The National Railroad Hall of Fame honored three rail industry icons in an induction ceremony on Nov. 19 at Union Station Kansas City: Downing B. Jenks, Arthur E. Stilwell and Paul M. Tellier.
Arthur E. Stilwell (Oct. 12, 1859 – Sept. 26, 1928) founded the Kansas City, Pittsburg & Gulf Railroad, a predecessor of Kansas City Southern and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC). He served as KCP&G president from 1897 to 1900. Stilwell was born in Rochester, N.Y. With money he made selling insurance policies, he began building the Kansas City Suburban Belt Railway. He envisioned connecting Kansas City to the Gulf of Mexico by rail. He began building and acquiring rail lines for the KCP&G. Stilwell plotted many townsites toward the Gulf, including Mena, Ark.; Stilwell, Okla.; and Port Arthur, Tex.
Setbacks including lawsuits, a hurricane and yellow fever caused financial problems for the otherwise successful venture, and on April 1, 1899, the KCP&G entered receivership. The Kansas City Southern Railway Corporation was created to acquire the KCP&G, its subsidiaries and the Port Arthur facilities, and in the process, Stilwell lost control of his railroad. Unfazed, Stilwell announced plans to build a railroad connecting Kansas City with the Pacific Ocean and organized the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient Railway. Although progress was made, financial problems and the Mexican Revolution put this company in receivership in March 1912.
Stilwell is credited with building more than 2,300 miles of railroad in his lifetime, founding more than 40 cities, and launching the vision for a railroad to Mexico, which would ultimately be fulfilled through the Kansas City Southern and CPKC.
Downing B. Jenks (Aug. 16, 1915 – Oct. 26, 1996) was born in Portland, Ore. He graduated from Yale University and was a third-generation railroader. He served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army in Africa and Europe in World War II.
Jenks started as a chainman on the Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway in 1934. From 1949 through 1961, he worked for the Rock Island Lines, rising to President. He joined the Missouri Pacific as President and CEO in 1961 and launched a major overhaul of the railroad. Under Jenks’ leadership, Missouri Pacific became known as one of the best managed and maintained railroads in the country. He was a pioneer in the early days of computer-guided rail technology. In April 1961, to save money, Jenks introduced a simplified paint scheme for the railroad’s locomotives that became known as “Jenks Blue.”
By the 1980s, the MoPac owned 11,469 miles of rail line in 11 states bounded by Chicago in the East; Pueblo, Colo., in the West; Omaha in the North; Laredo, Tex., on the U.S.-Mexico border; and southeast along the Gulf seaports of Louisiana and Texas. The line was a major hauler of coal, grain, ore, autos, chemicals, dry goods and shipping containers. In December 1982, Union Pacific Corp. acquired Missouri Pacific Corp. Jenks then joined the Union Pacific board of directors and retired a year later.
Paul M. Tellier was born in 1939 in Joliette, Quebec. He earned a law degree from the University of Ottawa and joined the Canadian civil service. In 1985, he became the top-ranking Canadian civil servant when he was appointed Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary to the Cabinet. In 1992, he was tapped by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney to become President and Chief Executive Officer of the Montreal-based Canadian National Railway (CN), a Crown Corporation. Badly underperforming and a burden on taxpayers, the government decided to privatize the CN, and it was Tellier’s job to lead the process.
Tellier reduced the size of the CN workforce from 36,000 to 17,000 by 2000. As a result, productivity per employee rose by one-third and revenue per employee grew some 30% by the end of 2000. He aggressively pursued savings to improve the railroad’s cost basis and earn the investment-grade credit rating needed to attract shareholders. In November 1995, the CN was privatized. At C$2.2 billion, it was the largest IPO in Canadian history. For his leadership, Tellier was named Railway Age’s 1997 Railroader of the Year.
To gain direct access to U.S. markets, Tellier engineered purchase of the Illinois Central. The two railroads officially merged in 1999, and two years later, CN purchased the Wisconsin Central Railway to gain access to the upper Midwest. Tellier’s business plan of selected expansion and reductions in force allowed the CN to turn a profit.
In January 2003, left CN and joined Bombardier, Inc. In December 2004, he became chairman of GCT Global Container Terminals, before retiring in 2016.
“Stories of the lives of inductees tell of our shared history as Americans,” said Hall of Fame Executive Director Julie King. “Their life’s work helped build our nation and shape our collective future.”
Brooks Bentz, Chair of the NRRHOF Rail Industry Advisory Group, said, “This is a class of visionary railroaders, all of whom refocused their lines from an east-west to a north-south axis to take advantage of expanding North American trade.”
The National Railroad Hall of Fame is located in Galesburg, Ill. The organization honors the men and women of American railroading. In telling their stories, the Hall of Fame educates the public about the role railroads play in the daily life of the nation.
