John Whitton was appointed Engineer-in-Charge for the New South Wales Railways, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, in January 1867. Over the next 32 years he completed 2811 miles of railway around NSW and Victoria. He is notable, in particular, for building the railway over the Blue Mountains, in particular the Great Zig Zag

Zig Zag Railway

The Zig Zag Railway is a heritage railway at Lithgow in New South Wales, Australia on the site of the famous Great or Lithgow Zig Zag which operated between 1869 and 1910. As built, the line formed part of the Main West line from Sydney across the Blue Mountains and served to lower the line from...

 near Lithgow

Lithgow, New South Wales

Lithgow is a city in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia and is the centre of the local political division City of Lithgow. It is located in a mountain valley named Lithgow's Valley by John Oxley in honour of William Lithgow, the first Auditor-General of New South Wales.Lithgow is...

, and much of the Great Southern Line. There is a memorial to him on the Lapstone Zig Zag

Lapstone Zig Zag

The Lapstone Zig Zag was a ##Zig Zag #railway#|zig zag railway## built near ##Lapstone, New South Wales|Lapstone## on the ##Main Western railway line, New South Wales|Great Western Railway## of ##New South Wales## in ##Australia## between 1863 and 1865, to overcome an otherwise insurmountable climb...

 walking trail commemorating his substantial seven-span, sandstone, Knapsack Viaduct at Lapstone

Lapstone, New South Wales

Lapstone is a small village on the eastern escarpment of the Blue Mountains in New South Wales, Australia. Lapstone is located 62 kilometres west of Sydney in the local government area of the City of Blue Mountains and is part of the federal electorate of Macquarie. The village consists mostly of...

.

Namesakes

The railway town of Whitton, New South Wales

Whitton, New South Wales

Whitton is a small town located in Leeton Shire in the Australian state of New South Wales. Founded in 1850, it is named after John Whitton , Engineer-in-Charge of the New South Wales Government Railways. The railway reached Whitton in 1881...

 and the John Whitton Bridge in Meadowbank, New South Wales

Meadowbank, New South Wales

Meadowbank is a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Meadowbank is located 15 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Ryde and part of the Northern Suburbs area...

 are named after him. It stands next to an earlier iron lattice railway bridge that was constructed under his direction along with eleven others in New South Wales.

Cheaper constructions

Whitton resisted as best that he could suggestions by politicians to build cheaper, such as horse drawn lines with wooden rails, or narrow gauge. Such changes would only save capital costs by increasing operating costs. Once the three main lines to the West, South and Northwest were built and reached easier terrain, Whitton did however introduce so-called pioneer lines which were built to lower standards. It helped that these lines were in generally easier terrain than the three main lines.

Descendants

His descendants now live in throughout the A.C.T.

Australian Capital Territory

The Australian Capital Territory, often abbreviated ACT, is the capital territory of the Commonwealth of Australia and is the smallest self-governing internal territory...

and New South Wales and Tasmania.