Alfred Dalton was born in Cork, Ireland, in 1892. When he was 17, he joined the Southern and Great Western Railway in Cork; he was transferred to the Traffic Department at the Head Office in Dublin when he was 19.

During World War I, Dalton served with the Royal Dublin Fusiliers. He had joined up as a private but was commissioned on the field and was among the last to be evacuated at the end of the Gallipoli Campaign. He later transferred to the Royal Engineers to be in charge of running the 10th Light Railway Operating Company, which took ammunition up to the front in the Somme sector. His commanding officer was Colonel Maxwell.

On demobilisation in 1919, he returned for a short period to the Southern and Great Western but, in 1920, after considering a career with South American railway companies, he decided to join his former commanding officer, Colonel Maxwell, who had been appointed General Manager of the railway system in the new British-mandate territory of Tanganyika (Tanzania). His first few months were spent as Personal Assistant to Colonel Maxwell but he then became Assistant Traffic Superintendent, reaching District rank in 1930, and becoming Traffic Manager in 1935. That year, he transferred to the Kenya and Uganda Railways and Harbours Administration as Assistant Superintendent of the Line. He became Superintendent of the Line in 1938. During the early part of the war, he was offered, and accepted, the position of General Manager of the Tanganyika Railways, but owing to the exigencies of wartime the Kenya Government was unable to release him. Partly because of this, in May 1942, he was made Deputy General Manager of the Kenya and Uganda Railways and Harbours Administration while also retaining his previous post. That same year, in recognition of his services in the efficient movement of troops and equipment in the early stages of the war against Italy, Dalton was awarded the CBE.

In 1948, Dalton was Acting General Manager and then, on the amalgamation of the Kenya and Uganda Railways and Harbours with the Tanganyika Railways and Ports Service, he became General Manager of the East African Railways and Harbours Administration. He retired in 1953, declining the honour of a CMG. In retirement, Dalton chaired the Maize and Produce Control Board and also served on the East African High Commission Appointments Board.

In 1922, Dalton married Editha Hogan (who died in 1961) and they had two daughters, now Mrs Grant and Mrs Tomalin. He died in Oct 1984.