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Ed Lewis
Biography
Like many lifelong railroaders, Edward “Ed” Lewis’s love affair with trains and railroads began as a child. Growing up in Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey, he would explore, often by bicycle, rail lines and stations in his home state and in New York.
Lewis began his career in the railroad industry in 1963 at the Long Island Rail Road, where he served as a clerk. He was assistant to the president and general manager of the Arcade and Attica Railroad in New York; auditor of freight revenue at the Providence & Worcester Railroad in Rhode Island; vice president of the Strasburg Rail Road in Pennsylvania; and secretary-treasurer and general manager of the Lamoille Valley Railroad Company in Vermont.
In 1987, Lewis was the first company outsider hired as president of the Aberdeen and Rockfish Railroad (A&R) in North Carolina. He held that position for 20 years until 2007. In a 2017 article about the A&R in the News & Observer, Lewis was credited with bringing about much of the railroad’s most recent successes.
Lewis’s interest in railroads extended beyond his work managing them. He wrote several books about railroads that often featured photographs he took himself. In 1971, he published his first book, the Wellsville, Addison and Galeton Railroad: Sole Leather Line, which told the history of the WAG, as the railroad was affectionately known.
Lewis’s most famous book remains his American Shortline Railway Guide, a directory of small railroads, featuring “facts, figures, and detailed locomotive rosters” of hundreds of U.S. short lines. Copies of Lewis’s railway guide can still be found in ASLRRA’s Washington, D.C. office and the Association has called this book the original gold standard of statistical and historical information for short lines.
Lewis, remembered by many as “Mr. Short Line,” was an avid collector of railroad ephemera, including historic railroad passes, timetables, maps, and tickets. At one time, he maintained arguably the most comprehensive collection of railroad timetables and historic stock certificates in North America.
Ed Lewis passed away on Nov. 11, 2015, after battling Parkinson’s disease.
George Thomas Lewis
Receiver
Biography
George Thomas Lewis (1816-August 21, 1882), a Pennsylvania native, was instrumental in re-building the Memphis, Clarksville and Louisville Railroad after the Civil War.
He served as receiver of the railroad from July 1, 1865, to April 1, 1867.
John Wood Lewis , Sr.
Superintendent
Roger Lewis
President
Biography
Roger Lewis (January 11, 1912-November 12, 1987) was the first president of Amtrak, serving from 1971 to 1975.
While he is remembered as Amtrak’s first president in railroading circles, his career centered on the aviation and aerospace industries, including stints at Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, Curtiss-Wright Corporation and Pan American World Airways.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower awarded Lewis the Medal of Freedom for his contributions to foreign aid programs while serving as assistant secretary of the U.S. Air Force.
Under Lewis, Amtrak hired and trained its first employees, instituted a comprehensive national reservations system and started upgrading and standardizing its rolling stock and station facilities.
William C. Lindsay
Conductor
Alonzo Skiles Livermore
General Ticket and Freight Agent
Biography
Alonzo Skiles Livermore (August 19, 1840-July 28, 1888) is a native of Rumsey, Kentucky.
In 1854, he moved with his parents to Sunbury, Pennsylvania. In September 1855, he went to Union College in Schenectady, New York, and graduated with honors in July 1858. In September 1858, he went to Columbia, Tennessee, and started working on the Tennessee and Alabama Railroad, which was later a part of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad.
In 1860, he went to Clarksville, Tennessee, as assistant superintendent of the Memphis, Clarksville and Louisville Railroad. By early April 1861, he was appointed general ticket and freight agent of the Memphis, Clarksville and Louisville Railroad. “A good office, worthily bestowed,” the Clarksville Jeffersonian newspaper observed.
When the Civil war broke out, he went to Memphis with the rolling stock of his railroad. He was here appointed general superintendent of the Mississippi and Tennessee Railroad. He retreated with the Confederates to Grenada, Mississippi, after the fall of Memphis.
At the close of the war, he went to Memphis as general superintendent of the Mississippi and Tennessee Railroad and established the company’s general offices there.
In 1871, he became superintendent of the Memphis and Little Rock Railroad and continued in this position until 1874, when he entered into a partnership with James W. Heath of the Chickasaw Iron Works, then spent some time with Randle, Heath & Livermore.
In 1881, he established the Livermore Foundry and Machine Company in Memphis and subsequently served as president of the company since that time. He has been a member of the Memphis board of education and the board of public works.