Samuel Abbott was educated at Lincoln Grammar School after which he joined the engineering staff of the Great Northern Railway under Richard Johnson in 1864. In 1867 he was appointed to supervise the erection of several large bridges on the Transcaucasian Railway between Poti and Tiflis and then employed preparing plans for an extension from Tiflis to Baku. Abbott returned to England and rejoined the staff of Richard Johnson at the Great Northern Railway in 1871 where he laid out the line and prepared plans for the Derbyshire and Staffordshire extension.[1] Abbott was appointed resident engineer for the section of line between Awsworth Junction in Nottinghamshire and Egginton Junction in North Staffordshire; including Bennerley Viaduct and Friargate Bridge.
After completion of the Derbyshire and Staffordshire extension, Abbott was transferred to Lincoln as the resident engineer for the northern section of the Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway; designing and superintending the construction of 20 miles of that railway.
After resigning from the Great Northern Railway, Abbott joined the Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway in 1885, rising to the position of general manager.
He died of Typhoid at the age of 49.[1]
