The U.S. Railroad Retirement Board administers a Federal
retirement benefit program covering the nation's railroad workers.
The records it maintains deal primarily with the administration and
payment of these benefits. The Board will provide information
from its records on deceased persons for the purpose of genealogical
research. However, it will not release information on persons
who are still living without the written consent of that person.
The fee for searching our records is
currently $27 for each employee on whom records are requested.
The fee is payable before any search is attempted. It is not
refundable, even if we are unable to locate the information
requested or if the file has been destroyed. Your check or
money order should be made payable to the Railroad Retirement Board,
and sent to the Office of Public Affairs, Railroad Retirement Board,
844 North Rush Street, Chicago, Illinois 60611-2092.
The Railroad Retirement Board, like the
Social Security Administration, was not established until the
mid-1930's, and it began maintaining its own records of all covered
rail service in 1937. Therefore, the Board's service records are
limited to individuals who worked in the rail industry after 1936.
If a person was not actually working for a railroad after 1936, he
or she would not be listed in these records. Nor would
the Board generally have any pertinent records of persons whose rail
service was performed on a casual basis and/or was of short
duration. Also, the Board's records are only on persons whose
employers were covered under the Railroad Retirement Act. Employers
such as street, interurban, or suburban electric railways are not
covered under this Act.
The Board's records are kept by the
railroad employee's social security number and a person's social
security number often appears on his or her 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 social security number. (Here
is a good source
for SSA numbers.)
Requests for
genealogical information should be sent directly to:
U.S. Railroad Retirement Board
Office of Public Affairs
844 North Rush Street
Chicago, Illinois 60611-2092.
Generally, the Board requires at least
30-60 days to reply to genealogical inquiries.
Other Sources
- Here is a
good non-federal source for locating
Social Security numbers (the Social Security Death Index).
Please be aware this index is not complete, especially in
cases where the person died over forty years ago. We
will attempt to locate the number for you, but it helps if you
can supply that information.
- Local
Historical Societies are a good
source for railroad information.
Enter the link above and run a search on "historical
societies, trains and railroads".
- Cyndi's List has a
page of railroad resources for
genealogists.
-
National Archives and Records Administration has records
on railroad accidents.
-
Frisco Papers--independent
collection of information regarding the St Louis San Francisco
Railway and more
- Virginia Historical Society
Online Catalog--numerous manuscript items relating to
the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac railroad
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