Chicago Rock Island and Pacific Railway RailRoad Employee List 1947-1950

Hi All,

Would someone possibly have an Employee list 1947-1950 for the above Rail Road, or know where I can source the info from?

That may be a tuff request Bila. The C.R.I.P. Railway spread over many States and into the Rockies, across the Midwest connecting Chicago with Minneapolis, Omaha, St. Louis, and Memphis as well as reaching Denver, Dallas/Fort Worth, and Galveston. I imagine there were over 7,000-8,000 miles of territory with many sub-divisions and many many employees at many many different locations within 13-15 States. The old railroad was finally merged and it was defunct by 1980.

Here's a picture of a C.R.I.P. fleet leader, an old M-50 coal burner, engine # 4045 pulling a C.R.I.P. freight train through Council Bluffs, Iowa in July 1948. The locomotive was a 4-8-2 built by ALCO in 1926, had 74" tall drivers, weighed 378,500 lbs. and was retired in 1953. The car next to the locomotive hauled the coal for the locomotive to burn and was called a coal "tender" car, when fully loaded with coal for a run the "tender" weighed 352,400 lbs.

Good Luck !!

regards,
bb

Thanks for the reply Buster, I have a Watch Inspector's card for a Bunn Special, it has the Empoyee's name on it and that he work in the Western Division. The Inspector was out of Kansas City. Not to many with the Same name as on the cardin the US Census when I did a search. looks like the employee come from the same area if I have the correct person from the Census records. Just want to see what his employment number was to trace the history. I also have the watch that's on the card, maybe I'll contact a Historical Society over your way to see if they know.

You just have to love those old Steam Locos, beautiful pieces of machinery aren't they.

Cheers
Bila

Bila, That's a nice find to have, a watch with a card to go along with it.Is that a 60 HR. Bunn Special?Good luck in your search.Best regards, Ted.

Wow 74 inch drivers ,i bet it had a great top speed , some of these larger loco's burned 4 ton of coal an hour

Sorry I have taken so long to get back Ted, the watch is not a 60 hour, just the run of the mill 21 Jewel Bun Special, still a nice watch and as you say great to have with the watch inspectors card.

Bila - try here:

http://www.rrb.gov/mep/genealogy.asp

There is a $27 fee but if you wanted to find more info.


Genealogy Research

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Effective October 1, 2010, many requests for genealogical information concerning railroad workers will be handled by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) rather than the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB). However, some requests will continue to be handled by the RRB. Genealogists and family historians should still initially contact the RRB with their requests. We will determine whether the RRB or NARA has the information requested.

Genealogists should note the following:

The U.S. Railroad Retirement Board administers a Federal retirement benefit program covering the nation's railroad workers. The records we maintain deal primarily with the administration and payment of these benefits. We will provide information on deceased persons for the purpose of genealogical research. However, we will not release information on a person who is still living without the written consent of that person.

Our records are limited to individuals who worked in the rail industry after 1936. Please do not contact us with requests for records before that date. We do not have that information. Nor do we generally have any pertinent records of persons whose rail service was performed on a casual basis and/or was of short duration. Also, the RRB's records are only on persons whose employers were covered under the Railroad Retirement Act. Employers such as streetcar, interurban, or suburban electric railways are not covered under this Act.
Fee

The fee for searching our records is currently $27 for each employee on whom records are requested. Your check or money order should be made payable to the Railroad Retirement Board. The fee is payable before any search is attempted. If we determine that NARA has custody of the requested records, you will be informed of that and your inquiry and payment will be returned to you with information on how to contact NARA. However, the fee is not refundable if, after a search is conducted, we determine that no records exist.

What We Need

The RRB's records are kept by the railroad employee's social security number (SSN), which often appears on a death certificate. In some cases, if that number is not available, having the employee's full name, including middle name or initial, and complete dates of birth and death may be of some help in determining whether we have any records of that person. However, in dealing with relatively common surnames, it is usually not possible to make a positive identification without the employee's SSN.

Where to Send Requests

Requests for genealogical information and accompanying checks should be sent to:

U.S. Railroad Retirement Board
Congressional Inquiry Section
844 North Rush Street
Chicago, Illinois 60611-1275

Generally, the RRB requires at least 30-60 days to reply to ge