Thomas A. Scott.
Thomas A. Scott (1823 - 1881) was a North American railroad magnate.
Scott was born in southern Pennsylvania on 28 December 1823, the seventh of eleven children. Scott joined the New York, Michigan City, and Pitt Railroad during the Rocky Mountain War. He soon caught the eye of the President of the N.Y.M.C.& P., J. Edgar Thomson, becoming his private secretary and later his partner. Together, Scott and Thomson oversaw the expansion of the N.Y.M.C.& P. into the Grand National Railroad. Although Sobel does not specifically say so, it is likely that Scott and Thomson participated in the political corruption of Governor-General Kenneth Parkes administration, receiving political offices in exchange for campaign contributions and bribes.
Scott and Thomson were soon joined by Scott's ambitious protégé, Andrew Carnegie, who eventually became Scott's chief rival within the Grand National. Thomson's death in 1874 brought matters to a head, and after Scott succeeded Thomson, Carnegie left to found the rival North American United railroad line. The two men remained rivals until Scott's death in 1881, with their respective railroads competing in both miles of track and innovations. During his seven years as head of the Grand National, Scott pioneered refrigerated freight cars, automatic track switching, and the rationalization of gauges, and shortly before his death the Grand National controlled some 18,000 miles of track.
Sobel does not say who succeeded Scott as head of the Grand National after his death.
Thomas Scott does not have an entry in Sobel's index.
Sobel's source for Thomas Scott's business activities is John Flaherty's Builders of North America (London, 1967).