When the Railroad Leaves Town

When the Railroad Leaves Town
Author: Joseph P. Schwieterman
Publisher:
Total Pages: 350
Release: 2001
Genre: Railroads
ISBN: 9780943549972

This volume tells of closing rail lines from historic junctions, ageing industrial centres, agricultural villages, and familiar tourist destinations throughout the eastern half of the United States. Joseph Schwieterman takes a look at events that contributed to the demise of railroads in 64 towns and cities distinguished by their notable railroad histories or unusual experiences with rail line abandonment. Rail line abandonment claimed more than half of US rail route mileage during the past 50 years and is accompanied by controversial and unexpected developments -- events affecting communities years after the last train departed. This book is a concise narrative, with contrasting photos of local train stations in their prime and after abandonment.

Nothing Like It In the World

Nothing Like It In the World
Author: Stephen E. Ambrose
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 468
Release: 2001-11-06
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780743203173

The story of the men who build the transcontinental railroad in the 1860's.

Terminal Town

Terminal Town
Author: Joseph P. Schwieterman
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2014
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780982315699

Take an historical tour of Chicago's railroad stations, airports, bus depots and steamship wharves. Showcasing great icons of transportation, Schwieterman illustrates why the "Windy City" so richly deserves its reputation as America's premier travel hub.

Train Time

Train Time
Author: John R. Stilgoe
Publisher: University of Virginia Press
Total Pages: 230
Release: 2009-02-05
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 0813930502

Unlike many United States industries, railroads are intrinsically linked to American soil and particular regions. Yet few Americans pay attention to rail lines, even though millions of them live in an economy and culture "waiting for the train." In Train Time: Railroads and the Imminent Reshaping of the United States Landscape, John R. Stilgoe picks up where his acclaimed work Metropolitan Corridor left off, carrying his ideas about the spatial consequences of railways up to the present moment. Arguing that the train is returning, "an economic and cultural tsunami about to transform the United States," Stilgoe posits a future for railways as powerful shapers of American life. Divided into sections that focus on particular aspects of the impending impact of railroads on the landscape, Train Time moves seamlessly between historical and contemporary analysis. From his reading of what prompted investors to reorient their thinking about the railroad industry in the late 1970s, to his exploration of creative solutions to transportation problems and land use planning and development in the present, Stilgoe expands our perspective of an industry normally associated with bad news. Urging us that "the magic moment is now," he observes, "Now a train is often only a whistle heard far off on a sleepless night. But romantic or foreboding or empowering, the whistle announces return and change to those who listen." For scholars with an interest in American history in general and railroad and transit history in particular, as well as general readers concerned about the future of transportation in the United States, Train Time is an engaging look at the future of our railroads.

Essays of E. B. White

Essays of E. B. White
Author: E. B. White
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 388
Release: 2014-02-25
Genre: Literary Collections
ISBN: 0062348752

"Some of the finest examples of contemporary, genuinely American prose. White's style incorporates eloquence without affection, profundity without pomposity, and wit without frivolity or hostility. Like his predecessors Thoreau and Twain, White's creative, humane, and graceful perceptions are an education for the sensibilities." — Washington Post The classic collection by one of the greatest essayists of our time. Selected by E.B. White himself, the essays in this volume span a lifetime of writing and a body of work without peer. "I have chosen the ones that have amused me in the rereading," he writes in the Foreword, "alone with a few that seemed to have the odor of durability clinging to them." These essays are incomparable; this is a volume to treasure and savor at one's leisure.

Five-Mile Spur Line

Five-Mile Spur Line
Author: Clint Cargile
Publisher:
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2013-11-25
Genre: De Kalb County (Ill.)
ISBN: 9780989716703

History of the Chicago North Western Depot in Sycamore, Illinois which was restored back to its original beauty.

Railroad History of Winneshiek County

Railroad History of Winneshiek County
Author: Ian Schacht
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
Total Pages: 97
Release: 2010
Genre: History
ISBN: 1453524908

The history of the settlement of the West can in many aspects be attributed to the coming of a railroad. To the first settlers, the railroads provided the opportunities to link up with markets across the nation without having to travel far from their farms. The lines brought hope and change, but also brought crime and corruption. The story of almost every town west of the Mississippi can in some way be linked to the story of the railroad that serviced the area. These towns grew over the years in size and economic wealth as the amounts of trade and transport transformed the line into a funnel for economic progress. Though the railroads would eventually be challenged by trucking companies and personal automobiles, the business the railroads had help establish lead the community into the wealth they have today. In the northern Iowa county of Winneshiek, each town holds the perfect example of railroad successes and failures. Each town holds their own heritage, which can uniquely be associated with many other towns across the west. The heritage left by the railroads can be directly linked to the heritage of the western United States. To look at the history of us, we need to look into the founding of the railroads.

The Greatest Railroad Story Ever Told

The Greatest Railroad Story Ever Told
Author: Seth H. Bramson
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Total Pages: 193
Release: 2011-11-01
Genre: Transportation
ISBN: 1625844530

All aboard for the history of one of the most audacious and innovative railroad engineering feats in history from the celebrated Floridian author. Although several people had considered constructing a railroad to Key West beginning in the early 1800s, it took a bold industrialist with unparalleled vision to make it happen. In 1902, Henry Flagler made the decision to extend the Florida East Coast Railway to “the nearest deepwater American port.” In this book, renowned Florida historian Seth H. Bramson reveals how the Key West Extension of the Flagler-owned FEC became the greatest railroad engineering and construction feat in United States, and possibly world, history, an accomplishment that would cement Flagler’s fame and legend for all time. Join Bramson as he recounts the years of operation of this great railroad, what it did for the Florida Keys and what it meant to the resident conchs. Includes photos

The Man from the Train

The Man from the Train
Author: Bill James
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 480
Release: 2017-09-19
Genre: History
ISBN: 1476796270

An Edgar Award finalist for Best Fact Crime, this “impressive…open-eyed investigative inquiry wrapped within a cultural history of rural America” (The Wall Street Journal) shows legendary statistician and baseball writer Bill James applying his analytical acumen to crack an unsolved century-old mystery surrounding one of the deadliest serial killers in American history. Between 1898 and 1912, families across the country were bludgeoned in their sleep with the blunt side of an axe. Jewelry and valuables were left in plain sight, bodies were piled together, faces covered with cloth. Some of these cases, like the infamous Villasca, Iowa, murders, received national attention. But few people believed the crimes were related. And fewer still would realize that all of these families lived within walking distance to a train station. When celebrated baseball statistician and true crime expert Bill James first learned about these horrors, he began to investigate others that might fit the same pattern. Applying the same know-how he brings to his legendary baseball analysis, he empirically determined which crimes were committed by the same person. Then after sifting through thousands of local newspapers, court transcripts, and public records, he and his daughter Rachel made an astonishing discovery: they learned the true identity of this monstrous criminal. In turn, they uncovered one of the deadliest serial killers in America. Riveting and immersive, with writing as sharp as the cold side of an axe, The Man from the Train paints a vivid, psychologically perceptive portrait of America at the dawn of the twentieth century, when crime was regarded as a local problem, and opportunistic private detectives exploited a dysfunctional judicial system. James shows how these cultural factors enabled such an unspeakable series of crimes to occur, and his groundbreaking approach to true crime will convince skeptics, amaze aficionados, and change the way we view criminal history.