Mark-I think you need to indicate when and where. In my notebook of obscure railroad information I have a chart from a southern road in the post-civil war era that shows railroad employees broken down by race as well as position. There are no black engineers, conductors or station agents, but there are numerous black firemen, brakemen and more surprisingly baggage masters and assistant station positions. You also have blacks in a number of the craft positions in the machinery department as well as the expected numbers in more menial positions. One thing to note though is that this was during reconstruction when the state was effectively controlled by the U.S. Army. I do wonder if during the war there might have been occasions when some southern railroad with its staff depleted that used slaves or free blacks to operate trains.
There is a web page on the first black engineer in Florida here: http://www.heraldtribune.com/a...50217/NEWS/502170428
Supposedly there is a reference in Bebee's works about black engineers running some minor trains. I haven't tracked it down.
