Although later exonerated, Robinson never returned to the school nor fulfilled his father's expectation to follow his example (and that of his cousin Richard C.L. Moncure) and become an attorney. He then studied drafting in New York, and visited the Erie Canal then under construction. Aware that similar canal building was contemplated in Virginia, Robinson applied for a position with the Board of Public Works to survey a route from Richmond to the Ohio River. Although denied a job because of his youth, the enthusiastic 16 year old Robinson was allowed to accompany the surveyors as a volunteer. He returned to Virginia to work as an engineer's assistant with the James River Company, where he apprenticed on survey work for canals in his native state of Virginia before continuing his education in Europe, where he witnessed and learned from some of the world's first railroad operations. Three years later, the Virginia Board of Public Works hired him to assist in locating an extension for the James River Canal. Robinson traveled to New York to view the construction of the Erie Canal, over a less hilly route than contemplated in Virginia. That visit convinced him of the advantages of railroads over canals as a means of transportation and an aid to commerce. His report to the Virginia Board of Public Works disputed the benefits of further canal development, and praised railroads in its place. The Board did not view the report enthusiastically. He resigned his position and, at that moment, became devoted to the development of railroads. Robinson then traveled to Europe and further studied civil engineering at the Ecole des Ponts et Chaussees, Sorbonne, in Paris from 1825 to 1827. Touring Europe, Robinson and studied canal, harbor, bridge and railroad engineering in England, the Netherlands, France and Italy. In 1828-1829, Pennsylvania hired Robinson to survey parts of the state's anthracite coal regions, the upper Susquehanna River canal system, and the Danville and Pottsville Railroad (D & P) connecting the upper Susquehanna and Schuylkill rivers' canal systems with the coal fields in between. Moncure Robinson remained an early advocate of railroads over canals, and came to direct construction of several of the earliest railroads in the country, including parts of the D & P railroad and inclines during the early 1830s. Robinson also surveyed lines in the Mahanoy and Shamokin coal lands, eventually acquiring a part of the lands. He was civil engineer for the Little Schuylkill Railroad, 1830-1831, and for what would become the Catawissa Railroad in the anthracite country (all later part of the Reading).