The locomotives of the former East Lancashire Railway were repaired at Bury, and were also the responsibility of two men: John Jacques, who was appointed outdoor superintendent on 24 April 1865, and George Roberts, who had been appointed indoor superintendent following the death of R. Mason on 15 October 1873. Hurst was due to retire in 1875, and the LYR board decided to replace all four men by a single locomotive superintendent, and the post was advertised in August 1875. A short-list of six names was chosen, and interviewed on 27 October 1875. This reduced the six names to two: Alexander McDonnell, of the Great Southern and Western Railway in Ireland, and William Barton Wright, who had been working for the Madras Railway in India. Barton Wright was appointed chief locomotive superintendent from 1 November 1875, and the following day, Yates, Hurst, Jacques and Roberts were brought in and told that they would now report to Barton Wright. Hurst retired, whilst Yates and Roberts became works managers, at Miles Platting and Bury respectively. Jacques was given the opportunity to resign with six months salary. Whilst Barton Wright was at Miles Platting, he designed five new classes of locomotive: an 0-6-0 for goods work, very similar to some being built for the Taff Vale Railway (the Taff Vale Railway L class), was introduced in 1876; an 0-4-4T for local passenger services in 1877; a 4-4-0 for express passenger trains in 1880; and two types of 0-6-2T – one in 1880 with coupled wheels for goods and the second in 1881 with coupled wheels for local passenger services. Two of these, the 4-4-0 and the 0-6-0, were perpetuated by his successor, John Aspinall, with small modifications. The demands of the locomotive maintenance schedule together with the restricted capacity at both Miles Platting and Bury meant that most of the new locomotives had to be bought from outside firms, and these included some that were not of Barton Wright's own design. In 1876, Sharp, Stewart & Co. were building a batch of thirty 0-4-2 locomotives for the Great Northern Railway (GNR), to the design of Patrick Stirling, the GNR locomotive superintendent; but after twelve had been delivered to the GNR, the next eight were sold (with the permission of the GNR) directly to the LYR instead, where they became the 605 class; and Sharp, Stewart subsequently supplied the GNR with the last ten of their original order, plus a further eight to make up the shortfall.