The Heroes of Atlas Shrugged

Dagny Taggart

Slender and beautiful, engineer Dagny Taggart is the brilliant head of operations of the Taggart Transcontinental railroad.
We meet her riding in a passenger coach after being awake for two nights trying to solve the problem of how to keep the decaying rail lines in operation. The company, at the insistence of her incompetent brother Jim, the company president, has wasted millions building an unproductive charity line to Mexico.
Dagny has dozed off and the train has stopped suddenly in the darkness. Shocked to hear that the train has been stationary for an hour, she walks rapidly along the track to the engine. It is only after she has issued her orders to the surprised staff standing by the track, and is returning to her passenger compartment, that the brakeman asks the engineer who she is.

'"That's who runs Taggart Transcontinental," said the engineer; the respect in his voice was genuine. "That's the Vice-President in Charge of Operation."'⁵

As the economy collapses and Colorado becomes America's last hope, Dagny sees it as vital to the country's remaining producers, and thus the continued survival of the railway, that the branch line to Colorado is built.

Her brother Jim fears public condemnation if the new and untested Rearden Metal is used. Dagny has checked the lab tests of the metal and is convinced that the metal will produce rails far superior to those of steel.

'"Well whose opinion did you take ?" [asks Jim.]
"I don't ask for opinions."
"What do you go by?"
"Judgment."
"Well whose judgment did you take?"
"Mine."
"But whom did you consult about it?"
"Nobody."
"Then what on earth do you know about Rearden Metal?"
"That it's the greatest thing ever put on the market."
"Why?"
"Because it's tougher than steel, cheaper than steel and will outlast any hunk of metal in existence."
"But who says so?"
"Jim, I studied engineering in college. When I see things, I see them."
"What did you see?"
"Rearden's formula and the tests he showed me."'⁶

Like all great innovators, she is not put off by the opinion of the board or the public.

She single-handledly raises the money and overcomes enormous obstacles (the loss of the men of competence, an increasingly dictatorial government, the smearing of the metal by the State Science Institute, and condemnation by unions) to complete the building of the branch line.
When the line is finally ready, as she rides in the first engine at 100 mph to test the line, she enters the engine room to look at the generators.

‘She had wanted to see them, because the sense of triumph within her was bound to them, to her love for them, to the reason of the life-work she had chosen.’⁷

Near the end of the run, the train rounds a curve and down below them they see the new bridge of Rearden Metal crossing the canyon.

'They were flying down . . . she watched the bridge growing to meet them - a small square tunnel of metal lace work, a few beams criss-crossed through the air, green-blue and glowing . . . She heard the rising accelerating sound of the wheels . . .they were going faster, they had left the ground, she thought . . . they were now sailing through space - it's not a fair test, she thought, we're not going to touch that bridge . . . they heard a ringing blast of metal, they heard a drum roll under their feet, the diagonals of the bridge went smearing across the windows with the sound of a metal rod being run along the pickets of a fence . . . then the sweep of their downward plunge was carrying them up a hill . . .'⁸

By defying public opinion and using the untested metal for her rails and a revolutionary bridge design, Dagny has shown the world the greatness of the metal. The orders start to pile up for it. Rearden later tells Dagny:

'"The reporters kept asking me what you were like. A young boy from a local sheet kept saying that you were a great woman. . . . He's right. That future that they're all talking and trembling about - it will be as you made it, because you had the courage none of them could conceive of. All the roads to wealth that they're scrambling for now, it's your strength that broke them open. The strength to stand against everyone. The strength to recognise no will but your own."'⁹

Hank Rearden

Tall and gaunt with ash blond hair and icy light blue eyes, Hank Rearden the famously successful steel industrialist, started work in the iron mines at the age of 14. We read that on the first day:

‘He stood, cursing himself, because he had made up his mind that he would not be tired. After a while he went back to his task; he decided that pain was not a valid reason for stopping.’¹⁰