Marsh resigned his post on 1 July 1911. The LBSCR's board of directors initially approached Robert Urie of the London and South Western Railway to be Marsh's successor, but he declined. Instead Billinton was appointed Locomotive Engineer from 1 January 1912 with a starting salary of £1,500 per annum, "with management and control of engine construction and repair shops at Brighton and other locomotive depots, and of the work and business to be carried out and done therein." Marsh had been in charge of all the LBSCR's rolling stock, but the board of directors now created a Carriage and Wagon Department at Lancing to be run independently of Billinton's department, to reduce the workload of the Locomotive Engineer. Both Billinton and A. H. Panter, head of the Lancing carriage department, were now required to submit all their proposals for new construction to the LBSCR Locomotive Committee, and proposals for alterations of existing stock to the Superintendent of the Line and the general manager.