List of people associated with rail transport

Famous railroaders
Railroad: Union Pacific Railroad 2007 to present known as notch 8 Runs high speed and low drag.
 * Casey Jones – Illinois Central engineer whose death in a 1900 train wreck was made famous in song and legend
 * Jeme Tien Yow – distinguished Chinese railroad engineer often called the Father of China's railroad
 * Albert Lacombe – made a railroad through Blackfoot territory
 * Jordan Anastasoff

Railroad Tycoons & Businessmen

 * Erastus Corning – Formed the nucleus of what would become the great New York Central Railroad
 * Charles Crocker – One of the Big Four co-founders of the Central Pacific Railroad
 * Eugene V. Debs – Labor organizer, founding member of Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, and participant in the infamous Pullman Strike
 * Daniel Drew – Robber baron involved in the stock manipulation of the Erie Railroad with Fisk and Gould
 * James Fisk – Robber baron involved in the stock manipulation of the Erie Railroad with Gould and Drew
 * Jay Gould – Robber baron involved in the stock manipulation of the Erie Railroad with Fisk and Drew
 * Edward H. Harriman – President of the Union Pacific and the Southern Pacific, and directed the unification of both railroads
 * James J. Hill – Founder of the Great Northern Railway, builder of first transcontinental railroad without federal subsidies or land grants
 * Cyrus K. Holliday – Founder of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
 * Mark Hopkins – One of the Big Four co-founders of the Central Pacific Railroad
 * Collis P. Huntington – One of the Big Four co-founders of the Central Pacific Railroad, founder of Huntington, West Virginia while helping construct the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway
 * George Pullman – Inventor of the Pullman sleeper (a luxury sleeping car) and founder of the Pullman Company
 * Leland Stanford – One of the Big Four co-founders of the Central Pacific Railroad, president of the Southern Pacific Railroad, governor of California, and founder of Stanford University
 * Arthur Stilwell – Founder of the Kansas City Southern Railway, as well as several cities, among them Port Arthur, TX which is named after Stilwell.
 * Cornelius Vanderbilt – After spending the first 70 years of his life building a successful ferry business, controlled and expanded the New York Central Railroad into an empire and ordered construction of the first Grand Central Terminal.

Inventors and innovators

 * Grenville M. Dodge – Chief engineer of the Union Pacific Railroad and helped construct the first American transcontinental railroad.
 * Fred Harvey – revolutionized passenger train onboard services, making travel by train more comfortable.
 * Theodore Judah – Chief engineer of the Central Pacific Railroad and passionate supporter of the first American transcontinental railroad
 * Otto Kuhler – industrial designer
 * Raymond Loewy – industrial designer
 * Anatole Mallet – inventor of the articulated locomotive, commonly called the Mallet locomotive
 * Charles Minot – General Superintendent of the Erie Railroad, first to use the telegraph to dispatch trains in 1851
 * Wilhelm von Pressel – designer of the Baghdad Railway
 * George Stephenson – "Father of British Steam Railways", inventor of the Rocket steam locomotive (the first "modern" locomotive), and pioneer of the 4 ft 8 ½ inch rail gauge
 * Richard Trevithick – credited with the 1804 invention of the steam locomotive
 * George Westinghouse – inventor of the air brake
 * Girard Scott Ferguson – Union Pacific Signal Design Manager, Inventor of the micron electronic timer

Others

 * Jesse James – American outlaw, portraying a Robin Hood of sorts, standing up against railroad corporations in defense of the small farmers.
 * Richard Beeching – household name as chairman of British Rail (1961-1964) famous for Beeching cuts.