The Rip Track

• Abbot, Amos (1786-1868) - A founder in 1833 of the Boston & Portland Railway (later became Boston & Maine Railroad); director of same 1834-1841.
• Abbot, Edwin H. - Wisconsin Central Railway 1890-__.
• Abt, Carl Roman (1850-1933) - President of Gotthardbahn; inventor of the Abt rack system for mountain railroads; oversaw construction on 72 mountain railroads around the world.
• Adams, Alvin (1804-1877) - Founder of Adams Express, one of the first LCL railroad freight forwarding companies in the US.
• Adams, Brock (1927-2004) - US Secretary of Transportation 1977-1979.
• Adams, Charles Francis, Jr. (1835-1915) - Union Pacific Railroad 1884-1890.
• Adams, Melvin O. (1847-1920) - Boston, Revere Beach & Lynn Railroad.
• Adams, William (1823-1904) - Locomotive Superintendent of the North London Railway 1858-1873, Great Eastern Railway 1873-1878 and London and South Western Railway 1878-1895.
• Adams, William Bridges (1797-1872) - Founded the Fairfield Locomotive Works in 1843.
• Ahl, John Alexander (1813-1882) - Builder of the Harrisburg & Potomac Railroad.
• Aikman, Frank, Jr. - Long Island Rail Road 1967-1969.
• Ainsworth, John C. (1822-1893) - Cofounder in 1860 of Oregon Steam Navigation Company.
• Alcock, Edgar (1877-1951) - General manager and chairman of Hunslet Engine Company.
• Alger, Russell A. (1836-1907) - Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Coast Defenses and the U.S. Senate Committee on the Pacific Railroads 1903-1907.
• Allee, J. Frank (1857-1938) - Chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Railroads 1905-1907.
• Allen, Horatio (1802-1889) - Erie Railroad 1843-1844.

John W. Allen

• Allen, John W. (1802-1887) - Cleveland Newburg Railroad 1834, Columbus & Cincinnati Railroad 1845.
• Allen, Thomas (1813-1882) - President of St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway 1851-__; in 1852 he operated the first steam locomotive to cross the Mississippi River.
• Allen, William F. (1846-1915) - North American standard time.
• Allyn, Henry G., Jr. - Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad 1969-1993.
• Alpert, George (1898-1988) - Last president of the New Haven Railroad.
• Altschul, Selig - Delaware & Hudson Railway 1977.
• Ames, Oakes (1804-1873) - Forwarded construction contracts for the first US transcontinental railroad to his family companies and helped finance the construction; a major figure in the Credit Mobilier scandal that followed its completion in 1869.
• Ames, Oliver, Jr. (1807-1877) - Union Pacific Railroad 1866-1871.
• Anderson, Jack (1953-2004) - Chief mechanical engineer and co-owner of the Mount Rainier Scenic Railroad; chief mechanical engineer for the Nevada Northern Railway Museum.
• Anderson, John Byers (1817-1897) - Raiload builder in the 1850s; general superintendent of the New Albany & Salem Railroad 1855-1858; superintendent of the Middle Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad 1858-1859; general superintendent of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad 1859; superintendent of transportation for Louisville & Nashville Railroad 1859-1861; Railroad Director for the Department of Ohio 1861-1862; military superintendent of railroads for the Department of the Cumberland 1862-1864; financier for the Union Pacific Railway Eastern Division.
• Anderson, Joseph R. (1813-1892) - Manager of Tredegar Iron Works steam locomotive manufacturing company 1841-1848, owner of Tredegar starting in 1848.
• Anderson, Samuel J. - Portland & Ogdensburg Railroad.
• Anschutz, Philip (born 1939) - Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad 1984-1988, Southern Pacific Railroad 1988-1996.
• Armour, Philip Danforth (1832-1901) - Founded Armour & Co. meat packers Armour Refrigerator Line to ship his products by rail.
• Arms, Harrison (died 1917) - Founded Arms Palace Horse Car Company in 1885 to transport racehorses by rail.
• Armstrong, George - Manager of standard gauge steam locomotives for Great Western Railway 1864-1896.
• Armstrong, George B. (1822-1871) - Manager of the Chicago Post Office who is credited with founding railway mail service in the United States.
• Armstrong, Joseph (1816-1877) - Chief Mechanical Engineer for Great Western Railway 1864-1877.
• Arndt, Otto - Deutsche Reichsbahn of the GDR 1970-1989.
• Arnold, Bion Joseph (1861-1942) - Pioneered third rail electrification systems through the construction of New York's Interborough Rapid Transit subway.
• Ashby, G. F. - Union Pacific Railroad 1946-1949.

James Mitchell Ashley

• Ashley, James Mitchell (1824-1896) - President of Ann Arbor Railroad.
• Aspinall, John (1851-1937) - Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway 1886-1899.
• Aspinwall, William Henry (1807-1875) - Early promoter of the Panama Railroad.
• Atkinson, Arthur K. - President of Wabash Railroad; served as a director for the Chicago Railroad Fair in 1949.
• Atterbury, William W. (1866–1935) - President of Pennsylvania Railroad 1925-1935.
• Augustowski, Tadeusz - Polskie Koleje Państwowe __-2005.
• Awdry, W. V. (1911-1997) - Author of The Railway Series of books describing the adventures of Thomas the Tank Engine and friends. 

Photo credits

• John W. Allen - Wikipedia's image description page (retrieved March 6, 2009) asserts that this image is in the public domain.
• James Mitchell Ashley - Cropped from a photograph available as part of the Brady-Handy Photograph Collection at the Library of Congress. The MARC record for this photograph (retrieved March 7, 2009) asserts that there are "no known restrictions on publication."