Frederick Smith Stanton

Frederick Smith Stanton (1832-1892) Major General R.E.

Director General of Indian Railways from 1882 to 1887

Railway Achievements

• 1860-62; State Railways appointed as Deputy Consulting Engineer, his duties being to act as Assistant to the Government Inspecting Officer, who exercised control over the company constructing the railway, under contract, with Government guarantee.
• 1864; Executive Engineer in the Darjeeling Division, during which charge he was detached on military duty with the Dooar Field Force.
• 1867-68; State Railways joined the railway department again, appointed as Consulting Engineer and Joint Secretary in the Railway Department of the Bengal Government
• 1868-69; State Railways transferred to Oudh, where he performed similar duties under the Chief Commissioner of that Province, and in 1869 the Railway Department of the North-West Provinces was added to his charge.
• 1871; Rajputana State Railway Superintending Engineer of construction of one portion of the railway from Delhi to Rewari and Bandakui, with a branch to Farakhnagar.
• 1872; He was gazetted Major on the 5th of July of the following year.
• 1873; Tirhoot State Railway with the famine in Behar and Tirhoot of 1873-74 he was sent on emergency duty to construct a short line of 63 miles from the River Ganges to Durbhunga in Tirhoot, which he opened for traffic in fifty-three days. The construction of this temporary line, which was carried out at the rate of a mile a day, was, in the words of Sir Richard Temple, then Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, "an extraordinary achievement in respect of speed. To carry the line over a country intersected by three considerable streams; to make it strong enough to carry 2,000 tons in a day; to open it within the prescribed time, demanded primarily an indefatigable energy, but also professional skill and administrative ability. All these qualities were displayed by Major F. S. Stanton, R.E., the Engineer-in-Chief. Having made this line, he worked its heavy traffic with the same efficiency."
• 1874; Rajputana State Railway completion of the Delhi District section.
• 1875; State Railways he was appointed an extra duty as Deputy Consulting Engineer for Guaranteed Railways.
• 1876; Tirhoot State Railway as Engineer-in-Chief of the then in course of extension.
• 1876; gazetted Lieut.-Colonel.
• 1877; State Railways acted as Director of the North-Eastern section of State Railways and Joint Secretary to the Government of Bengal in the Railway Department.
• 1880; Secretary to the Public Works Department of the Government of Bengal.
• 1881; Railway Board Acting Director-General of Railways and Deputy Secretary to Government, to which office he was permanently appointed in 1882, and which he held for five years.
• 1886 gazetted Colonel on the 16th of September, 1886
• 1887 retired from the service with the honorary rank of Major-General, having attained the highest grade in the Public Works Department- that of Chief Engineer 1st class.
• On returning to England he continued, until his death on the 22nd of January, 1892, to serve on the Boards of the East Indian Railway and the Bengal-Nagpur Railway Companies.