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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.
James Matt Lowe
Conductor
Biography
Captain Matt Lowe (May 17, 1893-December 16, 1916), a native of Clarksville, Tennessee, joined the Louisville & Nashville Railroad circa 1857 and worked on the Memphis Branch. Early in his career, he worked with Conductor A.H. Haines.
On July 28, 1869, Lowe was the conductor on a Memphis, Clarksville & Louisville Railroad train when it crashed at Budds Creek near Clarksville, Tennessee.
He later lived in Louisville, Kentucky, and retired from the railroad in about 1906. When he died in December 1916, a newspaper called him the oldest living Louisville & Nashville conductor active or retired.