J(ohn) Edgar Thomson - Childhood, early experience, Developing Georgia's railroads, Pennsylvania Railroad

Engineer and railroad president, born in Springfield Township, Pennsylvania, USA. He learned engineering from his father, started with the Pennsylvania Engineer Corps, and by 1830 was in charge of an engineering division. After studying advanced transportation in Europe, he became chief engineer of the Georgia Railroad (1832). In 1847 he joined the newly incorporated Pennsylvania Railroad to locate the tracks through the Allegheny Mts, a feat that opened a route from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh by 1854. President of the railroad (1852–74), he bought the state's system of canals and rails (1857) and acquired other railroads that extended the Pennsylvania Railroad to Chicago. He was also instrumental in the creation of the American Steamship Co (1870). Active in Philadelphia civic affairs, he established a foundation, supported by his estate, called the St John's Orphanage, to educate and maintain the daughters of railroad men killed while on duty.

John Edgar Thomson (February 10, 1808 – May 27, 1874) was an American civil engineer, railroad executive and industrialist.

Childhood, early experience

Born in Springfield, Delaware County, PA near Philadelphia, he began his railroad career at age 19 as a rodman working in a survey crew locating the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad.

Developing Georgia's railroads

At the age of 26 in 1834, he became the chief engineer of the newly chartered Georgia Railroad. Thomson later bought control of the Montgomery and West Point Railroad and helped finance and locate the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad.

Pennsylvania Railroad

After the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) was formed in 1846, it entered into an operating arrangement with the state-owned Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad, the road Thomson had first worked on. Thomson was named chief engineer of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and went to work locating the railway from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh.

Thomson's major projects included completing the road across the Allegheny Mountains, double tracking its main line, the railroad's conversion from wood to coal as a fuel for its steam locomotives, and reorganizing the company's management structure.

After the American Civil War, Thomson led the PRR on an unprecedented expansion program, controlling over 6,000 miles (9,656 km) of railroad by 1873. Thomson also invested in transcontinental railroad lines, coal companies, iron and steel works, lumber operations, and land companies.