Regional Railroads of the Midwest PDF Download

Author: Steve Glischinksi
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781610604956
Category : Railroads, Local and light
Languages : en
Pages : 174

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Author: United States. Department of Transportation
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Railroads
Languages : en
Pages : 498

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Author: H. Roger Grant
Publisher: U of Minnesota Press
ISBN: 0816665621
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 293

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Book Description
By the start of the twentieth century railroads crisscrossed the nation, yet there were still those who believed that the railroad network in the United States was far from complete. Residents of small towns lacking rail access lobbied hard for steam and electric roads to serve their communities, and investors eagerly started new ventures that would fill the gaps in the railway map. While some of these roads enjoyed a degree of success, most of them were financial flops even before the rise of the highway system made them obsolete.In Twilight Rails, H. Roger Grant—one of the leading railroad historians working today—documents the stories of eight Midwestern carriers that appeared at the end of the railroad building craze. When historians have reflected on these “twilight” carriers, they have suggested that they were relevant only as examples of unwise business ventures. Grant finds that even the weakest railroads were important to the communities they served; the arrival of the railroad was cause for great celebration as residents were finally connected to the outside world. A railroad’s construction pumped money into local economies, farmers and manufacturers gained access to better markets, and the excitement generated by a new line often increased land values and inspired expansion of local businesses. Even the least financially successful carriers, Grant argues, managed to significantly improve their local economies.This thorough and highly accessible history provides a fascinating look at the motivations, accomplishments, and failures of the twilight carriers, granting a new breath of life to this neglected aspect of American railway history.

Author: United States Railway Association
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Railroads
Languages : en
Pages : 406

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Author: United States. Dept. of Transportation
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Railroads
Languages : en
Pages : 916

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Author: United States Railway Association
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Railroads
Languages : en
Pages : 402

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Author: United States Railway Association
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Railroads
Languages : en
Pages : 570

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Author: Clifford J. Downey
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 9780738550749
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 132

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Headquartered in Chicago, the Illinois Central Railroad was known as the "Main Line of Mid-America," as it was a major railroad cutting through the middle section of the United States with two major routes: the Main Line, which ran south out of Chicago toward New Orleans, and the Western Lines, which ran west toward Iowa. The Illinois Central Railroad had eight major freight yards in Chicago, which in 1937 handled nearly two million freight cars. It was also well known for its passenger service and operated some of the finest passenger trains: the Green Diamond, the all-Pullman Panama Limited, and the City of New Orleans. Chicago and the Illinois Central Railroad covers the railroad's operations within the city of Chicago, plus the outlying suburbs, from the late 1800s to 1960. It explores, through vintage photographs, the passenger and freight trains, suburban trains, locomotives, shops and repair facilities, and people that made the railroad function.

Author: Arthur Andrew Olson (III)
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781606352823
Category : Railroads
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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In the 1830s, as the Trans Appalachian economy began to stir and Europe's Industrial Revolution reached its peak, concerned Midwesterners saw opportunities and risks. Success of the Erie Canal as a link to East Coast economic markets whetted the appetites of visionaries and entrepreneurs, who saw huge opportunities. Amid this perfect storm of technology, enterprise, finance, location, and timing arose some of the earliest railroads in the Midwest. By the late 1840s three such vision-driven railroad ventures had sprung to life. Two small railroads carrying goods to Midwestern markets - the Indianapolis & Bellefontaine in Indiana and the Bellefontaine & Indiana in Ohio - spawned early enthusiasm, but few citizens would look beyond the horizon. It was the admonition of Oliver H. Smith, founder of the Indiana line, who challenged the populace to look farther: "to decide whether the immense travel and business of the west should pass round or go through central Indiana." Soon, the two local lines would crystallize in the minds of people as the "Bee Line." In Cleveland, meanwhile, a clique of committed businessmen, bankers, and politicians came together to finance the most prosperous of all early Midwestern railroads, extending from Cleveland to Columbus. Their aspirations expanded to control the larger Midwestern market from Cleveland to St. Louis. First by loans and then by bond purchases, they quickly took over the "Bee Line." Hoosier partisans' independence, however, could not be easily brushed aside. Time and again they would frustrate the attempts of the Cleveland clique, exercising a degree of autonomy inconsistent with their dependent financial underpinnings. Ultimately, they acquiesced to the reality of their situation. After the Civil War, even the group from Cleveland fell victim to unscrupulous foreign and national financiers and manipulators who had taken their places on the boards of larger trunk lines expanding throughout the Midwest. Exhaustively researched and meticulously documented, Forging the "Bee Line" Railroad, 1848-1889 is the first comprehensive scholarly work on this most important of early Midwestern railroads.

Author: United States Railway Association
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Railroads
Languages : en
Pages : 404

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