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The Chicago & Alton Railroad: The Only Way

Autor Gene V. Glendinning
en Limba Engleză Hardback – 4 mai 2002
The first railroad to connect the Mississippi River with the Great Lakes, the Chicago & Alton Railroad played a key role in the economic development of the Midwest. From humble beginnings in 1847 as transport for farm produce, it grew to link three key midwestern cities—Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City—and set the standard for efficient service and luxurious passenger travel.

Such famous personages as Abraham Lincoln, Marshall Field, Timothy Blackstone, and Samuel Insull were associated with the Chicago & Alton. Lincoln had been among the first to buy stock in the company, and the Chicago & Alton carried his funeral train on the last leg of its journey to Springfield, Illinois.

The introduction of George Pullman's first sleeping and dining cars enhanced the Chicago & Alton's reputation for elegant style and comfort. The company initiated a number of innovations in rail travel, including the installation of the first steel railroad bridge. It was also the first to bring streamliners and diesels into the highly competitive Chicago-St. Louis corridor.

Events that shaped America, from the Civil War to World War II, impacted the Chicago & Alton. During the tumultuous years of its business expansion, frequent shifts of power threatened to destroy the railroad. Edward Harriman, for example, rebuilt and reequipped the Chicago & Alton only to lose it in one of his few mistakes. The federal government later seized control during one of the Chicago & Alton's weakest periods, but relinquished it after a devastating coal strike. Even criminal manipulations of the railroad's stock and bonds by a New york financier played a role in the company's turbulent history.

Illustrated with eighty photographs, many of them never before published, The Chicago & Alton Railroad is the first complete history of one of America's most famous small railroads.
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Specificații

ISBN-13: 9780875802879
ISBN-10: 0875802877
Pagini: 283
Dimensiuni: 216 x 279 x 23 mm
Greutate: 1.22 kg
Ediția:1
Editura: Northern Illinois University Press
Colecția Northern Illinois University Press

Recenzii

"An excellent history of a short but vital Midwest railroad."—Mark Reutter, editor of Railroad History

Notă biografică

Gene V. Glendinning is past editor of the GM&OHS News, the official publication of the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio Historical Society, and has published numerous articles on railroad history.

Cuprins

Table of Contents Acknowledgments
1. The State Sets Its Course
2. A Railroad Emerges from the Prairie
3. Deception and Default
4. The Courts Decide the Future
5. From Calamity to Prosperity
6. The Triangle Is Closed
7. Defeat at Kansas City, Decline at Braidwood
8. The Harriman Era
9. The Hawley and Union Pacific Takeovers
10. The Long-Anticipated Receivership Arrives
11. The B&O and the War Years
Epilogue
Railroads and Abbreviations
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Descriere

The first railroad to connect the Mississippi River with the Great Lakes, the Chicago & Alton Railroad played a key role in the economic development of the Midwest. From humble beginnings in 1847 as transport for farm produce, it grew to link three key midwestern cities—Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City—and set the standard for efficient service and luxurious passenger travel.

Such famous personages as Abraham Lincoln, Marshall Field, Timothy Blackstone, and Samuel Insull were associated with the Chicago & Alton. Lincoln had been among the first to buy stock in the company, and the Chicago & Alton carried his funeral train on the last leg of its journey to Springfield, Illinois.

The introduction of George Pullman's first sleeping and dining cars enhanced the Chicago & Alton's reputation for elegant style and comfort. The company initiated a number of innovations in rail travel, including the installation of the first steel railroad bridge. It was also the first to bring streamliners and diesels into the highly competitive Chicago-St. Louis corridor.

Events that shaped America, from the Civil War to World War II, impacted the Chicago & Alton. During the tumultuous years of its business expansion, frequent shifts of power threatened to destroy the railroad. Edward Harriman, for example, rebuilt and reequipped the Chicago & Alton only to lose it in one of his few mistakes. The federal government later seized control during one of the Chicago & Alton's weakest periods, but relinquished it after a devastating coal strike. Even criminal manipulations of the railroad's stock and bonds by a New york financier played a role in the company's turbulent history.

Illustrated with eighty photographs, many of them never before published, The Chicago & Alton Railroad is the first complete history of one of America's most famous small railroads.