Sharing Your Railroad Families Heritage, 3 Questions

1. Where should a general topic (any road) like that be placed at?

2. Is there any interest from the users here in reading such things?

3. How many guys here would be willing to contribute?

If you wanted to write a feature article, we'd gladly host it. I think people would like to learn about "railroad families." I think by "contribute," UPRREngineer means how many people might be interested in telling hiim about their railroad family history...

Thoughts?

-otto-

I'd be willing to contribute as I find out more about my own family. I've always meant to try to get involved in researching my family's history, but I've never really been able to find the time to sit down and do it. What I do know is that my great grandfather Michael Shelly (whom my mother never met) was born in 1863 and died in 1940. I also know that he and my great grandmother lived in Trenton, NJ within walking distance of the South Clinton Avenue station. I was able to get ahold of an old Trenton city directory (kind of like a phone book with no phone numbers) from 1921 and it listed my great grandfather's name, address, and occupation-"Engineer, PRR." All my grandmother ever said about my grandfather was that he "worked for the railroad." She died when I was 4, so I didn't get to find out much. My mother also told me that my grandmother used to talk about going to see an aunt every summer in Kentucky as a child. My great grandfather would pack them up and send them on the train. Would there be any way of finding out more about my great grandfather through old Pennsylvania Railroad records? Anything I can find out I'd be happy to share with the board.

On my father's side of the family, I had two relatives who worked for the Missouri Pacific for many years.
My father's uncle (my great-uncle) began working for the Missouri Pacific here in Arkansas during the 1930's. My great-uncle was born and raised in Oklahoma. He was married with three kids and couldn't find a steady job in Oklahoma. So when he heard that the Missouri Pacific was hiring, he came to Arkansas and got hired as a brakeman. He worked as a brakeman for two or three years and then transferred to a locomotive mechanic job in the railroad shops here in North Little Rock because he got tired of all the traveling and spending so much time on the road away from his family. Also, my great-uncle hated having to go north during the winter because it was so cold sometimes. I remember him complaining to me how cold it was in Kansas City during the winter. When he started working at the shops, the railroad had mostly steam locomotives. When they converted to diesel locomotives after World War Two, my great-uncle learned how to work on them and repair them. My great-uncle continued to work at the railroad shops until he retired.
His oldest child, a boy, followed in his father's footsteps and became a locomotive mechanic also. My cousin worked as a locomotive mechanic at the railroad shops here in North Little Rock until he retired also.
Both of them are dead and gone now.

I think its a great idea , well worth reading . My only contribution would be a Uncle who was a guard .i have a few of his little stories in my brain .

I was coming here to ask the same thing. Where would/should such a topic be placed? Just found out I've got some railroad workers in my family's past and I'd like to receive some resource information. Don't know where to begin, though. I'm the family genealogist but this has stopped me in my tracks (bad pun, sorry).

I have railroad workers in my family history. Don't know how many. One was killed on the job. He was caught between two cars I believe. Somewhere my father has the old newspaper clipping.

You are forgiven for your cleverly atrocious pun about being stopped in your tracks in your attempt to do genealogical research, the-rail-life, but don't do it again or we may have to give you thirty-one-and-a-half lashes with a wet noodle on your knuckles.