Joshua A. Leach

In December 1873, Leach got together with 11 other employees of the Erie Railroad to establish a new fraternal-benefit society, which they named the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen (B of LF).

In the evening of February 27, 1875, Leach held an organizing meeting in Terre Haute, Indiana, where he made the acquaintance of a young grocery warehouseman who had until recently worked as a locomotive fireman.

[4] Leach went to work for the Missouri Pacific Railroad,[2] soon gaining promotion from fireman to the better paid and more responsible position of engineer.

By the first decade of the 20th century, Leach had gained sufficient gravitas to earn the popular nickname "Dad" among locomotive enginemen.

[5] He was hired by the International Correspondence School for a position and worked briefly as a traveling instructor aboard an educational railway car.

[6] Visiting Denver, Colorado, to attend the triennial convention of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen & Enginemen in June 1919, Leach was stricken with a bout of pleurisy and chest pain.