John Farquharson McIntosh (1846-1918) was a Scottish engineer. He was Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Caledonian Railway from 1895 to 1914. He was succeeded by William Pickersgill.

Early life

Born in Farnell, Angus, Scotland, in February 1846, MacIntosh would be famous for working at St. Rollox railway works, in Springburn, in Glasgow.

Career

John F. McIntosh became an apprentice with the Scottish North Eastern Railway, at the Arbroath workshops, at the age of 14. In 1865 he passed out as a fireman and in 1867 he qualified as a driver and moved to Montrose. By this time he was employed by the Caledonian Railway (CR) which had taken over the SNER in 1866. He lost his right hand in an accident in 1876 or 1877. At about the same time he became Locomotive Inspector for the northern section of the CR. He was later given responsibility for all locations north of Greenhill. By 1881 he was living in Perth. Several appointments followed – Locomotive Foreman at Aberdeen, Carstairs and Polmadie (Glasgow); Chief Inspector; Locomotive Running Superintendent and deputy to John Lambie. Lambie died suddenly on 1 February 1895 and McIntosh replaced him as Chief Mechanical Engineer.

Locomotive designs

McIntosh's most famous design is the Dunalastair Class 4-4-0. Other designs include: Two McIntosh locomotives are preserved:

Patents

He obtained patents for a spark arrestor and a gauge glass protector.

Family

He married Jeanie Fleming Logan, a close relative to author Ian Fleming, and they had 3 sons and 4 daughters.

Death

McIntosh died suddenly while working at St. Rollox railway works, on 6 February 1918, 22 days before his 72nd birthday. The cause of death was never confirmed.