Pennsylvania Railroad Company. Executive Dept. Office of Vice President Samuel Rea.

Samuel Rea, the third great engineer-president of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, was born in Hollidaysburg, Pa., on September 21, 1855. He began working for the PRR as a chainman in 1871, later served as assistant engineer on several branch lines in western Pennsylvania, and became principal assistant engineer of construction in 1884. On August 1, 1889, Rea resigned to become chief engineer of the Baltimore Belt Railroad, which joined two previously disconnected sections of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in that city. As a result, Rea developed considerable expertise both in urban tunnelling and mainline electrification. It was this experience that brought his recall to the PRR by President Roberts in 1892 and his assignment to study the Underground and railroad terminals in London as a model for future PRR improvements in Philadelphia.

With the death of his patron, J. N. DuBarry, in 1892, Rea succeeded him in the direction of all new construction work. He was elevated successively to fourth vice president (1899), third vice president (1905), second vice president (1909) and first vice president (1911). When numerical designations were dropped in 1912, Rea became Vice President (executive) and was elected to the presidency on January 1, 1913. He retired under the rules of the Pension Department on October 1, 1925, but he remained on the board of directors until his death on March 24, 1929.

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