Famous people with Railroad roots

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como

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I have a friend who is list/trivia freak. We email each other lists of people fitting different categories. We came up with a railroad related category and got stuck.

The question: Name people who worked on a railroad who are famous for things not related to the railroad.

I came up with two answers:

1. Malcolm X (El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz) sold sandwiches and newspapers on the New Haven Railroad in the 1940's He went on to become a leader In the Nation of Islam (Black Muslims) and was a big proponent of Pan Africanism.

2. Thomas Edison sold candy on a train. He went on to become an inventor...

Are there others?
 
como said:
I have a friend who is list/trivia freak. We email each other lists of people fitting different categories. We came up with a railroad related category and got stuck.
The question: Name people who worked on a railroad who are famous for things not related to the railroad.

I came up with two answers:

1. Malcolm X (El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz) sold sandwiches and newspapers on the New Haven Railroad in the 1940's He went on to become a leader In the Nation of Islam (Black Muslims) and was a big proponent of Pan Africanism.

2. Thomas Edison sold candy on a train. He went on to become an inventor...

Are there others?
Click to expand...
Lots of the famous Robber Barons (Vanderbuilts,Astors, Harriman, Hill (Empire Builder/Great Northern) etc. etc. made fortunes in the Railroads!

Others like the Rockefellers/Carnegies?Fords etc. made fortunes investing in RR stock! It was a gold mine for those with money and political clout,

the government basically financed the railroads which was an early form of socialism that the wing nuts love to yell about!
 
Guest said:
como said:
I have a friend who is list/trivia freak. We email each other lists of people fitting different categories. We came up with a railroad related category and got stuck.
The question: Name people who worked on a railroad who are famous for things not related to the railroad.

I came up with two answers:

1. Malcolm X (El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz) sold sandwiches and newspapers on the New Haven Railroad in the 1940's He went on to become a leader In the Nation of Islam (Black Muslims) and was a big proponent of Pan Africanism.

2. Thomas Edison sold candy on a train. He went on to become an inventor...

Are there others?
Click to expand...
Lots of the famous Robber Barons (Vanderbuilts,Astors, Harriman, Hill (Empire Builder/Great Northern) etc. etc. made fortunes in the Railroads!

Others like the Rockefellers/Carnegies?Fords etc. made fortunes investing in RR stock! It was a gold mine for those with money and political clout,

the government basically financed the railroads which was an early form of socialism that the wing nuts love to yell about!
Click to expand...
I think what the OP is asking for are people who were famous for things not related to their railroad work.
 
Guest said:
It was a gold mine for those with money and political clout, the government basically financed the railroads which was an early form of socialism that the wing nuts love to yell about!
Click to expand...
If you are taking about the land grants, that was the best deal the government ever made. Just in reduced freight rates for for government cargos they were repaid several times over.
 
Phila 30th St said:
Guest said:
como said:
I have a friend who is list/trivia freak. We email each other lists of people fitting different categories. We came up with a railroad related category and got stuck.
The question: Name people who worked on a railroad who are famous for things not related to the railroad.

I came up with two answers:

1. Malcolm X (El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz) sold sandwiches and newspapers on the New Haven Railroad in the 1940's He went on to become a leader In the Nation of Islam (Black Muslims) and was a big proponent of Pan Africanism.

2. Thomas Edison sold candy on a train. He went on to become an inventor...

Are there others?
Click to expand...
Lots of the famous Robber Barons (Vanderbuilts,Astors, Harriman, Hill (Empire Builder/Great Northern) etc. etc. made fortunes in the Railroads!

Others like the Rockefellers/Carnegies?Fords etc. made fortunes investing in RR stock! It was a gold mine for those with money and political clout,

the government basically financed the railroads which was an early form of socialism that the wing nuts love to yell about!
Click to expand...
I think what the OP is asking for are people who were famous for things not related to their railroad work.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I was thinking about people who where famous for their non-railroad work. Lincoln would be a good example.
 
A few more famous and not so famous people associated with trains and railroads:

Father Albert Lacombe. Helped to create a peace agreement, 1882, between the Cree and Blackfoot nations which allowed the Canadian Pacific RR to progress further west. Lacombe, Alberta is a town named after him.

Peggy Lee. Early in life, she worked, briefly, as a clerk for the Midland Continental RR depot in North Dakota.

Annie Oakley. In 1901 she was involved in a train accident in North Carolina. She was left temporarily paralyzed.

Edwin Both, Brother of John Wilkes. He helped prevent a serious accident when Robert Lincoln, son of President Lincoln, nearly fell from a train platform in Jersey City, NJ. 1864 or 1865.

Benjamin Pierce. . The son of President Franklin Pierce, was killed in a train wreck while on the way to Concord, NH.

Wyatt Earp. In 1868 he worked at a job handling train supplies for Union Pacific in Wyoming territory.

Louis von Hoven. He worked for the Michigan Central Railroad, around 1871. He was the grand nephew of Ludwig van Beethoven.
 
Me! Well, my real name for those who know it. My great grandfather worked for PRR as a trainman, I think. He died on the job. (Don’t have the info with me at the monent)

EDIT: One news article, back in 1902, says he was a brakeman and killed while coupling cars at Downingtown. Another article says he was a flagman and was struck by a passenger train. Even back then the newspapers couldn't agree on these things. :D
 
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Carl Sandburg: Poet, Author, Editor, 3 time Pulitzer Prize winner
--Was born in a small house walking distance from the present day Gailsburg IL Station. His dad worked on the railroad. SOme of his writing is clearly influenced by his "railroad kid" life experience.

Jimmie Rodgers: The "father of country music".
He was known as "The Singing Brakeman" because he worked on the railroad (as dis his father) before going to music.

Averell Herriman: Statesman/Diplomat in 20th century, Was the main guy working with the USSR in the old days. He advised every Democratic President from FDR to Carter. He was also the Chairman of the board on Union Pacific for years.

Walt Disney: Of Cartoon and entertainment fame, started as a candy & newspaper sales boy on the ATSF out of Marceline MO.

Harry S. Truman: President/MO Senator worked briefly as a time keeper on the Santa Fa before WWI.
 
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