George Westinghouse, Jr. was born in Central Bridge, New York, on October 6 1846. In the mid-1850s, his father, George Westinghouse Senior, established a factory in Schenectady, New York, where young George learned about mechanics, manufacturing, management, and business. After the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, the 15-year-old George ran away with two of his brothers to fight for the Union cause. One of the brothers was killed in action. George transferred to the Union Navy to become a ship's engineer.

George Westinghouse returned to Schenectady after the end of the war in 1865, where he studied engineering at Union College while he dreamed up new inventions, mostly related to railroads. At the time, the safety record of the railroads was appalling, and he became interested in designing improvements that would make trains safer and more efficient to operate.

His first major invention was a device to mount railroad cars back on tracks after they had been derailed. After watching a collision between two trains, he invented an improved braking system that could be operated by the locomotive engineer, without the delay of going through a brakeman.