Thomas Haig Paul (March 10, 1820 – May 15, 1890) was a

locomotive A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the Power (physics), motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, Motor coach (rail), motor ...

manufacturer Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a ran ...

Frostburg, Maryland Frostburg is a city in Allegany County, Maryland, United States, and is at the head of the Georges Creek Valley. It is part of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. Located west of Cumberland, the town is one of the first cities ...

. He is credited with building the first

narrow-gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structur ...

locomotive in the United States in 1864.

Biography

He was born as one of nine children to Agnes (''née'' Haig) and Alexander Paul in New York City. His parents and two older siblings had come to the United States from Scotland in 1818. The family soon moved to

Paterson, New Jersey Paterson ( ) is the largest City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Mount Savage, Maryland Mount Savage is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Allegany County, Maryland, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 873. A small blue-collar community, Mount Savage lies at the base of Big Sava ...

, shop of the

Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad The Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad (C&P) was an American railroad which operated in Western Maryland. Primarily a coal hauler, it was owned by the Consolidation Coal Company, and was purchased by the Western Maryland Railway (WM) in 1944. ...

from 1854 to 1855. Paul married Marian M. Neff (May 31, 1834 – May 15, 1890), daughter of Joanna (''née'' Small) and John Neff, in Reading, Pennsylvania, on November 7, 1854. The couple had two children, John Thomas Haig Paul (January 30, 1856) and Ella Marian Paul (April 23, 1857). Ella married, on April 8, 1885, Howard Hitchins, son of Adam E. Hitchins (co-founder of Hitchins Brothers Company, along with his brother Owen, a mercantile company in Frostburg). Thomas H. Paul and Son Iron Works opened in 1855 to build mining cars and mining machinery. The "son" was John Thomas Haig Paul. Paul built a narrow gauge (three feet) locomotive weighing eight tons for the Franklin Coal Company in 1871. With the

Depression of 1882–85 Depression may refer to: Mental health * Depression (mood), a state of low mood and aversion to activity * Mood disorders characterized by depression are commonly referred to as simply ''depression'', including: ** Dysthymia, also known as pers ...

, the company ran into financial trouble in early 1883. The company moved from Allegany County to

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

in February 1883. At the time, the company owed Betts Machine Company approximately

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5,000. Betts, falling into financial troubles of their own because of the depression, filed a lawsuit against Thomas H. Paul & Sons (including principals Thomas H. Paul and John T. H. Paul) to collect the money owed to them. Betts also accused Paul of transferring assets in order to hide them from creditors and to avoid being served legal papers. On May 10, 1884, the foundry in Frostburg was sold by the Allegany County sheriff's department. In June 1889, Paul traveled to

Trinidad, Colorado Trinidad is the home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Las Animas County, Colorado, United States. The population was 8,329 as of the 2020 census. Trinidad lies north of Raton, New Mexico, and s ...

, to see about either opening a branch foundry there or moving the company entirely. Instead, a branch foundry was constructed in

Sioux City, Iowa Sioux City () is a city in Woodbury and Plymouth counties in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,797 in the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Iowa. The bulk of the city is in Woodbury County, ...

, in August 1889. The property for the foundry and residence of the Paul family was sold in February 1898. He received a patent, number 330,261, for a Planer-Chuck, to plane the edges on locomotive links, on November 10, 1885, and then number 463,282, for a "Gas Stove and Radiator" on November 17, 1891. Paul and his son obtained a patent (filed December 12, 1893), number 530,237, for a gas engine on December 4, 1894. The patent was unique in the use of rocker arms and intake and exhaust values, providing a simpler value-control mechanism. Marian M. Paul died of

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in Frostburg on May 15, 1890, at the age of 55. Paul's son, John Thomas Haig Paul, died in Chicago, Illinois, on March 4, 1929.

References

Stakem, Patrick H. ''T. H. Paul & J. A. Millhollland: Master Locomotive Builders of Western Maryland'', 2011, PRRB Publishing, ASIN B004LGT00U. {{DEFAULTSORT:Paul, Thomas Defunct locomotive manufacturers of the United States 1820 births People from Frostburg, Maryland Locomotive builders and designers American railroad mechanical engineers American railroad pioneers 1890 deaths People from Mount Savage, Maryland