Railroads and the American People

Railroads and the American People
Author: H. Roger Grant
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 329
Release: 2012-10-17
Genre: Transportation
ISBN: 0253006333

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Railroads and the American People is a sparkling paean to American railroading by one of its finest historians.

Railroads Across North America

Railroads Across North America
Author: Claude Wiatrowski
Publisher: Voyageur Press
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2007-09-15
Genre: Transportation
ISBN: 161060136X

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From the first steam-powered locomotives of the early nineteenth century to the high-speed commuter trains of today, the American railroad has been a great engine powering the nations growth and industry. This book celebrates the glory and grandeur of that legacy with a lavish tour of the history of the American railroad and the culture surrounding it. Generously illustrated with vintage photographs, modern images, maps, timetables, tickets, brochures, and all manner of memorabilia, this volume offers a fascinating look at the rail industrys beginnings and development, as well as its place in American history. From the might of the major rail companies and their empires to the romance of rail travel, this is the full and fabulously colorful story of the industry that moved a nation--and stirs our imaginations to this day.

The Great Railroad Revolution

The Great Railroad Revolution
Author: Christian Wolmar
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Total Pages: 450
Release: 2012-09-25
Genre: Transportation
ISBN: 1610391802

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America was made by the railroads. The opening of the Baltimore & Ohio line -- the first American railroad -- in the 1830s sparked a national revolution in the way that people lived thanks to the speed and convenience of train travel. Promoted by visionaries and built through heroic effort, the American railroad network was bigger in every sense than Europe's, and facilitated everything from long-distance travel to commuting and transporting goods to waging war. It united far-flung parts of the country, boosted economic development, and was the catalyst for America's rise to world-power status. Every American town, great or small, aspired to be connected to a railroad and by the turn of the century, almost every American lived within easy access of a station. By the early 1900s, the United States was covered in a latticework of more than 200,000 miles of railroad track and a series of magisterial termini, all built and controlled by the biggest corporations in the land. The railroads dominated the American landscape for more than a hundred years but by the middle of the twentieth century, the automobile, the truck, and the airplane had eclipsed the railroads and the nation started to forget them. In The Great Railroad Revolution, renowned railroad expert Christian Wolmar tells the extraordinary story of the rise and the fall of the greatest of all American endeavors, and argues that the time has come for America to reclaim and celebrate its often-overlooked rail heritage.

Electric Interurbans and the American People

Electric Interurbans and the American People
Author: H. Roger Grant
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2016-10-31
Genre: Transportation
ISBN: 0253023203

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“A well-written social history of the shortest-lived major US transportation mode” from the railway historian and author of A Mighty Fine Road (Choice). One of the most intriguing yet neglected pieces of American transportation history, electric interurban railroads were designed to assist shoppers, salesmen, farmers, commuters, and pleasure-seekers alike with short distance travel. At a time when most roads were unpaved and horse and buggy travel were costly and difficult, these streetcar-like electric cars were essential to economic growth. But why did interurban fever strike so suddenly and extensively in the Midwest and other areas? Why did thousands of people withdraw their savings to get onto what they believed to be a “gravy train?” How did officials of competing steam railroads respond to these challenges to their operations? H. Roger Grant explores the rise and fall of this fleeting form of transportation that started in the early 1900s and was defunct just 30 years later. Perfect for railfans, Electric Interurbans and the American People is a comprehensive contribution for those who love the flanged wheel. “With this book, the subject no longer has footnote status. In fact, Grant’s work deserves a place alongside some of the other landmark surveys of the subject . . . Here, Grant moves beyond the receiverships, the rickety track, and all that fascinating rolling stock. He shows us why the whole darned thing mattered.” —Railroad History “H. Roger Grant has produced a fine social history of America’s electric interurbans, exploring the relationship between people and those railway enterprises. The book fills a void, is eminently readable, and richly illustrated.” —Don L. Hofsommer, author of Off the Main Lines

Metropolitan Corridor

Metropolitan Corridor
Author: John R. Stilgoe
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 1983
Genre: HISTORY
ISBN: 9780300236330

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An engaging and delightfully illustrated account of the impact of railroads on the American built environment and on American culture from the last decades of the nineteenth century to the 1930s. "One of the most important [books] of the season, a wonderful piece of social history."--Ivan R. Dee, Chicago Tribune "Stilgoe ransacks magazines, ads, novels, poems, to create what is really 10 books crammed into one, dense with vivid fact and alluring conjecture. The chapter on trolleys alone is worth the price of the book. So is the one entitled 'Cinema.' A classic-to-be."--Robert Campbell, Boston Sunday Globe "An impressive new study.... Here in wonderful detail are the trains and the built environment adjacent to the right-of-way they traveled.... A stunning spatial analysis of the transformations wrought by the railroads."--Delores Greenberg, The New York Times Book Review "A honey of a book: scholarly, joyous, absorbing in its detail, often arresting in its insights... and packed with vintage photos and drawings."--Kirkus Reviews "An original, engaging, instructive, and wonderfully evocative book."--Leo Marx, The New York Review of Books "Whether we are enthusiasts, scholars, buffs, commuters, or Amtrak riders, Stilgoe offers us a new way to look at railroads and railroading."--Keith L. Bryant, Jr., Railroad History.

Transportation and the American People

Transportation and the American People
Author: H. Roger Grant
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 266
Release: 2019-10-01
Genre: Transportation
ISBN: 0253043344

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Transportation is the unsung hero in America’s story. Stagecoaches, waterways, canals, railways, busses, and airplanes revolutionized much more than just the way people got around; they transformed the economic, political, and social aspects of everyday life. In Transportation and the American People, renowned historian H. Roger Grant tells the story of American transportation from its slow, uncomfortable, and often dangerous beginnings to the speed and comfort of travel today. Early advances like stagecoaches and canals allowed traders, business, and industry to expand across the nation, setting the stage for modern developments like transcontinental railways and busses that would forever reshape the continent. Grant provides a compelling and thoroughly researched narrative of the social history of travel, shining a light on the role of transportation in shaping the country and on the people who helped build it.

The Story of American Railroads

The Story of American Railroads
Author: Stewart H. Holbrook
Publisher: New York : Crown Publishers
Total Pages: 536
Release: 1947
Genre: Americana
ISBN:

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The birth and development of our national railroad system, the men who built it in spite of weather, politicians, desert, and rivals; the ingenuity and inventiveness used to improve constantly devices and techniques in railroading.

Railroads and American Law

Railroads and American Law
Author: James W. Ely, Jr.
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
Total Pages: 376
Release: 2001-12-06
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0700611444

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No enterprise is so seductive as a railroad for the influence it exerts, the power it gives, and the hope of gain it offers.—Poor's Manual of Railroads (1900) At its peak, the railroad was the Internet of its day in its transformative impact on American life and law. A harbinger and promoter of economic empire, it was also the icon of a technological revolution that accelerated national expansion and in the process transformed our legal system. James W. Ely Jr., in the first comprehensive legal history of the rail industry, shows that the two institutions-the railroad and American law-had a profound influence on each other. Ely chronicles how "America's first big business" impelled the creation of a vast array of new laws in a country where long-distance internal transport had previously been limited to canals and turnpikes. Railroads, the first major industry to experience extensive regulation, brought about significant legal innovations governing interstate commerce, eminent domain, private property, labor relations, and much more. Much of this development was originally designed to serve the interests of the railroads themselves but gradually came to contest and control the industry's power and exploitative tendencies. As Ely reveals, despite its great promise and potential as an engine of prosperity and uniter of far-flung regions, the railroad was not universally admired. Railroads uprooted people, threatened local autonomy, and posed dangers to employees and the public alike-situations with unprecedented legal ramifications. Ely explores the complex and sometimes contradictory ways in which those ramifications played out, as railroads crossed state lines and knitted together a diverse nation with thousands of miles of iron rail. Epic in its scope, Railroads and American Law makes a complex subject accessible to a wide range of readers, from legal historians to railroad buffs, and shows the many ways in which a powerful industry brought change and innovation to America.

The Men Who Loved Trains

The Men Who Loved Trains
Author: Rush Loving
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 383
Release: 2006-05-21
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0253000645

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An award-winning account of a crisis in railroad history: “This absorbing book takes you on an entertaining ride.” —Chicago Tribune A saga about one of the oldest and most romantic enterprises in the land—America’s railroads—The Men Who Loved Trains introduces the chieftains who have run the railroads, both those who set about grabbing power and big salaries for themselves, and others who truly loved the industry. As a journalist and associate editor of Fortune magazine who covered the demise of Penn Central and the creation of Conrail, Rush Loving often had a front-row seat to the foibles and follies of this group of men. He uncovers intrigue, greed, lust for power, boardroom battles, and takeover wars and turns them into a page-turning story. He recounts how the chairman of CSX Corporation, who later became George W. Bush’s Treasury secretary, managed to make millions for himself while his company drifted in chaos. Yet there were also those who loved trains and railroading—and who played key roles in reshaping transportation in the northeastern United States. This book will delight not only the rail fan, but anyone interested in American business and history. Includes photographs

North American Railroads

North American Railroads
Author: Brian Solomon
Publisher: Voyageur Press
Total Pages: 323
Release: 2014-10-15
Genre: Transportation
ISBN: 1627885579

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This richly illustrated encyclopedia of classic and contemporary American railroads features consise histories of 101 U.S. and Canadian railroads past and present. Illustrated with period and modern photography in both color and black and white, evocative print ads, and system maps, each profile is also accompanied by one or more fact boxes offering details on the railroads' geographic scope, hardware, and freight and passenger operations. Spanning more than a century and a half, this giant compendium of “fallen flags,” Class I behemoths, classic regional carriers, and transportation icons is sure to become the go-to compendium for railfans of all stripes.