Carl Abraham Pihl
| Carl Abraham Pihl | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
16 January 1825 Stavanger, Norway |
| Died | 14 September 1897 (aged 72) Kristiania, Norway |
| Nationality | Norwegian |
| Alma mater | Chalmers University of Technology |
| Occupation | Engineer |
| Employer | Norwegian State Railways |
| Known for | Railway pioneer |
| Spouse(s) | Catherine Ridley |
| Children | 11 |
| Parent(s) | Thomas Bugge Pihl Fredrikke Wivicke Margrethe Løvold |
Carl Abraham Pihl (16 January 1825 – 14 September 1897) was a Norwegian civil engineer and director of the Norwegian State Railways (NSB) from 1865 until his death. Pihl was one of the main architects of the use of narrow gauge railways in Norway.
The son of Thomas Bugge Pihl and Fredrikke Wivicke Margrethe Løvold, he started off as a seaman, but soon chose to attend Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg (1841–1844). He then went to London and worked as an office engineer; he worked on many cases related to railways, including many of those by Robert Stephenson. After two years he started field work, with a management position at a site in Suffolk until 1850. While working in England he also learned the art of photography. His collections remain a unique collection of Norwegian railway heritage, dating back to 1862.
Pihl returned to Norway in 1850, and started working for the road office at the Norwegian Ministry of the Interior, but by 1851 he was hired as an engineer on Norway's first railway, the Hoved Line, where he worked on the section from Christiania to Lillestrøm. After completion of the line in 1854 he moved back to England for a year, but later returned to work on the Telemark Canal, and subsequently as county engineer in Akershus. In 1855, Pihl proposed building pumping stations and gasworks in Skien. Since he was the most prominent railway engineer in Norway at the time, he was hired in 1856 to work on the projects for several of the early railways in Norway, the first being the Kongsvinger Line, the Hamar–Grundset Line and the Trondhjem–Støren Line. In 1858 the office of Statens Jernbaneanlægs hovedkontor was created to manage the state railways, and Pihl was hired as its director.
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