Theodore (Dehone) Judah

Engineer and railroad builder, born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA. He studied engineering and worked for the railroads of the Connecticut Valley area until 1854. He went West and became the chief engineer of the Sacramento Valley Railroad. Travelling in the California mountains, he developed the idea of a transcontinental railroad, and wrote a pamphlet (1857) which persuaded Collis Huntington, Leland Stanford, and others to join him in organizing the Central Pacific Railroad Company (1861). The Huntington group bought him out for $100 000 (1863). He died of typhoid fever before the project was completed.

Theodore Dehone Judah (March 4, 1826 - November 2, 1863) was an American engineer who dreamed of the First Transcontinental Railroad and launched the Central Pacific Railroad

He was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Theodore Judah was known as "Crazy Judah" because of his single-minded passion for driving a railroad through the wall of mountains known as the Sierra Nevada, something that was considered impossible by many at the time.

As the chief engineer of the Central Pacific Railroad, he surveyed the route over the Sierra Nevadas along which the railroad was eventually built during the 1860s. His tireless lobbying efforts in Washington D.C., and those of his wife Anna, were also largely responsible for the passage of the 1862 Pacific Railroad Act, which authorized construction of the Transcontinental Railroad. Judah broke with the Big Four who bought him out in 1863; Construction was completed in 1869, but only a small part of the railroad followed Judah's plans.

The CP generally ignored Judah, though it did name one of its steam locomotives (CP No. Ironically, the 19 ton locomotive, already bearing his name, crossed paths with Judah on his fateful trip to New York. There is no disagreement that he was an incurable optimist who popularized the remarkable plan of building a transcontinental railroad, convinced the Big Four to finance it, and was instrumental in securing Congressional passage of the 1862 law.

Some historians speculate that if he had been in charge the political situation of the late 19th century would have been less corrupt, but they have no evidence one way or the other. These historians tend to agree with Judah's allegations that Judah stood for quality, whereas the Big Four were more interested in speedy development at maximum profit to themselves.

Many historians, however, agree with the Big Four that Judah was a brilliant visionary but a careless engineer--an astonishingly good promoter, but not a builder.