He worked for a short time as an engineer in flax mill, before becoming a
Public Works Department cadet. In 1875 he went to
Napier and in 1878 was promoted to Assistant Engineer. He left PWD in 1880 and worked on the
Kaihu railway. He became Resident Engineer of the
Longburn-
Waikanae section for the
Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company from 1882 under
Harry Higginson (with his brother
Arthur Fulton), and the WMR manager and locomotive superintendent from 1889. He resigned in 1897 after accepting responsibility for an incident when his unofficial special train to Plimmerton with an engine and a carriage for his family met a freight train head on; trains were not normally scheduled on a Sunday! He was the driver with another company official as fireman. In 1897 he re-entered private practice and worked on the
Wellington Cable Car, the original Kelburn Viaduct at Tinakori Gully, Ballance Bridge in the
Manawatū Gorge,
Ōtaki,
Ōhau,
Rangitīkei and Lower
Shotover (on the
Queenstown Trail) bridges. In 1906 he visited the US and Europe to study new engineering techniques, then built
Cambridge High Level Bridge, by the Fulton-Downer Gold Medal. == Personal life ==