GALESBURG, Ill. — Former Norfolk Southern CEO David Goode, 1880s Santa Fe President William Strong, and former Santa Fe CEO John Reed are the 2025 inductees to the National Railroad Hall of Fame, the Galesburg-based organization has announced.
The honorees were selected by the Hall of Fame’s national Rail Industry Advisory Group from among nine nominees. Nominees must have made a significant contribution to present or historical U.S. rail operations.
Goode joined Norfolk & Western in 1965 in the tax department, and worked his way up through the company to be named president, chairman, and CEO of NS in 1992. He led the NS effort in the struggle with CSX for acquisition of Conrail that led to Norfolk Southern acquiring 58% of that railroad, adding about 6,000 miles to NS. Goode retired in 2006 after 41 years in the rail industry.
Strong, who entered railroading in 1855, was named Santa Fe’s general manager in 1877 and president in 1881, overseeing construction of the railroad through Raton Pass to gain access to California, making it possible for the ATSF’s completion as the second transcontinental railroad in 1883. He also saw the railroad’s expansion from Kansas City to Chicago, creating the only direct Chicago-West Coast route for more than a century. He retired in 1889.
Reed joined the Santa Fe in 1939 after graduating from Yale with a degree in industrial engineering, and returned to the railroad after earning an MBTA from Harvard in 1955. As chairman and CEO of the railroad, and later of Sana Fe Industries, he coordinated the company’s three divisions — railway, natural resources, and energy — until his retirement in 1983. He came out of retirement in 1987-88 to complete the merger into Santa Fe Southern Pacific Industries. Reed died in 2008 at the age of 90.
Goode, Strong, and Reed join 48 previous inductees grouped into three eras: 1800 to 1865; 1866 to 1945, and 1946 to date.
The Hall of Fame’s long-running project to build a visitor’s center took a step forward earlier this year when the Galesburg city council approved a 99-year lease on land in the city’s Colton Park [see “Galesburg, Ill., council approves lease …,” Trains.com, July 9, 2025]. Last year, the Hall announced it had met a $7 million fundraising goal for that project and subsequently hired an architectural firm to design the building.
More information on the National Railroad Hall of Fame is available at its website.
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