By Railfan & Railroad Staff

H. Roger Grant, one of America’s preeminent railroad historians and authors, died on November 17. He was 79 years old.

Grant had authored or edited more than 40 books, many of which stand as seminal works on their subjects, including histories of the Rock Island, Chicago & North Western and Erie Lackawanna. Other notable titles included “Railroads and the American People” (2012), “Railroaders Without Borders: A History of the Railroad Development Corporation” (2015), and “The Station Agent and the American Railroad Experience” (2022). He also served as the editor of Railroad History magazine. 

Grant was born in Iowa and received a PhD in history from the University of Missouri. From 1970 until 1996, he taught at the University of Akron before going to work at Clemson University. He was planning to retire from Clemson at the end of this semester. 

Roger was heavily involved in the railroad preservation community and served on the boards of the Lexington Group in Transportation History, John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library, and the Center for Railroad Photography & Art. 

In 2015, Trains Magazine named Grant one of the 75 most important people in railroading. The late Jim Wrinn wrote, “If there’s a chapter of railroad history that this scholar hasn’t researched, we don’t know what it is. Grant makes railroad history relevant to new generations.”