John Hankey is an independent scholar, historian, and railroader. A native of Baltimore, he served the B&O Railroad in a variety of capacities including company historian, locomotive engineer, and Curator of the B&O Railroad Museum. He holds a BS from the John Hopkins University, an MA as a Hagley Fellow at the University of Delaware, and did further graduate study at the University of Chicago. Presently he is an adjunct professor in the Department of History at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, and a consultant to railroad museums and historic preservation projects throughout the United States.