 He was appointed assistant general manager of the Midland Railway (MR) in 1905 and became its general manager the following year, on the resignation of John Mathieson.This was very unusual at that time, when managers almost always rose through the ranks of railway operators.Over the ensuing eight years his organizational skills, and the analytic brain of his appointee as general superintendent, Cecil Paget, effected a revolution in the company's ability to handle its heavy freight traffic expeditiously and profitably.