Who's Who list by name, surname beginning with A

• Aadnesen, Chris - CEO of Estonian Railways; CEO of Alaska Railroad 2010-2013.
• 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. - President of Wisconsin Central Railway 1890-__; president of Pewaukee & Montello Railroad; president of Chicago, Wisconsin & Minnesota Railroad; president of Milwaukee & Lake Winnebago Railroad. (Wisconsin Railroad Commission 1897, pp 38 and 41-44)
• Abbott, Harry - General superintendent of Canadian Pacific Railway's Pacific Division. (Poor's 1887, p 25; Official List 1888, p 27)
• Abbott, W. R. - President of Central Railway of Arkansas. (Pocket List 1907, p 241)
• Abrams, A. St Clair - President of Tavares, Apopka & Gulf Railroad. (Official List 1888, p 183)
• Abrams, W. J. - Chairman and president of Kewaunee, Green Bay & Western Railroad. (Wisconsin Railroad Commission 1897, p 27)
• 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.
• Ackerman, Goerge E. - President of Central Illinois Railway. (Illinois PUC, 1915, p 1301)
• Ackerman, William K. - President of Illinois Central Railroad 1876-1883 [preceded by John M. Douglas; succeeded by James C. Clarke].
• Adams, Alfred - President of Chagrin Falls & Southern Railroad. (Poor's 1887, p 29; Official List 1888, p 35)
• 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 [preceded by William T. Coleman, Jr.; succeeded by Neil Goldschmidt].
• Adams, Charles Francis, Jr. (1835-1915) - President of Nevada Central Railroad; president of Union Pacific Railroad 1884-1890; president of Utah Central Railroad. (Official List 1888, pp 130 and 189)
• Adams, Edward Dean - President of Northern Pacific Railway __-1896 [succeeded by Edwin W. Winter].
• Adams, H. C. - President of Springfield Terminal Railway. (Illinois PUC, 1915, p 1241)
• Adams, Melvin O. (1847-1920) - President of Boston, Revere Beach & Lynn Railroad. (Pocket List 1907, p 225)
• Adams, William (1823-1904) - Locomotive Superintendent of the North London Railway 1858-1873 [succeeded by John C. Park], Great Eastern Railway 1873-1878 [preceded by Samuel W. Johnson; succeeded by Massey Bromley] and London & South Western Railway 1878-1895 [preceded by William George Beattie; succeeded by Dugald Drummond].
• Adams, William Bridges (1797-1872) - Founded the Fairfield Locomotive Works in 1843.
• Agassiz, Alexander - President of Hecla & Torch Lake Railroad. (Official List 1888, p 93)
• Ahl, John Alexander (1813-1882) - Builder of the Harrisburg & Potomac Railroad.
• Aiken, H. M. - President and general manager of Tennessee & Ohio Railroad. (Official List 1888, p 183)
• Aiken, Walter - General manager of Mount Washington Railroad. (Official List 1888, p 129)
• Aikman, Frank, Jr. - President of Long Island Rail Road 1967-1969 [preceded by Thomas M. Goodfellow; succeeded by Walter L. Schlager, Jr.].
• Ainsworth, John C. (1822-1893) - Cofounder in 1860 of Oregon Steam Navigation Company.
• 
  Richard Aishton in 1929
  Aishton, Richard H. - President of Chicago & North Western Railway; president of American Railway Association. (NY Times, May 22, 1918; Poor's 1917, p 22)
• Alcock, Edgar (1877-1951) - General manager and chairman of Hunslet Engine Company.
• Alderman, R. J. - President of Alcolu Railroad. (Pocket List 1907, p 189)
• Aldrich, David L. - President of Wood River Branch Railroad. (Official List 1888, p 199)
• Alexander, E. P. - President of Central Railroad of Georgia; president of Columbus & Western Railway; president of Central Railroad & Banking Company of Alabama. (Poor's 1887, p 27; Official List 1888, p 33)
• Alexander, Y. - President of Brooksville Railroad. (Pocket List 1907, p 227)
• Alger, Russell A. (1836-1907) - President of Detroit, Bay City & Alpena Railroad; chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Coast Defenses and the U.S. Senate Committee on the Pacific Railroads 1903-1907. (Poor's 1887, p 57; Official List 1888, p 71)
• Allan, Andrew - President of Manitoba & Northwestern Railroad. (Official List 1888, p 117)
• Allan, Alexander (1809-1891) - Works manager at Crewe Works 1843-1853; locomotive superintendent for Scottish Central Railway (later the Highland Railway) 1853-1865 [succeeded by William Stroudley].
• Allee, J. Frank (1857-1938) - Chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Railroads 1905-1907.
• Allen, C. H. - President of Western New York & Pennsylvania Railroad. (Official List 1888, p 195)
• Allen, Dee - President and general manager of Carolina, Glen Anna & Pee Dee Railway. (Pocket List 1907, p 239)
• 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.
• Alley, W. H. - President of Indiana & Illinois Southern Railroad. (Official List 1888, p 97)
• 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, F. E. - President of St. Louis Merchants Bridge Terminal Railway. (Illinois PUC, 1915, p 1238)
• 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. - President of Portland & Ogdensburg Railroad. (Official List 1888, p 161)
• Andrews, A. B. - President of Atlantic & Yadkin Railway. President of Augusta Southern Railway. President of Blue Ridge Railway. President of Danville & Western Railway. (Pocket List 1907, pp 203, 219 and 299)
• Angus, Richard B. (1831-1922) - Closely involved in the financing of Canadian Pacific Railway's construction; vice president of St Paul & Pacific Railroad __-1884; general manager of Canadian Pacific Railway __-1882, then vice president of same; director of Canadian Pacific Railway for over 40 years.
• Anschutz, Philip (born 1939) - Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad 1984-1988, Southern Pacific Railroad 1988-1996.
• Anson, George - Chairman of the board of directors for London & North Western Railway 1852-1853.
• William P. Appleyard in 1904
  Appleyard, William P. - Master car builder for New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad 1895-1904; president of Master Car Builders' Association 1904-__. (The Railroad Men, September 1904)
• Armand, Louis (1905-1971) - French engineer; started railway career with Chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée in 1934, transferring to SNCF in 1938; invented a water treatment process to prevent steam locomotive boiler calcification in 1940; appointed general manager of SNCF in 1949; formed Société du tunnel sous la Manchein 1957; proponent of DC electrification of the entire SNCF system.
• Armour, M. C. - President of Chicago Short Line Railway. (Pocket List 1907, p 279)
• 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, E. N. - President of Toledo, Peoria & Western Railroad. (NY Times, May 22, 1918; Illinois PUC, 1915, p 1243)
• 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, B. W. - President of Duluth & Northern Minnesota Railway. (Pocket List 1907, p 311)
• Arnold, Bion Joseph (1861-1942) - Pioneered third rail electrification systems through the construction of New York's Interborough Rapid Transit subway.
• Arpin, D. J. - President of Chippewa Valley & Northern Railway. (Pocket List 1907, p 283)
• Ashby, G. F. - Union Pacific Railroad 1946-1949.
• Ashhurst, Samuel - President of Tuckerton Railroad. (Official List 1888, p 187)
• 
  James Mitchell Ashley
  Ashley, James Mitchell (1824-1896) - President of Ann Arbor Railroad; president of Toledo, Ann Arbor & North Michigan Railroad. (Official List 1888, p 186)
• Ashley, O. D. - President of Wabash Western Railroad. (Official List 1888, p 191)
• Ashworth, John Marmaduke - Chief engineer for way and works of Victorian Railways in the mid-20th century.
• 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.
• Atkinson, H. M. - President of Atlanta, Birmingham & Atlantic Railroad. President of Brooksville & Hudson Railroad. (Pocket List 1907, pp 201 and 227)
• Atkinson, W. H. - President of Cincinnati, Wheeling & New York Railroad. (Official List 1888, p 55)
• Atlee, John C. - President of Fort Madison & Northwestern Railroad. (Official List 1888, p 83)
• Atterbury, James S. - President of Cresson, Clearfield County & New York Short Route Railroad. (Poor's 1887, p 51; Official List 1888, p 62)
• 
  William W. Atterbury at a meeting in the 1910s
  Atterbury, William W. (1866–1935) - President of Pennsylvania Railroad 1925-1935 [preceded by Samuel Rea]. (Poor's 1917, p 149)
• Augustowski, Tadeusz - Polskie Koleje Państwowe __-2005.
• Aulbaugh, John W. - President of Canton & Waynesburg Railroad. (Poor's 1887, p 25)
• Awdry, W. V. (1911-1997) - Author of The Railway Series of books describing the adventures of Thomas the Tank Engine and friends.
• Ayer, B. F. - President of Western Railroad Association. (Official List 1888, p xl)
• Ayer, John - President of Somerset Railroad. (Official List 1888, p 176)
• Ayers, R. A. - President of Big Stone Gap & Powell's Valley Railroad. (Pocket List 1907, p 219)

Photo credits

• Richard Aishton - Cropped from a scan of the original photograph that is included in the Harris & Ewing Collection at the Library of Congress website. The rights and reproductions page for this collection (retrieved February 18, 2014) asserts that the copyrights on the photographs in this collection have expired. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, photograph by Harris & Ewing, [call number LC-H2-B-3679].
• John W. Allen - Wikipedia's image description page (retrieved March 6, 2009) asserts that this image is in the public domain.
• William P. Appleyard - Cropped from a scan of the original image published in The Railroad Men, volume XVII, issue 12, September 1904 (scan available on Google Books). Since this was first published in the United States before 1923, my understanding is that this image is now 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."
• William W. Atterbury - Cropped from a scan of the original photo available through the Harris & Ewing Collection on the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division website.  The rights and reproductions page for this collection asserts that the copyrights on the photographs in the collection have expired and that publication is therefore permitted.