John Dixon was born in 1796 and began his career as a bank clerk under Jonathan Backhouse, one of the promoters of the Stockton and Darlington Railway. He worked with George Stephenson surveying the route of the Stockton and Darlington Railway and then transferred to surveying the Canterbury and Whitstable Railway alongside Joseph Locke.

He also worked as an Engineer on the Whitehaven and Furness Junction Railway with George Stephenson and as an Engineer on the Wear Valley Railway. He was also Resident Engineer and then Locomotive Superintendent of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. In 1845 he returned to the Stockton and Darlington Railway where he became the Consulting Engineer. In 1850 he was a Director of the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway.

He died in 1865.