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Toledo Trolleys
9780738541044
Regular price $24.99 Save Liquid error (snippets/product-template line 248): Computation results in '-Infinity'%
The Toledo interurbans last ran in December 1949. The interurbans were a great loss to a city that was a major transportation hub in its own right. They would be replaced by buses, but nothing could replace the feeling of riding a trolley to work or taking the family to a movie by trolley. Today there is very little that remains of the interurban lines. Sometimes the old rails are visible when street repairs are being made. Toledo Trolleys was written to preserve the rich history of the trolleys that served citizens faithfully for many years.
Railroads of Dubuque
9780738539577
Regular price $24.99 Save Liquid error (snippets/product-template line 248): Computation results in '-Infinity'%
The city of Dubuque, settled on the west side of the Mississippi River in 1833, has historically been home to four major railways and numerous trolleys and passenger trains. Dubuque's railroad legacy was precipitated by local resident John Plumbe Jr., "the Father of the Transcontinental Railroad," who proposed a transcontinental railroad in 1838 and promoted the idea throughout the Midwest. The Illinois Central Railroad first reached the east bank of the Mississippi in 1855, followed by the Milwaukee Road, the Chicago and Great Western, and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroads. This book uses rare photographs and historical text to chronicle the development and heyday of these four pioneering railways, as well as Dubuque's many trolleys and its two funicular railroads. While the glory days of Dubuque's railroads may have passed, the legacy they brought to the city lives on, and is evident in the Fourth Street Elevator, which remains the world's shortest, steepest railroad.
Rockford & Interurban Railway
9781467112390
Regular price $24.99 Save Liquid error (snippets/product-template line 248): Computation results in '-Infinity'%
With today's America dominated by the automobile, it is difficult to believe that until the 1920s nearly 100 percent of the US population traveled via rail. Conventional passenger-train service spread rapidly by the 1850s, but another form of rail transportation did not emerge until the turn of the 20th century: the interurban. Almost always electric, interurbans linked cities with burghs. Rockford, one of Illinois's three largest urban centers during the 20th century, enjoyed a system appropriately named the Rockford & Interurban, dating from the city's horse-drawn streetcars of the 1880s. By World War I, the Rockford & Interurban ran from downtown Rockford to Cherry Valley and Belvidere; Winnebago, Pecatonica, and Freeport; Roscoe and Rockton; and Beloit and Janesville, Wisconsin. The Rockford & Interurban enjoyed a supernova of success, rising quickly in popularity before slowly dying when the automobile became widespread in the 1920s; the Great Depression finished the job in 1936.
Railroad Depots of Southwest Ohio
9780738584157
Regular price $24.99 Save Liquid error (snippets/product-template line 248): Computation results in '-Infinity'%
Springfield was the original destination of the two oldest railroad companies to lay rails in Ohio, the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad and the Little Miami Railroad. This would form the first rail link between Lake Erie and the Ohio River. Other routes became more important as rails eventually spread like spokes of a wheel from Cincinnati, and connections were made to Akron, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Indianapolis, Lexington, Louisville, Marietta, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Toledo as well as many other cities by the late 1800s. Hundreds of depots were erected to serve train travelers, ranging from the smallest shelter to the standard combined passenger-freight building to the major city passenger terminal. Cincinnati, Dayton, and Springfield became railroad centers, and towns like Blanchester, Hamilton, Loveland, Middletown, Morrow, Wilmington, and Xenia, served by more than one line, became busy transfer points. With the decline of rail passenger service, depots became unnecessary--many were demolished. Railroad Depots of Southwest Ohio presents a pictorial look at a sampling of these grand structures when they were in their prime.
Copper Country Streetcars
9780738599861
Regular price $24.99 Save Liquid error (snippets/product-template line 248): Computation results in '-Infinity'%
During the early 1900s, copper mining was at its peak in the "Copper Country" of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Numerous communities sprang up throughout the region, but travel between towns was difficult as the roads were not paved and became impassable during the winter months when over 200 inches of snow would inundate the area. The poor travel conditions and boom period in the Copper Country were instrumental factors that resulted in the construction of a streetcar line to serve the area. Service began in 1900, and the network was extended several times over the next few years. Ridership peaked in 1910, when over six million passengers rode the system; however, it declined in the 1920s as automobiles became more popular, roads were improved, and the copper boom subsided. Service finally ended in 1932. It is a fascinating history that surprises many of today's residents that streetcars operated in the area.
Electric Trolleys of Washtenaw County
9780738561363
Regular price $24.99 Save Liquid error (snippets/product-template line 248): Computation results in '-Infinity'%
Electric streetcars and interurbans appeared in Washtenaw County in the 1890s. Evolved from horse-drawn streetcars, electric cars were ideal for public transportation. They were cheap, fast, and went to plenty of places. The system developed around Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, branching out to Detroit to the east and Jackson to the west. Bigger and better equipment was added, and larger companies took over the small ones. In western Washtenaw County, two interurban railways engaged in a struggle for survival. Occasionally the interurbans crashed into buildings or one another, with disastrous results. Electric Trolleys of Washtenaw County explains how electric mass transportation flourished starting in the 1890s, why it bloomed, and why it suddenly became extinct after only a few decades.
Sioux City Railroads
9780738552224
Regular price $24.99 Save Liquid error (snippets/product-template line 248): Computation results in '-Infinity'%
Toward the end of the 19th century, railroads transformed Sioux City from a western outpost to one of the fastest-growing municipalities in the world. Prior to the arrival of the railroads, Sioux City depended on the Missouri River for transportation. The Missouri, however, was not dependable because of flooding and droughts. As an all-season mode of transportation, the railroads permitted the flourishing of the meatpacking industry in Sioux City. In fact, it was the large number of different railroad companies that made Sioux City a major agricultural center rather than just another county seat or market town. Trains carried cattle and hogs to the plants and then carted away the Sioux City-processed products to the nation and to the world.
Canton Area Railroads
9780738561110
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Canton and the nearby cities of Massillon and Alliance are located in the great steel-making region of northeast Ohio and western Pennsylvania. Railroads brought coal, much of it mined in southeastern Ohio, and iron ore to the steel plants and hauled away the finished products. The Timken Roller Bearing Company moved to Canton in 1902 and in the 1920s began making roller bearings for railroad locomotives and rolling stock. Written in cooperation with the Akron Railroad Club, this book chronicles the history and development of the railroads that served Stark, Wayne, Holmes, Carroll, and Tuscarawas Counties. It shows how rail operations changed as the steel industry declined and railroad consolidations led to traffic shifts and route abandonment. Among the railroads that served this region were the Pennsylvania, Baltimore and Ohio, New York Central, and Wheeling and Lake Erie.
Whitewater Valley Railroad
9781467111485
Regular price $24.99 Save Liquid error (snippets/product-template line 248): Computation results in '-Infinity'%
The Whitewater Valley Railroad is a historic line in scenic southeastern Indiana.
It was completed to Connersville in 1867, linking the towns of the Whitewater Valley to Cincinnati over the former towpath of the Whitewater Canal (1836-1862). Originally named the White Water Valley Railroad, the line went through several name changes before being absorbed by the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis (the "Big Four") in 1890 and later by the New York Central, the parent company of the Big Four. After merging with the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1968, the line became the Penn Central before closing in 1972 between Brookville and Connersville. It was slated for abandonment when a group of volunteers stepped in to create the Whitewater Valley Railroad, which ran its first tourist passenger trains in 1974. The nonprofit volunteer organization celebrates its 40th anniversary of operations in 2014.
Akron Railroads
9780738541419
Regular price $24.99 Save Liquid error (snippets/product-template line 248): Computation results in '-Infinity'%
The self-described "rubber capital of the world," Akron was the home of numerous rubber factories that made tires for America's burgeoning automobile industry. Many of the raw materials needed to create rubber arrived by rail, and the finished products moved to market in freight cars. The city's major railroads included the Baltimore and Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Erie Railroads, but three regional carriers, the Akron, Canton and Youngstown, the Wheeling and Lake Erie, and the Akron and Barberton Belt, also served Akron-area industries. Written in cooperation with the Akron Railroad Club, this book chronicles the ever-changing Akron railroad scene since the club's founding in 1936.
St. Louis Gateway Rail
9780738540702
Regular price $24.99 Save Liquid error (snippets/product-template line 248): Computation results in '-Infinity'%
Though the city of St. Louis is located on the Missouri side of the Mississippi River, for the railroads, the St. Louis Gateway extends into Illinois, north and south along both sides of the river. Two factors conspired against St. Louis's aspiration to become the preeminent rail center of the 19th-century American Midwest: there was no bridge across the Mississippi, and Missouri's loyalty to the Union during the Civil War was suspect. Chicago beat out St. Louis to attain the region's top railroad billing. Fast forward to the 1970s, when the Gateway Arch, dedicated in 1968, redefined the St. Louis riverfront and when the St. Louis Union Station closed to rail service. The 1970s was a decade of railroad debuts--Burlington Northern, Illinois Central Gulf, Family Lines--and a decade of railroad demises--Rock Island and Frisco. It signaled the end of a century of rail domination of the American transportation scene.
