RailRoad Genealogical Society

 

Just what IS the RRGS?

Railroads played a huge role in American history. This was especially true in the settlement of the west, where entire communities were established as "railroad towns". In some of these, nearly every family was engaged in some aspect of railroading, or in supplying the families who were.

As lasting as the impression of the railroads has been, however, one crucial portion of the legacy has been fading from site. The stories of the men and women who built and ran the mighty iron roads have been all but forgotten. Records have been casually shredded during mergers, stored away unavailable to the descendants, allowed to languish in storehouses until illegible, or buried with the men and women themselves. To the founders of this Society, this was simply appalling.

Proud members of The Katy Railroad Historical Society & The National Railway Historical Society

 
 
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This is a Genealogy Site

Some folks have asked exactly what it is that we at the RRGS do. The Railroad Genealogical Society is dedicated to the task of locating, compiling and preserving every record pertaining to the employees of every North American railroad which has ever existed.

There are many sources of such records in existence, but the vast majority are in private hands or piled away in the corners of libraries which haven't the resources to make these records available to the general public.  When a source of records is found, the RRGS staff goes into action.  The records are duplicated and an index is extracted.  Then the records themselves are added to a digital database which can then be searched rapidly and effectively. At present time, we are forced to charge a very small and reasonable fee to perform searches of this growing database.  For this fee, however, we compensate by offering a unique service.  When someone requests a search of our archives, we begin the search, AND NEVER END IT.  A search may take ten minutes or ten months...there's no way of telling. But once it's started, we contact the client with every new piece of information we find at no extra charge PERPETUALLY. As long as we are still finding new records, we keep working on all searches. Our goal is to eventually establish a fully accessible research facility dedicated to RailRoad Genealogy, and make all of our services free to the public.  Through membership purchases and donations, you can help us move closer to that goal.

Handy Links

RailroadData.Com - Links to over 5000 railroad websites!

Cyndi's List - The complete genealogy help stop!

North East Rails - A huge collection of photos and facts!

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University of Connecticut - A great resource with categorized railroad links!

Railroad Retirement Board - Pension and Retirement records of railroaders after 1936.

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View Census Records Online at Ancestry.com!

From time to time we receive stories and recollections from you folks, and we would like to share excerpts here. The full content can be found in our Member Newsletters.