Looking for Railroad Records?

Looking for some information for someone who "worked on the railroad"?  The Mid-continent Public Library | |Genealogy Center (one of our sister FamilySearch libraries) has a database search center called "Quick Look"

Now you can find out! For the first time ever, you can search the index to over 1.5 million pension records from the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board for free online through the MCPL|GC website.

The railroad pension files are actually housed by the National Archives in Atlanta and these files can be of particular importance to genealogists and historians. The years covered by the Genealogy Quick Look span from 1936 to the early 2000s. Pensions can include a wealth of valuable information including the possibility of birth or marriage certificates, but they can also be limited to more basic information on the person and their family.

The information found within these records will be of interest to genealogists and historical researchers. The U.S. Railroad Retirement Board administers a Federal retirement benefit program covering the nation's railroad workers. The Inactive Claim Folders deal primarily with the administration and payment of these benefits.

The Railroad Retirement Board continues to retain ownership of claim files deemed to be active. Records transferred to NARA have been inactive for at least seven years.

Read the blog post here

Following is a screen shot result of a search from the "Quick Look" and the page from the National Archives regarding ordering copies of these records.