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
• Albert Lacombe – made a railroad through Blackfoot territory
• Jordan Anastasoff

Railroad: Union Pacific Railroad 2007 to present known as notch 8 Runs high speed and low drag.

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.