Railroads In The United States

RAILROADS IN NORTH AMERICA

Some Historical Facts and

An Introduction to an Electronic Database of

North American Railroads and Their Evolution

M. C. Hallberg

December 21, 2009

Copyright 2006, 2009

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Some Early Reactions to Railroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Presidents of the United States and Railroads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

The Granger Railroads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Some Railroad Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Caboose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Gauge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Planes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Railroad Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

An Historical Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Connecting America’s Cities and Moving West . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Some Milestones Along the Way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

American Express Railway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Railroads Establish Standard Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Railroads Go To War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Railroads After World War II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

A Rail Freight Revival . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Railroads and Freight Rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Impact of Railroads on Farming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Two Centuries of Railroading in the U.S. : A Chronology . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Railroad Names and Nicknames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

The Casey Jones Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Train Robberies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Miles of Rail Owned and Freight Revenue in the U.S., 1830-2008 . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Railroads Chartered and Abandoned by Year in the U.S. and Canada, 1826-2009 . . . . 36

Number of For-Hire Railroads in Existence in the U.S. and Canada Years, 1826-2009 . . 36

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

INTRODUCTION

The database that accompanies this report is intended as a compilation of all currently existing railroads, all currently existing switching and terminal roads, and all operating railroads (Class I, regional, and local) that have existed in the United States since the first railroad -- the Granite Railway -- was chartered in Massachusetts in 1826 and the first common carrier railroad -- the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad -- was chartered in Maryland in 1827. The motivation for this compilation was to enable the generation of reasonably informative railroad family histories. A concerted effort was made to record charter dates or dates of initial railroad operation as well as dates of reorganization, consolidation, or merger, and the name of succeeding roads. Thus one can use this compilation to develop a fairly accurate time-line of railroad history in the United States as well as a fairly complete family history of railroads in the United States.

The database focuses primarily on United States railroads. It includes over 6,900 United States roads. Currently existing Canadian roads are also included as are any Canadian roads that have become part of the family of existing United States or Canadian railroads. A total of 192 Canadian roads are included in the database.

Roads included in this compilation and identified as being “abandoned” are those for which Edson (see references) characterizes as being (1) abandoned, (2) dismantled, (3) tariff canceled, (4) ceased operation, (5) dissolved, (6), charter expired, (7) charter surrendered, (8) dropped, (9) liquidated, or (10) no tariff filed. There are over 1200 such roads.

I have associated each railroad with a state based on information in the various references cited, the Association of American Railroads Internet web page, and various references on the history of specific railroads.

In general, this compilation does not include special purpose proprietary lines. More than 150 electric railroads are included here, but generally only if they subsequently became part of the family of one of the non-electric roads of primary interest to this compilation, or if they were reclassified from steam to electric or vice versa.

This compilation also includes all known non-standard gauge railroads. The 4 foot, 8 1/2 inch gauge was not standardized until about 1887. Many of the early roads were built to various gauge specifications often to effect local market protection. The 5 foot and 5 foot-6 inch gauge roads (272 included in this compilation) were adopted by many roads in the South and the early Canadian roads (see section on Railroad Gauges).

A variety of sources have been used to make this compilation as accurate and as meaningful as possible. The currently existing railroad names were obtained from Primedia Directories, The Official Railway Guide: Freight Service Edition, Nov/Dec 1999, and from the Internet web pages of the Association of American Railroads. A special effort was made to include all of the early roads listed in George Rogers Taylor and Irene D. Neu. The American Railroad Network: 1861-1890. A special effort was also made to include all current and past switching and terminal roads.

A most important source for operating railroad names, beginning dates of operation, and successor roads was William D. Edson. Railroad Names. This monograph is probably the most complete compilation of railroad names in existence and is quite reliable, although a few omissions were found even here. Another very useful source was George H. Drury. The Historical Guide to North American Railroads. For Canadian roads, the works of Mika (1972), Mika (1986), and Currie (1957) were most helpful as were several Internet sites on Canadian Railroad history. Finally, I have consulted most of the histories written on specific railroad companies, and all of the Internet web pages of railroad companies that are available as well as the Internet web pages of various railroad clubs.

I have attempted to include all railroad families, but by no means do I claim this compilation to include every single railroad company that was ever chartered and/or operated in the United States. In general, I have not included what Edson has classified as proprietary companies, lessor companies, and railroads not reporting to the I.C.C. unless they subsequently became part of the family of one of the non-electric roads of primary interest to this compilation. While the present compilation includes over 6,900 roads, if the number of roads alleged to be included in Edson’s volume is correct, the present compilation includes only about 90 percent of the total number of roads ever incorporated and operated in the United States. It should be noted, however, that several of the roads included in the present compilation are not listed in Edson’s volume. Thus, even Edson’s compilation is not complete. Indeed Edson states that “at least another 6,000 companies are not listed because they were never operating railroads.”

A special computer program has been written to make access to this database as user friendly as possible. This computer program is constructed in such a way that various summaries can be obtained and special queries can be made, and so that updates to the database can quickly be made and incorporated. In a very real sense, this database is a work in progress since information on several roads has yet to be discovered. It is my intention to periodically update the database based on information that subsequently becomes available.

SOME EARLY REACTIONS TO RAILROADS

“Thus, when as yet there were but two states on the western bank of the Mississippi . . . there came to America the combination of a new sort of flexible composite vehicle -- the train made up of many separate cars pulled by a unit of power -- and a new sort of road, the road of rails. Their combination freed the continent from the limitations of terrain and temperature which so severely restrict the usefulness of rivers and canals, for the railroad could go anywhere at any time. It could pierce mountains and cross waterless plains. It could run every day in the year, through the frozen winter or the long summer droughts, as well as in the more favored seasons of navigation. And upon its surface of rails the power of men and machines to produce transportation was many times multiplied.” [Robert S. Henry. This Fascinating Railroad Business.]

(From Freeman Hubbard, Encyclopedia of North American Railroading. page 151).

In about 1830 the Lancaster, Ohio Board of Education was asked to permit the use of its schoolhouse for a debate on the practicability of railroads. Here is a record from the minutes of the Board’s meeting:

You are welcome to use the school room to debate all proper questions in, but such things as railroads and telegraphs are impossibilities and rank infidelity. There is nothing in the word of God about them. If God had designated that His intelligent creatures should travel at the frightful speed of 15 miles an hour, He would have foretold it through his holy prophets. It is a device of Satan to lead immortal souls down to Hell.

In 1829, eight years before he became President, Martin Van Buren wrote to then President Andrew Jackson [keep in mind that the Erie Canal had opened in 1825]:

The canal system of this country is being threatened by the spread of a new form of transportation known as "railroads". The federal government must preserve the canals for the following reasons:

One -‑ if canal boats are supplanted by "railroads", serious unemployment will result. Captains, cooks, drivers, repairmen, and lock tenders will be left without means of livelihood, not to mention the numerous farmers now employed in growing hay for horses.

Two ‑- boat builders would suffer, and towline, whip and harness makers would be left destitute.

Three ‑- canal boats are absolutely essential to the defense of the United States. In the event of expected trouble in England, the Erie Canal would be the only means by which we could ever move the supplies so vital to waging modern war.

For the above mentioned reasons, the Government should act to protect people from the evils of "railroads" and to preserve the canals for posterity. As you may well know, Mr. President, "railroad" carriages are pulled at the enormous speed of 15 miles per hour by things called "engines", which in addition to endangering life and limb of passengers, roar and snort their way through the countryside, setting fire to the crops, scaring the livestock and frightening women and children. The Almighty certainly never intended that people should travel at such breakneck speed."

In a chapter of his book on local history about Eugene Township, Indiana (1963), Harold L. O'Donnell writes about the Chicago and Eastern Illinois (C&EI) Railroad coming to town, and he discusses the danger it was to livestock.

"Livestock in the early day were a constant source of trouble between the railroads and the farmers. Stock would be killed and it was, of course, always the fault of the railroads. In one case a farmer had a hog killed by a train and since he believed himself to have some ability as a poet, wrote the railroad claim agent as follows:

My razorback strolled down your track,
A week ago today.
Your #29 came down the line,
And snuffed his life away.
You can't blame me; the hog you see,
Slipped through a cattle gate;
So kindly pen a check for ten,
The debt to liquidate.

He was surprised a few days later to receive the following:

Old #29 came down the line,
And killed your hog, we know;
But razorbacks on railroad tracks,
Quite often meet with woe.
Therefore, my friend, we cannot send,
The check for which you pine,
Just plant the dead; place o'er his head;
'Here lies a foolish swine.'"

PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES AND RAILROADS

Andrew Jackson was the first sitting President to have ridden a train. In 1833, President Jackson traveled from Baltimore to Ellicott’s Mills on a short (20 miles or so) excursion.

Abraham Lincoln represented the Illinois Central Railroad in several suits in Illinois prior to becoming President. His first case was in 1851 for the Alton and Sangamon Railroad which he considered “a link in the great chain of railroad communication which shall unite Boston and New York with the Mississippi [River]”. This suit arose when one of the original subscribers of stock to the railroad who owned land in western Sangamon County, Illinois refused to pay the balance due on his pledge in order to protest a change in the planned route of the road. Lincoln won the case for the railroad. One of his early cases for the Illinois Central involved the granting of an exemption to the railroad from all Illinois taxes. Again Lincoln won the case for the railroad, but this time he had to go to court to collect his fees. (David H. Donald. Lincoln. New York: Simon & Schuster. 1995. pps. 154-157)