Frank Thomson was a railroad executive from the United States.
Background
Thomson was born on July 5, 1841 at Chambersburg, Franklin County, Pa. He was the son of Alexander and Jane (Graham) Thomson. His grandfather, Alexander Thomson, emigrated from Scotland in 1771 and established himself in the Cumberland Valley. His son, Frank's father, became a lawyer and took a prominent part in the political life of his day. He represented his district in Congress, 1824-26, and in 1828 was chosen judge of the Sixteenth Judicial District of Pennsylvania. He was also professor of jurisprudence in the law school of Marshall College, the school at that time being located at Chambersburg.
Education
Frank Thomson entered Chambersburg Academy at an early age, but left at seventeen, putting an end to his formal schooling.
Career
He chose railroading as his career at the suggestion of Thomas A. Scott, who was at that time general superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. His first appointment was that of machinist's apprentice in the Altoona shops. The Pennsylvania, through the purchase of the state works, had acquired a variety of equipment which had been in service on the Philadelphia & Columbia and the Portage railroads, and there was need of a plan, adapted to the conditions of a modern standardized railroad, that would unify the construction and repair of locomotives. To this problem Thomson gave his principal attention during the early part of his service.
He was also occupied with appliances for the burning of coal, both anthracite and bituminous, on locomotives, with car lighting, improvements in braking devices, and similar mechanical problems concerned with improved efficiency in transportation. The Pennsylvania road, under the influence of Scott and others, was taking a progressive attitude toward the introduction of better appliances in all processes of transportation and the Altoona shops provided Thomson with a schooling in applied mechanics which for that period was unequaled.
When, at the outbreak of the Civil War, Vice-President Scott was called to Washington and made assistant secretary of war in charge of military transportation, he took Thomson, then twenty years of age, as one of his assistants. For three years he was engaged in restoring and keeping open service interrupted by the enemy, and in building new lines of railroad and telegraph for the rapid transfer of troops.
In the year 1864 he returned to the Pennsylvania as superintendent of the eastern division of the Philadelphia & Erie, which had recently come under Pennsylvania control. For a short period he managed the Oil Creek Railroad during the oil excitement in 1866. In 1873 he became superintendent of motive power and in 1874 was made general manager of the entire system east of Pittsburgh and Erie. In 1882 he was made second vice-president, in 1888 first vice-president, and on February 3, 1897, he became president.
In his capacity as superintendent of motive power and rolling stock, he devoted his attention to the work of practical railroad construction and also laid the foundations of the system that has since produced the standard Pennsylvania engines. Later, as general manager east of Pittsburgh, he introduced many advanced methods of roadway maintenance, particularly methods for the establishment of solid roadway and standard track and systems of track inspection. He introduced superior standards of equipment, planned picturesque stations and ornamental grounds, and was largely instrumental in the establishment of block-signal systems and other operating improvements. He was also responsible for introducing the high grade of discipline which has since prevailed. In his capacity as second and first vice-president, as a direct representative of the president, he was in position to make effective the reforms that he had earlier instituted.
Although his entire business life was passed in the service of the Pennsylvania Railroad, his career as president which followed closely on the panic of 1893 and was uneventful, lasted only two years and four months.
Thomson died in Merion, Pa.
Achievements
Membership
He was a member of the Philadelphia Club,
Connections
He was married on June 5, 1866, to Mary Elizabeth, daughter of Benjamin Clarke. He was survived by three children.