4-4T (1895–1900) 2441 class 0-6-0T Class 2 & 3 goods engines 0-6-0 2501 class – 30 2-6-0 locomotives built at the Baldwin Locomotive Works, USA 2511 class – 10 2-6-0 locomotives built at the Schenectady Locomotive Works, USA

Family In 1857, Johnson married Emily Priestman in Chipping Ongar, Essex. By 1871 they had had four daughters and one son and were living in Hackney. By 1891 they were living in Nottingham. Emily died prior to 1911. S. W. Johnson's father, James Johnson, worked for the Great Northern Railway (GNR) for sixteen years before becoming engineer of the North Staffordshire Railway (NSR). S. W. Johnson's son, also James Johnson, was locomotive superintendent of the Great North of Scotland Railway (GNSR) from 1890 to 1894.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Samuel Waite Johnson

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Samuel Waite Johnson claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Samuel Waite Johnson before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Samuel Waite Johnson ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Samuel Waite Johnson

In research: Samuel Waite Johnson appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Samuel Waite Johnson in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Samuel Waite Johnson is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1831 births, 1912 deaths, English mechanical engineers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Samuel Waite Johnson outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Samuel Waite Johnson in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Samuel Waite Johnson means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Samuel Waite Johnson out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Samuel Waite Johnson in simple terms?

Why does Samuel Waite Johnson matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Samuel Waite Johnson?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Samuel Waite Johnson.