Richard Fontaine Maury (

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, 18 December 1882 –

Córdoba Córdoba most commonly refers to: * Córdoba, Spain, a major city in southern Spain and formerly the imperial capital of Islamic Spain * Córdoba, Argentina, 2nd largest city in the country and capital of Córdoba Province Córdoba or Cordoba may ...

, 10 July 1950) was an American railway engineer and naturalized Argentine. He became known for the project of the Argentine "Ramal C-14" of the

Ferrocarril General Manuel Belgrano The General Manuel Belgrano Railway (FCGMB) (Spanish: Ferrocarril General Manuel Belgrano), named after the Argentine politician and military leader Manuel Belgrano, is a railway and the longest of the Argentine system. It was one of the six S ...

and the touristic ''

Tren a las Nubes The Tren a las Nubes ( en, Train to the Clouds) is a tourist train service in Salta Province, Argentina. The service runs along the eastern part of the Salta–Antofagasta railway line of the Belgrano Railway (also known as the "C-14" line) th ...

''.Biography of Richard Maury
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Early life

Richard Maury was born in Philadelphia in 1882, as the second of four brothers. He was the son of Thompson Brooke Maury. He graduated from

Virginia Military Institute la, Consilio et Animis (on seal) , mottoeng = "In peace a glorious asset, In war a tower of strength""By courage and wisdom" (on seal) , established = , type = Public senior military college , accreditation = SACS , endowment = $696.8 mill ...

as an engineer in 1902. His first work was on the Pennsylvania Tunnel

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

Career

In 1906 he arrived in Argentina to join in 1907 the ''

Argentine State Railway Argentine State Railway (in Spanish: Ferrocarriles del Estado) was a State-owned railway company of Argentina, established by Law N° 6.757 in October 1909, when José Figueroa Alcorta was the President of Argentina. The company built and operat ...

'', the national railway company of the country. In 1921, the "Ramal C-14" Salta-Socompa, a project to build a rail line to the

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

an border was approved. Maury was appointed the head of the project. He worked there until 1931. On July 12, 1928, he was appointed honorary professor at the

National University of Tucumán The National University of Tucumán ( es, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, UNT) is an Argentine national university located in Tucumán Province and the largest in Argentina's northwest region. Founded on 25 May 1914 in San Miguel de Tucumán, ...

, where he also published, in 1929, he published ''Manual para el trazado de ferrocarriles'' (i.e. "Manual for the railway tracks").''Manual para el trazado de ferrocarriles''
on

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He was declared the first honorary member of the Engineering Center of Tucumán in 1944. Maury worked on the

Transandine Railway The Transandine Railway ( es, Ferrocarril Trasandino) was a combined rack ( Abt system) and adhesion railway which operated from Mendoza in Argentina, across the Andes mountain range via the Uspallata Pass, to Santa Rosa de Los Andes in C ...

from Mendoza to Las Cuevas, Argentina, on the road from Acheral to Tafi del Valle, and the railway line Yacuíba- Santa Cruz-

Sucre Sucre () is the capital of Bolivia, the capital of the Chuquisaca Department and the 6th most populated city in Bolivia. Located in the south-central part of the country, Sucre lies at an elevation of . This relatively high altitude gives the ...

, in

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

Personal life

He married Carmen Rosa Pauna with whom he had one child, Ricardo Juan. Richard Maury died in Córdoba in 1950 and, since 1957, his remains are buried at the foot of a monument dedicated to him in the station of Campo Quijano, a town near

Salta Salta () is the capital and largest city in the Argentine province of the same name. With a population of 618,375 according to the 2010 census, it is also the 7th most-populous city in Argentina. The city serves as the cultural and economic ce ...

in the Salta–Antofagasta railway. A little village and its station, part of this line and originally named "Damián M. Torino", were renamed "Ingeniero Maury" (Engineer Maury) after him.Ingeniero Maury page
on

Salta Province Salta () is a province of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the east clockwise Formosa, Chaco, Santiago del Estero, Tucumán and Catamarca. It also surrounds Jujuy. To the north it borders Boli ...

website

Literature

*Richard F. Maury: "''Manual para el trazado de ferrocarriles''". National University of Tucumán, 1929 - 312 pages

References

External links