I got several replies from Rowan Roots, some a little contradictory. Apparently if you can get the record from the Railroad Board (federal govt) for $16, you will get a very fully folder of the different railroads, dates, places of employment--these men tended to move a lot. >From what I can tell, even people under a railroad pension plan (which paid better) still had to register for a SS number, and apparently that number is what you need to get a search of the rr board records. You might try: http://www.rootsweb.com/~rwguide/lesson10.htm >From there, you can get a link to rootsweb SS index (not complete), and this appears to be fuller than the one on Ancestry.com. I think I may have found my fellow's SS number and month/year of death, but not sure yet. This registration appears to have been in 1937 for everyone, not in 1933 as I assumed. Others have told me that from the rr board they got a full record of which railroad in which year etc. I would love to have this and will probably order from the board now that I have the SS number. If you are interested in railroads in the New England area, try: http://www.rrhistorical.com/rrdata/ Betty On Mon, 10 Apr 2000 08:35:29 -0700 "Tegwin Matenaer" <tegwinart@snowcrest.net> writes: >did you ever get a reply to this? I'd like to know also as an older >brother >to my dad was a retired RR man along with several older relatives, >thanks, >teg >----- Original Message ----- >From: Betty A. Pace <bapace2@juno.com> >To: <NCGUILFO-L@rootsweb.com> >Sent: Sunday, April 09, 2000 12:48 AM >Subject: [NCGUILFO] Railroad Retirement > > >> In 1933 when the Social Security system was begun, apparently >employees >> of the railroads were exempt. Therefore, they never participated in >the >> Social Security program and have no records there. >> >> How did railroad retirement work? Was it a separate federal program >or >> was there a pension fund handled by each individual railroad >company? >> Where would these records be held? >> >> Betty Pace - Norfolk, VA >> >> ________________________________________________________________ >> YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! >> Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! >> Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: >> http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. >> > ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.