He served on or headed several government railroad commissions in World War I and appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1932 due to his part in negotiating wage cuts in the Great Depression.

On his father's side, he was descended from colonist Thomas Hastings who came from the East Anglia region of England to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1634.

In four years he worked his way up the career ladder to become a locomotive engineer on the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway.

In 1899 he followed his mentor, Frederick D. Underwood, to the Baltimore and Ohio for the first time, taking a position as Assistant General Manager.

[6] In 1904 James J. Hill convinced him to take a position as Vice President in charge of operations on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad.

In January 1918, he resigned in order to devote personal attention to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.