Samuel Spencer (Southern Railway)
Encyclopedia
Civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...
, businessman, and railroad executive. With an education interrupted by service in the Confederate
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
cavalry late in the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, he completed his education at the University of Georgia
University of Georgia
The University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...
and the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
.
Spencer spent his career with railroads, rising through the ranks during the busy growth years of American railroading in the late 19th century. He eventually became president of six railroads, and was a director of at least ten railroads and several banks and other companies.
Although his career was cut short when he was killed in a train wreck
Train wreck
A train wreck or train crash is a type of disaster involving one or more trains. Train wrecks often occur as a result of miscommunication, as when a moving train meets another train on the same track; or an accident, such as when a train wheel jumps off a track in a derailment; or when a boiler...
in Virginia in 1906, Samuel Spencer is best remembered as the Father of the Southern Railway System. Spencer, North Carolina
Spencer, North Carolina
Spencer is a town in Rowan County, North Carolina, United States, incorporated in 1905. As of the 2000 census, the town population was 3,355.-History:...
, site of the North Carolina Transportation Museum
North Carolina Transportation Museum
The North Carolina Transportation Museum is a transport museum in Spencer, North Carolina.The museum is largely devoted to the state's railroad history, however its collection also includes exhibits of automobiles and aircraft....
, was named in his honor.
Railroads
In 1869, he began working with railroads as a surveyor, and rose through the ranks, learning many aspects of railroad management. He became superintendent of the Long Island Rail RoadLong Island Rail Road
The Long Island Rail Road or LIRR is a commuter rail system serving the length of Long Island, New York. It is the busiest commuter railroad in North America, serving about 81.5 million passengers each year. Established in 1834 and having operated continuously since then, it is the oldest US...
in 1878 and headed the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was one of the oldest railroads in the United States and the first common carrier railroad. It came into being mostly because the city of Baltimore wanted to compete with the newly constructed Erie Canal and another canal being proposed by Pennsylvania, which...
(1887–1888).
In 1889, Spencer left the presidency of the B&O to become a railroad expert working for financier J.P. Morgan of Drexel, Morgan and Company
J.P. Morgan & Co.
J.P. Morgan & Co. was a commercial and investment banking institution based in the United States founded by J. Pierpont Morgan and commonly known as the House of Morgan or simply Morgan. Today, J.P...
. According to the New York Times, "there was no man in the country so thoroughly qualified on every detail of a railroad from the cost of a car brake to the estimate for a new terminal as Samuel Spencer."
When the bankrupt Richmond and Danville Railroad
Richmond and Danville Railroad
The Richmond and Danville Railroad was chartered in Virginia in the United States in 1847. The portion between Richmond and Danville, Virginia was completed in 1856...
(R&D) was acquired by Drexel, Morgan and Company in 1894, the new Southern Railway
Southern Railway (US)
The Southern Railway is a former United States railroad. It was the product of nearly 150 predecessor lines that were combined, reorganized and recombined beginning in the 1830s, formally becoming the Southern Railway in 1894...
was formed by the financiers from a consolidation of the R&D and the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railroad
East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railroad
The East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railroad was a rail transport system that operated in the southeastern United States during the late 19th century...
.
Tapped to lead the new railroad for Morgan, Spencer became its first president. Under his leadership, the mileage of the Southern Railway doubled, the number of passengers served annually increased to nearly 12 million, and annual earnings increased from $17 million to $54 million. After his death, the Southern grew to became one of the strongest and most profitable in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, merging with the also strong and profitable Norfolk and Western Railway
Norfolk and Western Railway
The Norfolk and Western Railway , a US class I railroad, was formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. It had headquarters in Roanoke, Virginia for most of its 150 year existence....
in the 1980s to form Norfolk Southern, a Fortune 500
Fortune 500
The Fortune 500 is an annual list compiled and published by Fortune magazine that ranks the top 500 U.S. closely held and public corporations as ranked by their gross revenue after adjustments made by Fortune to exclude the impact of excise taxes companies collect. The list includes publicly and...
company.
Death in railroad collision
Samuel Spencer's career was cut short when he was killed at the age of 59 in a train collision in VirginiaVirginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
on November 26, 1906. According to Southern Railway: Green Light to Innovation, Spencer and some companions were sleeping in car parked on a siding while on a hunting trip in Virginia south of Lynchburg. The parked car was struck by a train which was on the wrong track. After his death the employees of the Southern donated funds to produce and erect a statue in his honor. The statue was sculpted by noted sculptor Daniel Chester French who also did Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. The Spencer statue is now located in front of the Norfolk Southern Building at 1200 Peachtree St. Atlanta, GA.
Heritage
Spencer is credited with leading the Southern Railway and the South during a period of unprecedented growth. After his untimely death, 30,000 Southern Railway employees contributed to pay for a bronze statue of him by sculptorSculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
Daniel Chester French
Daniel Chester French
Daniel Chester French was an American sculptor. His best-known work is the sculpture of a seated Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.-Life and career:...
, which was dedicated in 1910 and stood for many years at Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
's Terminal Station. The statue is currently located in front of the Norfolk Southern Corporation building at 1200 Peachtree Street in midtown Atlanta.
The Southern Railway's Spencer Shops
Southern Railway's Spencer Shops
Southern Railway's Spencer Shops were a major steam locomotive repair facility between Atlanta and Washington, D.C. in Spencer, North Carolina. The service facility was once Southern Railway's largest steam locomotive repair center...
and the town of Spencer, North Carolina
Spencer, North Carolina
Spencer is a town in Rowan County, North Carolina, United States, incorporated in 1905. As of the 2000 census, the town population was 3,355.-History:...
were named in his honor. In 1977, the closed Spencer Shops formed the basis of the new North Carolina Transportation Museum
North Carolina Transportation Museum
The North Carolina Transportation Museum is a transport museum in Spencer, North Carolina.The museum is largely devoted to the state's railroad history, however its collection also includes exhibits of automobiles and aircraft....
.
Additional reading
- Southern Railway's Spencer Shops 1896-1996 by Duane Galloway and Jim Wrinn, TLC Publishing Inc
External links
- North Carolina Transportation Museum
- Southern Railway Historical Society
- Norfolk Southern company website
- Southern Railway Historical Association covers Southern Railway history
- Virginia Museum of Transportation located in Roanoke, VA
- Southern Railway Yahoo Group a Yahoo group for former employees, railfans and modelers of the Southern Railway
- Norfolk Southern Yahoo Group a Yahoo group for current happenings of Norfolk Southern Railway