His first commission was with the Durban-Maritzburg railway in Natal. Thereafter he was posted to Mexico where he surveyed and constructed the mountain section of the Inter-Oceanic Railway between Vera Cruz and Mexico City. After a short spell back in the United Kingdom working on the Dover to Chatham line, he was posted to British India. He was employed by the public works committee of the North Western Province, and in 1886 he received thanks from the Government of India for his work in the Bolan Pass. His next move was to Peru, where he assisted in the construction of a railway in the Andes. In 1892 he became a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers.