Historic railroad run by man actually named John Galt

[Stuart K. Hayashi]

I cannot discern any philosophic implications from this information, but I do find it to be a rather interesting coincidence.

On the Big Island of Hawai'i, there was a railroad whose president was named John Galt.

This is from Gerald M. Best's Railroads of Hawaii: ...Narrow and Standard Gauge Common Carriers (San Marino, CA: Golden West Books, 1978), pages 137-138:

At a foreclosure proceeding held on March 1, 1916, [benjamin Franklin Dillingham's Hilo Railroad] was sold for $1,000,000 to the bondholders, including Theo H. Davies Ltd., agents in Honolulu. They reorganized the company as the Hawaii Consolidated Railway and issued two series of preferred stock to the old bondholders, of which the senior issue of 7 percent was the only one of any value. . . .

The new owners appointed J. R. Galt president and retained the venerable Lorrin M. Thurston as general manager, but the latter soon resigned and was replaced by R. W. Fuller {emphasis added --S.H.}.

J. R. Galt's full name was John Randolph Galt.

I found more information about him from Men of Hawaii: A Biographical Record of Men of Substantial Achievement in the Hawaiian Islands, Vol. V revised, ed. George F. Nellist, (Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii: The Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Ltd., 1935).

Page 201 marks the start of the entry for John R. Galt:

Galt, John Randolph: Financier; President and Manager, Hawaiian Trust Co., Ltd.

Born June 5, 1867 {nine decades before what I consider a very important year --S.H.} at Newburgh, New York, son of John and Ann Eveline (Roberts) Galt; married Agnes Carter in Honolulu, May 18, 1892 (Mrs. Galt died November 14, 1927); children, John (died March 6, 1932), and Charles Lunt Carter Galt, now assistant Vice President of the Hawaiian Trust Company, Ltd. . . .

In addition to his connection with the Hawaiian Trust Company, Mr. Galt is an officer and Director of many other Hawaii corporations, including C. Brewer Estate, Ltd., the John Ii Estate, Ltd., the Hawaii Consolidated Railway, Ltd. , Mutual Telephone Company, C. Brewer and Company, Ltd., American Factors, Ltd., Hawaiian Agricultural Company, Ltd., Lewers & Cooke, Ltd., and Lihue, Ewa and Waialua plantations.

Mr. Galt's civic activities are comprehensive. He has served as chairman and president of numerous social betterment movements, including the United Welfare Campaign, Palama Settlement, Social Service Bureau, the Queen's Hospital and Oahu Cemetery Association {emphasis added --S.H.}.

Page 202 adds:

He served as Chairman of the former Territorial Tax Board under appointment by Governor L. M. Judd. In 1934 he was again appointed to the Territorial Tax Board by Governor J. B. Poindexter.

John R. Galt was a railroad executive and a tax collector. Yikes! :logik:

When I told a friend of mine -- another student of Objectivism -- about this, he replied that it was too bad that this industrialist couldn't live up to the glory of his name.

One might say this isn't a big deal; a character in Atlas Shrugged even remarks that "John Galt" is such a common name that a John Galt is listed among Taggart Transcontinental's personnel.

However, I still find this coincidence pretty cool. B)

[Stuart K. Hayashi]

Hmmm, interesting that "Rand" is in the middle name of John Randolph Galt. I hadn't really noticed that when posting the above.

[Chris Grieb]

Maybe Barbara Branden can tell us something about the choosing of the names. Are characters in a book checked to see if anyone else has that name. I think this is the reason for the disclaimer : No person depicted in this film is based on any person living or dead.

[galtgulch]

I cannot discern any philosophic implications from this information, but I do find it to be a rather interesting coincidence.

<<<On the Big Island of Hawai'i, there was a railroad whose president was named John Galt.>>>

There is something about railroads which stirs the imagination and makes my heart beat faster. Today as my wife and I saw our daughter in law's father off onto an AMtrack train the conductor stepped off the train onto the platform to guide passengers aboard. Almost without thinking I hailed him and asked him if he had ever read Atlas Shrugged, a book in which railroads figure prominently. I mentioned that the heroine is the vice president in charge of operations of a transcontinental railroad. I told him that I assumed that since he works for the railroad that he must love railroads and trains.

As he stepped back on the train before it sped silently away, he said with a smile, "Not really!"

I try not to miss opportunities to suggest Atlas Shrugged but it doesn't always work out.

galtgulch (no relation)

Edited November 25, 2006 by Michael Stuart Kelly

[Rich Engle]

Ah, railroads.

I was raised in that world. My father was a lifelong railroad man, on the business side. Southern Pacific/Cotton Belt RR.

So I grew up both in the business world of it (at one point he had offices on Madison Ave. in NYC) and also having pretty much carte blance around the yards. I always had a couple of railroad spikes sitting around my bedroom.

Another thing that was awesome was having discounts/free passes on the trains. I got to do overnight trips on Pullmans, and such.

Yes, RR's are very significant, if you are into industrialism/business and such.

rde

EDIT: How powerful this is... My ladyfriend (whose fave book is Atlas) and I spend our intimate time in a city that has like 9 sets of tracks running laterally through it. It turned into a thing... One time, she said/in bed, upon the occasion: "Whenever you hear the train whistle, the train coming, think of me." And I do!

Edited November 25, 2006 by Rich Engle