Frederic Reid
Frederic Reid (1868-1932)
1932 Obituary [1]
FREDERIC REID had been mechanical superintendent of the South African Railways at Cape Town for nearly forty years at the time of his retirement in 1927.
He was born at Plympton, Devonshire, in 1868, and completed his technical education at the South African College, Cape Town. He served his apprenticeship at the works of the Cape Government Railway, Salt River, Cape Colony, and then returned to England for about eighteen months.
He was engaged as a draughtsman with Messrs. Dubs and Company of Glasgow, and later worked in the running sheds of the London and South Western Railway at Nine Elms.
In the latter part of 1891 Mr. Reid returned to South Africa, again to enter the service of the Cape Government Railway, first as draughtsman and subsequently as district locomotive superintendent and assistant locomotive superintendent at Cape Town. He was one of the few officials who remembered the 4 ft. 8.5 in. gauge on those railways, and who saw the third rail constituting that gauge removed in 1881.
Mr. Reid had been an Associate Member of the Institution since 1906.
His death occurred on 3rd August 1932 at Fish Hoek, Cape Town.