Aldace F. Walker - Transportation Leadership

Transportation Leadership

After the war, Walker studied law and began his practice in New York City in 1867. In 1870 he became a partner in the firm where he worked on many cases involving rail transport, including the land appropriation for the Spuyten Duyvil and Port Morris Railway which would connect the Hudson River Railroad and the New York and Harlem Railroad.

When the senior partner in Walker's firm died, the practice was broken up and Walker moved to Rutland, Vermont, where he joined the practice of Prout, Simons & Walker. In this position too, Walker worked on cases that involved local railroads including the Rutland Railroad, Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, Vermont and Canada Railroad, Vermont Central Railroad and others until he left the firm to become a member of the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) in Washington, D.C.

In 1889 he resigned his position at the ICC to become the chairman of the Interstate Commerce Railway Association, and later the same role for the Western Traffic Association. Walker assumed the Santa Fe's presidency when Joseph Reinhart resigned on August 8, 1894.

When the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad (A&P) filed for bankruptcy, Walker and John J. McCook, another executive with the Santa Fe, were appointed as the A&P's receivers in December 1895. At this time, Walker stepped down from the Santa Fe's presidency, but remained on the Board of Directors as Chairman.