Skip to main content

This version of the website was created in 2025. See the Site Information Page for contact information, data downloads, and other details.

Railroad Workers, 1850s

Few original images remain of railroad workers in the 1850s, especially of construction crews, whether free labor or enslaved. Northern railroad companies employed thousands of men on their payrolls in a dizzying array of occupations.

LOC caption: Occupational portrait of three railroad workers standing on crank handcar

About this Document

  • Source: Railroad workers, 1850s.
  • Author: Unknown
  • Publisher: DAG no. 1187. Daguerreotype collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.
  • Date: 1850