help finding the correct railroad

Hi All!

My first post... I'm an avid genealogist and come from a line of railroaders. For instance, I learned that my great grandfather was an hostler in Brooklyn (not too long ago I didn't even know what that meant), my other great grandfather was a "conductor on steam railroad" and yet another was a "brakeman", etc.

Does anyone know how I'd go about finding out which railroad they worked on? when I do a search results match in "The Railroad Trainmen" book for claims, but I cannot tell whch train line they were.

All of them were from the Metro NY - Dutchess County, NY area.

Many thanks!!!

considering the long list of Railroads that went into the NYC area and not knowing the name of any of them will be a long search. Take you pick: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ne ... _railroads there are hundreds of them that were folded into Conrail, and the Long Island Railroad.

freight carriers
CONRAIL <--gone formed in 1976 and split up in merger 1999
Long Island Railroad
Pennsylvania Railroad
New York Central
Lehigh Valley Railroad
Central of New Jersey Railroad
Delaware and Hudson Railway ????
Chesapeake & Ohio
Baltimore & Ohio
United States Army
United States Navy
New York City Subway

Yikes!!! thanks for the reply!!

I know my great grand uncle was killed in Los Angeles on the Santa Fe in 1918. His WWI draft registration records indicate he was a brakeman on the Santa Fe R.R. Did that originate in the east or did he transfer to another railroad company? He lived with my great-grandfather in Port Jervis up until at least 1910 (they were both conductors on the steam railroad) so they likely worked together. Thanks!

In Port Jervis they most likely worked for the Erie railroad, left out of the list above. No, the Santa Fe did not reach the east.

Also missing:

Delaware, Lackawanna & Western
New York, Ontario & Western (via trackage rights on the West Shore)
for that matter, the New York, West Shore & Buffalo was built as an independent before it became part of the New York Central;

New Haven (NY, NH & Hartford)

There also were a couple of industrial lines serving various ports; Staten Island, and other places. It greatly depends on the era, and just where they did live (often they lived close by a terminal), but without a pay stub or other record it's hard to say for certain. With most of those railroads long since ceasing to exist there are no records to search to verify; railroads did not normally keep employment records long term.

Binney wrote:Yikes!!! thanks for the reply!!

I know my great grand uncle was killed in Los Angeles on the Santa Fe in 1918. His WWI draft registration records indicate he was a brakeman on the Santa Fe R.R. Did that originate in the east or did he transfer to another railroad company? He lived with my great-grandfather in Port Jervis up until at least 1910 (they were both conductors on the steam railroad) so they likely worked together. Thanks!

The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway reporting marks ATSF or (Santa Fe) for short stretched from San Francisco in the West and only came as Far East as Chicago, IL and that's about it. Most of the roads that I listed above are no longer around anymore and were either were merged into the New York Central, Pennsylvania Railroad, Lehigh Valley, or Central of New Jersey. Other Roads in there area were Chesapeake & Ohio and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the Long Island Railroad. I would start with maybe checking around with the historical groups they maybe be able to point you in the right direction.

Also could add the Ratain River Railroad and maybe the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines

lvrr325 wrote:In Port Jervis they most likely worked for the Erie railroad, left out of the list above. No, the Santa Fe did not reach the east.

The NYO&W was also active in Port Jervis at that time, so it is possible the man in question may have worked there.

Well, since you specifically mentioned Dutchess county and Port Jervis, if you narrow your list to railroads in the lower Hudson valley
North of New York City, and a timeline of about 1900 to 1950, the list becomes more manageable..

New York Central
New Haven
Erie
DL&W
NYO&W
NYSW
(not the West Shore..since that became part of New York Central in the 1850's!)

New York Central Railroad is most likely for Dutchess county,
and Erie railroad is most likely for Port Jervis..although it could be other railroads too..

But IMO, you are going about this backwards..
I am also doing genealogy, and I also have several ancestors who worked for the Lehigh Valley railroad out of Sayre, PA.
both Grandfathers, one Great Grandfather, and one Great Great Grandfather!

however, I found out about the men and their work for the railroad by researching the men themselves..not the railroad.
I think you will find that is the best way to go..
you have to search for your ancestors themselves..searching for the railroads first, then the men who worked for the railroad,
probably wont get you very far..just because hundreds of thousands of people worked for the railroads, and we have 170 years of railroad history,
so you arent likely to find any meaningful lists of employee names..
you really have to search for your ancestors by name..then you might discover which railroad they worked for..

although I guess you were asking which railroads they might have worked for!
we can help with that..

Scot

Try here also: http://www.rrb.gov/mep/genealogy.asp
but note they cannot provide records prior to 1936.

WOW... thanks for the great leads!

Scot...I agree with you about searching the person first...which I've done - and is how I got here! My grandmother used to talk about her Dad as a conductor and in particular the Depression and what she saw through the train windows...

Nonetheless my searches have brought me closer to my kinfolk and helps me understand their lives.

This particular line that I referred to above starts in Brooklyn: Otto Wassweiler was a German immigrant - came to the 'States in 1852 at age 10. He married and had several children - of those sons that I can find 3 out of 4 worked for the railroad:

Otto C. Wassweiler (1867 - 1906) lived in Brooklyn his entire life - was the hosteler

Gustave Wassweiler (1872 - ?) is my great-grandfather. He lived his early years in Brooklyn - was a painter. By 1900 he had moved to 169 Jersey Ave in Port Jervis - which happens to be right next to the railroad tracks, and was a Brakeman. In 1910 Gus and the family are renting a house at 7 Barkley St in Port Jervis, also living with them is Gustave Sr.'s brother William - Gus and William are both "conductor on the steam railroad". By 1920 the family has moved to 560 Main Street, Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County, New York. Gus is still a conductor on the railroad. I find no more after this - but he is still alive in 1932 - just no railroad source.

William Wassweiler (1874-1918) as already noted in 1910 William and Gus were both conductors - but in 1918 William was killed: from the the book "The Railroad Trainman, Volume 36" it shows that William was struck and killed by a train and that the sum of $1,600.00 was paid to his beneficiary. page 382 of this same book shows that this payment was made to Carrie Haynes - who is NOT his wife. He must have been a scoundrel because back in the 1910 census he is married to a Jessie Russell. In the WWI Registration he is married to a Nellie Love, yet his benefits were paid to Carrie Haynes!

In any case, it's obvious that the railroads were a large part of my family history, so I'm trying to find out what I can! Thanks for all of your help!

You know what i would do is start with the railroad that your family members lived next to and go from there that would be your best bet.

What neighborhood in Brooklyn did Otto Wassweiller live in? I'm guessing Williamsburg or Bushwick as these were the center of German population in Brooklyn. Many of the big mainline railroads had isolated waterfront terminals in this area but apart from the LIRR, no big railroads reached Long Island in the time period you're talking about.
Many small passenger railroads, some of which evolved into present day subway lines, were using steam power in the late 19th century, so maybe he was working for one of these.
Good luck with your research....John

He certainly sounds like he got around, although I'll be positive and just choose to believe that Carrie is a widowed daughter who received the money.

There were two major railroads in Poughkeepsie New York in 1920. The New York Central ran north and south along the east back of the Hudson River. The Central New England Railway ran east and west across the big bridge in Poughkeepsie. By 1927 the CNE Rwy was part of the New Haven system.

Bernie Rudberg