Rail transportation in the United States
Rail transport in the United States | |||||
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Longest tunnel | Cascade Tunnel, 7.8 miles (12.6 km) | ||||
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Rail transportation in the United States consists primarily of freight shipments along a well integrated network of standard gauge private freight railroads that also extend into Canada and Mexico. The United States has the largest rail transport network of any country in the world, about 160,000 miles (260,000 km).
Passenger service is a mass transit option for Americans with commuter rail in most major American cities, especially on the East Coast. Intercity passenger service was once a large and vital part of the nation's passenger transportation network, but passenger service shrank in the 20th century as commercial air traffic and the Interstate Highway System made commercial air and road transport a practical option throughout the United States.
The nation's earliest railroads were built in the 1820s and 1830s, primarily in New England and the Mid-Atlantic states. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, chartered in 1827, was the nation's first common-carrier railroad. By 1850, an extensive railroad network had taken shape in the rapidly industrializing Northeastern United States and the Midwest, while fewer railroads were built in the South, which was more agricultural than other regions. During and after the American Civil War, the first transcontinental railroad was built, to join California with the rest of the national network, at a connection in Iowa.
Railroads expanded throughout the rest of the 19th century, eventually reaching nearly every corner of the nation. The railroads were temporarily
Railroads' fortunes changed after the passage of the Staggers Rail Act (1980), which deregulated railroad companies, who had previously faced much stronger regulation than other modes of transportation. With innovations such as trailer-on-flatcar and intermodal freight transport, railroad traffic increased. After the Staggers Act, many railroads merged, forming major systems, such as CSX and Norfolk Southern, in the Eastern United States, and BNSF Railway, in the Western United States; Union Pacific Railroad also purchased some competitors. Another result of the Staggers Act was the rise of shortline railroads, which formed to operate lines that major railroads had abandoned or sold off. Hundreds of these companies were formed by the end of the century. Freight railroads invested in modernization and greater capacity as they entered the 21st century, and intermodal transport continued to grow, while traditional traffic, such as coal, fell.
History
19th century
Between 1762 and 1764 a gravity railroad (mechanized tramway) (Montresor's Tramway) was built by British Army engineers up the steep riverside terrain near the Niagara River waterfall's escarpment at the Niagara Portage in Lewiston, New York.[3]
Between the 1820s and 1840s, Americans closely watched
State governments granted charters that created the business corporation and gave a limited right of eminent domain, allowing the railroad to buy needed land, even over the owner's objections.[note 1]
The
The first purpose-built common carrier railroad in the northeast was the
In 1835, the B&O completed a branch from Baltimore southward to Washington, D.C.[6]: 157 The Boston & Providence Railroad was incorporated in 1831 to build a railroad between Boston and Providence, Rhode Island; the road was completed in 1835 with the completion of the Canton Viaduct in Canton, Massachusetts.[citation needed]
Numerous short lines were built, especially in the south, to provide connections to the river systems and the river boats common to the era. In
Soon, other roads that would themselves be purchased or merged into larger entities, were formed. The
By 1850, over 9,000 miles (14,000 km) of railroad lines had been built.[7] The B&O's westward route reached the Ohio River in 1852, the first eastern seaboard railroad to do so.[8]: Ch.V Railroad companies in the North and Midwest constructed networks that linked nearly every major city by 1860.
Large railroad companies, including the
Transcontinental railroad
The First Transcontinental Railroad in the U.S. was built in the 1860s, linking the railroad network of the eastern U.S. with California on the
Authorized by the
Much of the original
Rail gauge selection
Impact of railroads on the economy
Region | 1850 | 1860 | 1870 | 1880 | 1890 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
New England | 2,507 | 3,660 | 4,494 | 5,982 | 6,831 |
Middle States | 3,202 | 6,705 | 10,964 | 15,872 | 21,536 |
Southern States | 2,036 | 8,838 | 11,192 | 14,778 | 29,209 |
Western States and Territories | 1,276 | 11,400 | 24,587 | 52,589 | 62,394 |
Pacific States and Territories | 23 | 1,677 | 4,080 | 9,804 | |
Totals | 9,021 | 30,626 | 52,914 | 93,301 | 129,774 |
Many Canadian and U.S. railroads originally used various broad gauges, but most were converted to
The railroad had its largest impact on the American transportation system during the second half of the 19th century. The standard historical interpretation holds that the railroads were central to the development of a national market in the United States and served as a model of how to organize, finance and manage a large corporation,[10] along with allowing growth of the American population outside of the eastern regions.
20th century
The principal mainline railroads concentrated their efforts on moving freight and passengers over long distances. But many had suburban services near large cities, which might also be served by
As early as the 1930s, automobile travel had begun to cut into the rail passenger market, somewhat reducing
Soon, the only things keeping most passenger trains running were legal obligations. Meanwhile, companies who were interested in using railroads for profitable freight traffic were looking for ways to get out of those legal obligations, and it looked like intercity passenger rail service would soon become extinct in the United States beyond a few highly populated corridors. The final blow for passenger trains in the U.S. came with the loss of
Freight transportation continued to labor under regulations developed when rail transport had a monopoly on intercity traffic, and railroads only competed with one another. An entire generation of rail managers had been trained to operate under this regulatory regime.
On routes where a single railroad has had an undisputed monopoly, passenger service was as spartan and as expensive as the market and ICC regulation would bear, since such railroads had no need to advertise their freight services. However, on routes where two or three railroads were in direct competition with each other for freight business, such railroads would spare no expense to make their passenger trains as fast, luxurious, and affordable as possible, as it was considered to be the most effective way of advertising their profitable freight services.
The
Under the
- Any railroad operating intercity passenger service could contract with the NRPC, thereby joining the national system.
- Participating railroads bought into the new corporation using a formula based on their recent intercity passenger losses. The purchase price could be satisfied either by cash or rolling stock; in exchange, the railroads received Amtrak common stock.
- Any participating railroad was freed of the obligation to operate intercity passenger service after May 1971, except for those services chosen by the U.S. Department of Transportation as part of a "basic system" of service and paid for by NRPC using its federal funds.
- Railroads who chose not to join the Amtrak system were required to continue operating their existing passenger service until 1975 and thenceforth had to pursue the customary ICC approval process for any discontinuance or alteration to the service.
The original working brand name for NRPC was Railpax, which eventually became Amtrak. At the time, many Washington insiders viewed the corporation as a face-saving way to give passenger trains the one "last hurrah" demanded by the public, but expected that the NRPC would quietly disappear in a few years as public interest waned. However, while Amtrak's political and financial support have often been shaky, popular and political support for Amtrak has allowed it to survive into the 21st century.
To preserve a declining freight rail industry, Congress passed the Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973, sometimes called the "3R Act". The act was an attempt to salvage viable freight operations from the bankrupt
The freight industry continued its decline until Congress passed the Staggers Rail Act in 1980, which largely deregulated the rail industry. Since then, U.S. freight railroads have reorganized, discontinued their lightly used routes and returned to profitability.[13]: 245–252
Freight railroads
This section needs additional citations for verification. (October 2010) |
U.S. railroads still play a major role in the nation's freight shipping. They carried 750 billion ton-miles by 1975 which doubled to 1.5 trillion ton-miles in 2005.[15][16] In the 1950s, the U.S. and Europe moved roughly the same percentage of freight by rail; by 2000, the share of U.S. rail freight was 38% while in Europe only 8% of freight traveled by rail; a large proportion of this difference is due to external factors such as geography and higher use of goods like coal.[17][18][19][20]
In ton-miles, railroads annually move more than 25% of the United States' freight and connect businesses with each other across the country and with markets overseas.[15] In 2018, US rail freight had a transport energy efficiency of 473 tons.miles per gallon of fuel.[21] In recent years, railroads have gradually been losing intermodal traffic to trucking.[22]
Railroad classes
U.S. freight railroads are separated into three classes, set by the Surface Transportation Board, based on annual revenues:
- Class I for freight railroads with annual operating revenues above $346.8 million in 2006 dollars. In 1900, there were 132 Class I railroads. In 2024, as the result of mergers, bankruptcies, and major changes in the regulatory definition of "Class I", there are only six railroads operating in the United States that meet the criteria for Class I. As of 2011[update], U.S. freight railroads operated 139,679 route-miles (224,792 km) of standard gaugein the U.S. Although Amtrak qualifies for Class I status under the revenue criterion, it is not considered a Class I railroad because it is not a freight railroad.
- Class II for freight railroads with revenues between $27.8 million and $346.7 million in 2000 dollars
- Class III for all other freight revenues.
In 2013, the U.S. moved more oil out of North Dakota by rail than by the Trans-Alaska pipeline.[23] This trend—tenfold in two years and 40-fold in five years—is forecast to increase.[24]
Classes of freight railroads
There are four different classes of freight railroads:
A regional railroad is a line haul railroad with at least 350 miles (560 km) and/or revenue between $40 million and the Class I threshold. There were 33 regional railroads in 2006. Most have between 75 and 500 employees.
Local line haul railroads operate less than 350 miles (560 km) and earn less than $40 million per year (most earn less than $5 million per year). In 2006, there were 323 local line haul railroads. They generally perform point-to-point service over short distances.
Switching and terminal (S&T) carriers are railroads that primarily provide switching and/or terminal services, regardless of revenue. They perform pick up and delivery services within a certain area.
Traffic and public benefits
U.S. freight railroads operate in a highly competitive marketplace. According to a 2010 FRA report, within the U.S., railroads carried 39.5% of freight by ton-mile, followed by trucks (28.6%), oil pipelines (19.6%), barges (12%) and air (0.3%).[25] However, railroads' revenue share has been slowly falling for decades, a reflection of the intensity of the competition they face and of the large rate reductions railroads have passed through to their customers over the years.[citation needed]
In 2011, North American railroads operated 1,471,736 freight cars and 31,875 locomotives, with 215,985 employees. They originated 39.53 million carloads (averaging 63 tons each) and generated $81.7 billion in freight revenue of present 2014. The average haul was 917 miles. The largest (Class 1) U.S. railroads carried 10.17 million intermodal containers and 1.72 million piggyback trailers. Intermodal traffic was 6.2% of tonnage originated and 12.6% of revenue. The largest commodities were coal, chemicals, farm products, nonmetallic minerals and intermodal. Other major commodities carried include lumber, automobiles, and waste materials. Coal alone was 43.3% of tonnage and 24.7% of revenue.[26] Coal accounted for roughly half of U.S. electricity generation[27] and was a major export. As natural gas became cheaper than coal, coal supplies dropped 11% in 2015 but coal rail freight dropped by up to 40%, allowing an increase in car transport by rail, some in tri-level railcars.[28] US coal consumption dwindled from over 1,100 million tons in 2008 to 687 million tons in 2018.[29]
Freight rail working with passenger rail
Prior to Amtrak's creation in 1970, intercity passenger rail service in the U.S. was provided by the same companies that provided freight service. When Amtrak was formed, in return for government permission to exit the passenger rail business, freight railroads donated passenger equipment to Amtrak and helped it get started with a capital infusion of some $200 million.
The vast majority of the 22,000 or so miles over which Amtrak operates are actually owned by freight railroads. By law, freight railroads must grant Amtrak access to their track upon request. In return, Amtrak pays fees to freight railroads to cover the incremental costs of Amtrak's use of freight railroad tracks.[citation needed]
Passenger railroads
The sole long-distance intercity
The most culturally notable and physically evident exception to the general lack of significant passenger rail transport in the U.S. is the
Privately run inter-city passenger rail operations have also been restarted since 2018 in south Florida, with additional routes under development.
Car types
The basic design of a
19th century: First passenger cars and early development
The first passenger cars resembled stagecoaches. They were short, often less than 10 ft (3.05 m) long, tall and rode on a single pair of axles.
American mail cars first appeared in the 1860s and at first followed English design. They had a hook that would catch the mailbag in its crook.
As locomotive technology progressed in the mid-19th century, trains grew in length and weight. Passenger cars grew along with them, first getting longer with the addition of a second truck (one at each end), and wider as their suspensions improved. Cars built for European use featured side door compartments, while American car design favored a single pair of doors at one end of the car in the car's vestibule; compartmentized cars on American railroads featured a long hallway with doors from the hall to the compartments.
One possible reason for this difference in design principles between American and European carbuilding practice could be the average distance between stations on the two continents. While most European railroads connected towns and villages that were still very closely spaced, American railroads had to travel over much greater distances to reach their destinations. Building passenger cars with a long passageway through the length of the car allowed the passengers easy access to the restroom, among other things, on longer journeys.
Dining cars first appeared in the late 1870s and into the 1880s. Until this time, the common practice was to stop for meals at restaurants along the way (which led to the rise of Fred Harvey's chain of Harvey House restaurants in America). At first, the dining car was simply a place to serve meals that were picked up en route, but they soon evolved to include galleys in which the meals were prepared.
1900–1950: Lighter materials, new car types
By the 1920s, passenger cars on the larger
With the 1930s came the widespread use of
By the end of the 1930s, railroads and car builders were debuting car body and interior styles that could only be dreamed of before. In 1937, the Pullman Company delivered the first cars equipped with roomettes—that is, the car's interior was sectioned off into compartments, much like the coaches that were still in widespread use across Europe. Pullman's roomettes, however, were designed with the single traveler in mind. The roomette featured a large picture window, a privacy door, a single fold-away bed, a sink and small toilet. The roomette's floor space was barely larger than the space taken up by the bed, but it allowed the traveler to ride in luxury compared to the multilevel semiprivate berths of old.
Now that passenger cars were lighter, they were able to carry heavier loads, but the size of the average passenger load that rode in them didn't increase to match the cars' new capacities. The average passenger car couldn't get any wider or longer due to side clearances along the railroad lines, but they generally could get taller because they were still shorter than many freight cars and locomotives. As a result, the railroads soon began building and buying dome and bilevel cars to carry more passengers.
1950–present: High-technology advancements
Carbody styles have generally remained consistent since the middle of the 20th century. While new car types have not made much of an impact, the existing car types have been further enhanced with new technology.
Starting in the 1950s, the passenger travel market declined in North America, though there was growth in commuter rail. The higher clearances in North America enabled bi-level commuter coaches that could hold more passengers. These cars started to become common in the United States in the 1960s.
While intercity passenger rail travel declined in the United States during the 1950s, ridership continued to increase in Europe during that time. With the increase came newer technology on existing and new equipment. The Spanish company
In August 2016, the Department of Transportation approved the largest loan in the department's history, $2.45 billion to upgrade the passenger train service in the Northeast region. The $2.45 billion will be used to purchase 28 new train sets for the high-speed Acela train between Washington through Philadelphia, New York and into Boston. The money will also be used build new stations and platforms. The money will also be used to rehabilitate railroad tracks and upgrade four stations, including Washington's Union Station and Baltimore's Penn Station.
As of 2014, U.S. railroad mileage has stabilized at approximately 160,000 miles (260,000 km).[35]
High-speed rail
As of 2022, the only operating high speed rail service in the United States is Amtrak's Acela, between Washington, DC, and Boston. It currently has a maximum speed of 150 miles per hour (240 km/h), and only in some sections between Boston and Providence, RI, soon to be 160 miles per hour (260 km/h) after introduction of new Avelia Liberty trains, eventually to be upgraded to 186 miles per hour (299 km/h) over some sections. The state of California is constructing its own HSR system, California High-Speed Rail, constructed to 220 miles per hour (350 km/h) standards in some places. The first section in the Central Valley is due to open around 2027.
Higher-speed rail
While the Northeast Corridor hosts the majority of
There are certain commuter rail lines in the United States that achieve similar speed ranges of higher-speed rail, but are not classified as higher-speed rail. Despite commuter trains also running along the Northeast Corridor alongside Amtrak services on the route, only one commuter rail line can have similar speed ranges to higher-speed rail, which is the
Once
Rolling stock reporting marks
Every piece of railroad
Typically, railroads operating in the United States reserve one- to four-digit identification numbers for powered equipment such as diesel locomotives and six-digit identification numbers for unpowered equipment. There is no hard and fast rule for how equipment is numbered; each railroad maintains its own numbering policy for its equipment.
List of major United States railroads
- Amtrak
- BNSF Railway
- Canadian National Railway
- CPKC Railway
- CSX Transportation
- Norfolk Southern Railway
- Union Pacific Railroad
Rail links with adjacent countries
- from Alaska)
- Mexico – yes – Same gauge 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in
Regulation
Federal regulation of railroads is mainly through the United States Department of Transportation, especially the Federal Railroad Administration which regulates safety, and the Surface Transportation Board which regulates rates, service, the construction, acquisition and abandonment of rail lines, carrier mergers and interchange of traffic among carriers.
Railroads are also regulated by the individual states, for example through the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities.[36]
Accidents
Minor derailments are a routine occurrence in the United States. 1,164 derailments were reported in 2022, an average of three a day; the vast majority did not cause injuries or deaths. This was down 44 percent from 2000, and more than 75 percent from the end of the 1970s.[37] For a variety of reasons,[vague] American freight railroads' safety performance has been described as "very bad by European standards".[38]
See also
- Timeline of United States railway history
- Railroad electrification in the United States
- List of rail transit systems in the United States
- Oldest railroads in North America
- History of rail transport in the United States
- Transportation in the United States
- Federal Employers Liability Act (protects and compensates railroad employees)
- Nationalized Industries in the United States
- Railroad car – general overview of all car types in use
Notes
- Delaware & Hudson Railroad, built its first tracks in 1826 as a gravity railroad in Carbondale, Pennsylvania, to haul coal from a mine to the canal at Honesdale.
- ^ The SH&MCsbRR carried sundries, groceries, and goods up to Summit Hill, including official postal deliveries.
References
Citations
- ^ "Seasonally Adjusted Transportation Data". Washington, D.C.: Bureau of Transportation Statistics. 2017. Archived from the original on April 22, 2021. Retrieved September 8, 2017.
- ^ a b c "Railway Statistics – 2014 Synopsis" (PDF). Paris, France: International Union of Railways, IUC. 2014. Retrieved September 9, 2015.
- ^ Text online of placement commemorating historic railroad., accessdate=2017-03-01
- ISBN 0-262-19239-X.
- ^ Stevens, Frank Walker (1926). The Beginnings of the New York Central Railroad: A History. New York, NY: G. P. Putnam's Sons.
- ISBN 978-0-8047-2629-0.
- ^ van Oss, Salomon Frederik (1893). American Railroads and British Investors. London: Effingham Wilson & Co. p. 3.
- ISBN 0-911198-81-4.
- ^ "An Act to aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri river to the Pacific ocean, and to secure to the government the use of the same for postal, military, and other purposes 12 Stat. 489, July 1, 1862
- ^ Alfred D. Chandler Jr., The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business(1977) pp 81–121.
- ^ Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973, Pub.L. 93-236, 87 Stat. 985, 45 U.S.C. § 741, January 2, 1974.
- ^ Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act, Pub.L. 94-210, 90 Stat. 31, 45 U.S.C. § 801, February 5, 1976.
- ISBN 978-0-226-77658-3.
- ^ "High-speed railroading". The Economist. July 22, 2010. Retrieved December 10, 2011.
- ^ a b U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Washington, D.C. (2000) "Ton-Miles of Freight by Mode: 1975–2025." Archived May 22, 2018, at the Wayback Machine The Changing Face of Transportation. Report No. BTS00-007.
- ^ National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. "Railroads to Mid-Century: Salisbury, North Carolina, 1927." Archived February 6, 2006, at the Wayback Machine America on the Move.
- ^ Increasing EU Rail Share: Insights From the US Rail Experience Archived September 2, 2006, at the Wayback Machine See Alternate Link 7
- ^ International Union of Railways "DIOMIS: Benchmarking Intermodal Rail Transport in the United States and Europe" Alternate Source for Dead Link
- ^ Freemark, Yonah. "Freight as Passenger Rail's Worst Enemy — Or Something Else?". The Transport Politic. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
- ^ Manuel Bastos Andrade Furtado, Francisco (Summer 2013). "U.S. and European Freight Railways: The Differences That Matter" (PDF). Journal of the Transportation Research Forum. 52 (2): 65–84. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
- ^ "The Economic Impact of America's Freight Railroads" (PDF). Association of American Railroads. July 2019. p. 2.
- ^ "Supply Chain News: Is Trucking Gaining Share over Rail in Long Haul Freight Moves?". Supply Chain Digest. February 22, 2022. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
- ^ Wogan, David. "U.S. moves more oil out of North Dakota by rail than the Trans-Alaskan pipeline". scientificamerican.com.
- ^ "Oil Train Tragedy in Canada Spotlights Rising Crude Transport by Rail". nationalgeographic.com. July 8, 2013. Archived from the original on July 9, 2013.
- ^ a b "National Rail Plan Progress Report | FRA". railroads.dot.gov. September 2010. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
- ^ Class I Railroad Statistics Archived November 3, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, Association of American Railroads, February 7, 2013
- ^ "Electricity Monthly Update – Energy Information Administration". EIA.gov.
- ^ Williams, Marcus (March 29, 2016). "North American rail: One door closes, another opens". Automotive Logistics. Retrieved May 14, 2017.
11% compared to 2014 production, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). The drop hit railways' revenue by as much as 40% in some segments.
- ^ "Railroads and Coal" (PDF). Association of American Railroads. May 2019. p. 2.
- ^ "High-speed trains begin making trip between Orlando and Miami". Associated Press. September 23, 2023. Retrieved September 23, 2023.
- ^ Danielson, Richard (January 4, 2019). "Brightline-Virgin rail service looking at Disney station along proposed Tampa-to-Orlando route". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved September 11, 2019.
- ^ Huffine, Bryce (July 15, 2019). "Victorville-Vegas train may be rolling by 2023". The Daily Press. Victorville, California. Archived from the original on July 15, 2019. Retrieved September 10, 2019.
- ^ Hogan, Kendall (September 9, 2019). "Federal Railroad Commission to begin rule making on high speed railway". KBTX.com. Retrieved September 11, 2019.
- ^ Back to court: Landowner files pre-suit deposition against Texas Central Railroad
- ^ "U.S. Railroad Track Miles & Revenue By Year". www.railserve.com. Retrieved December 26, 2022.
- ^ "Transportation Oversight Division". Mass.gov.
- ^ Hernandez, Joe (March 9, 2023). "There are about 3 U.S. train derailments per day. They aren't usually major disasters". NPR. Retrieved April 1, 2023.
- ^ Mercer, Shane. "North American rail safety 'pretty bad' compared to Europe". Canadian Occupational Safety. KM Business Information Canada Ltd. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
Sources
- U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (May 17, 2005), The World Fact Book: United States. Retrieved May 26, 2005.
Further reading
- Fite, Gilbert C., and Jim E. Reese. An Economic History of the United States. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company (1959).
- Hubbard, Freeman H., Encyclopedia of North American railroading: 150 years of railroading in the United States and Canada. (1981)
- Gallamore, Robert E. and John R. Meyer. American Railroads: Decline and Renaissance in the Twentieth Century, (Harvard University Press, 2014). ISBN 9780674725645
- Harris, Seymour E. American Economic History. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc (1961).
- Hughes, Jonathan. American Economic History. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman and Company (1983).
- Jenks, Leland H. "Railroads as an Economic Force in American Development," The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 4, No. 1 (May 1944), 1–20. in JSTOR
- Kemmerer, Donald L., and C. Clyde Jones. American Economic History. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc. (1969).
- Krooss, Herman E. American Economic Development. Edgewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, Inc. (1955).
- Martin, Albro.Railroads Triumphant: The Growth, Rejection, and Rebirth of a Vital American Force (1992)
- Meyer, Balthasar H. History of Transportation in the United States before 1860 (1917)
- Nock, O.S., ed. Encyclopedia of Railways (London, 1977), worldwide coverage, heavily illustrated
- Porter, Glenn, ed. Encyclopedia of American Economic History. Vol. I. New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons (1980).
- Riley, C. J. The Encyclopedia of Trains & Locomotives (2002)
- Stover, John F., The Routledge Historical Atlas of the American Railroads (2001)
- Stover, John F. (1993). "One Gauge: How Hundreds of Incompatible Railroads Became a National System". Invention & Technology Magazine. 8 (3). American Heritage. Archived from the original on February 18, 2010. Retrieved June 14, 2010.
- Taylor, George Rogers, and Irene D. Neu. The American Railroad Network, 1861 – 1890. New York, NY: Arno Press (1981).
- Van Metre, T. W. (1936). Trains, tracks and travel. New York: Simmons-Boardman Pub. Co.
- Weatherford, Brian A. et al. technical_reports/TR603/ The State of U.S. Railroads A Review of Capacity and Performance Data, PDF[ISBN 978-0-8330-4505-8
- Wright, Chester Whitney. Economic History of the United States. Edited by William Homer Spencer. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc. (1949).
Video
- Railroads in U.S. History (1830–2010) (2010), set of 4 DVDs, directed by Ron Meyer; #1, "Railroads come to America (1830–1840);" #2, "The First Great Railroad Boom (1841– 1860)"; #3, "A New Era in American Railroading (1861–1870)," #4, "The Second Great Railroad Boom (1871–2010)" link
External links
- Railroad History Bibliography by Richard Jensen, Montana State University
- John H. White, Jr. Reference Collection, 1880s–1990 – Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Bibliography of scholarly literature on antebellum railroads – Aaron W. Marrs
- Future rail transport map released by the FRA
- USA by Rail guide book