Harbour Grace
c1907

Thomas G. Ford, c1907. Born at Harbour Grace in 1874,
he joined the Harbour Grace Railway as a brakeman,
and later became a telegrapher, train dispatcher and
station agent with the Reid Newfoundland Company.
As first Reid Newfoundland Company agent at
Port aux Basques, he officiated at an impromptu
last spike ceremony marking completion of the
trans-island rail line in 1898. He was station agent
at Harbour Grace from 1907 to 1919, when he left
the railway to become a customs officer. In this
role he issued the clearance for Amelia Earhart
on her solo trans-Atlantic flight from Harbour Grace
airstrip in 1932. In semi-retirement he worked
for Silas Moores at the marine railway on
Point of Beach. He died at
Harbour Grace in 1956.

Contributed by Ted Bartlett
2012 10