List of people associated with rail transport

= Famous railroaders =

* 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.

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 Railroad, 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.

See also

* List of railroad executives

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 – the "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

Others

*Jesse James – American outlaw, portraying a Robin Hood of sorts, standing up against railroad corporations in defense of the small farmers.