Thomas Ryan - Railway Guard

[Ryan1]

Dear Restorers,

Covid-19 lock down has enabled me to have a big clean up of my late Father's items amongst which was this damaged photo of my Great Uncles - Thomas Ryan who was a Railway Guard.  Would be very grateful please if the image could receive some assistance.  Many thanks, Daniel Ryan.

[tomkin]

              A quickie before din dins

[barryd]

Which Railway Company employed him?  His cap gives the Company name but not spelled out.

[tomkin]

 I thought at first that it was Fargo

[barryd]

The only Fargo that I know are an American Bank Wells Fargo and Fargo, North Dakota

[McGroger]

I think his cap just says "GUARD".
Peter

[tomkin]

Wells, Fargo and Co. merged with several other “Pony Express” and stagecoach lines in 1866 to become the unrivaled leader in transportation in the West. When the transcontinental railroad was completed three years later, the company began using railroad to transport its freight. By 1910, its shipping network connected 6,000 locations, from the urban centers of the East and the farming towns of the Midwest to the ranching and mining centers of Texas and California and the lumber mills of the Pacific Northwest.

After splitting from the freight business in 1905, the banking branch of the company merged with the Nevada National Bank and established new headquarters in San Francisco. During World War I, the U.S. government nationalized the company’s shipping routes and combined them with the railroads into the American Railway Express, effectively putting an end to Wells, Fargo and Co. as a transportation and delivery business. The following April, the banking headquarters was destroyed in a major earthquake, but the vaults remained intact and the bank’s business continued to grow. After two later mergers, the Wells Fargo Bank American Trust Company–shortened to the Wells Fargo Bank in 1962–became, and has remained, one of the biggest banking institutions in the United States.

Citation Information
Article Title
Wells and Fargo start shipping and banking company

Author
History.com Editors

Website Name
HISTORY

URL
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/wells-and-fargo-start-shipping-and-banking-company

Access Date
20 September 2020

Publisher
A&E Television Networks

Last Updated
March 17, 2020

Original Published Date
November 24, 2009

BY HISTORY.COM EDITORS

 But I think McGroger is right

[Trishanne]

I think it says Guard on his cap too. Here is a restore from me
Pat

[barryd]

I second that. Once the hat was identified it seems so obvious.

Reminds me when I was a teenager I was on a train heading from Whitby to York.

The train consisted of the Driver
                                the Fireman
                                the Guard
                                Myself

and that was it. Just the four of us. British Railways made no profit on that trip.

And of course there was me on other journeys from Kings Cross, heading north, first carriage, first compartment small sliding window open, soaked to the skin when the train headed through the water troughs as it proceeded north. Sadly no longer.

One more I promise. On an electric train from Croydon area to Wimbledon. Slow day. Train kept on stopping. Motorman would repeatedly get out then return to his cab. Looked out to see what was happening.
Bingo! There was a golf course on both sides and he was collecting the golf balls which were lost and not accessible to the golfers.