Samuel Cochrane

Who is Samuel Cochrane?

Samuel Cochrane was an American railroad engineer who, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, was a locomotive engineer working the Erie-Meadville, Pennsylvania line later awarded the Order of the Red Spot.

Born to Cooper Samuel Cochrane, Sr. in Rochester, New York, he attended school until the age of 13 when he left to become a clerk in a local wholesale liquor warehouse. He continue work there throughout his teenage years until 1870 when he accepted a position as fireman on the Meadville-based Atlantic and Great Western Railroad line. He was engaged to Katherine Mitchell, the daughter of Erie engineer Joseph Mitchell, and married in November 1875.

After eight years of service, of which four years were spent on freight and another four on passenger, he passed the requirement to become an engineer receiving his official promotion in December 1878.

Cochrane continued running freight trains for another seventeen years and, although later allowed to run passenger trains, he requested to be transferred to local freight trains after two years.