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Impossible Challenge II by Herbert Harwood, Jr Baltimore Washigton Harpers Ferry
Impossible Challenge II by Herbert H. Harwood, Jr.
Impossible Challenge II
The Odyssean Saga of The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad from Baltimore to Washington and Harpers Ferry from 1828-1994.
Herbert H. Harwood, Jr.
Hard Cover
431 Pages
Copyright 1994 First edition 1979, Second revised edition 1994
Contents
Introduction 6
Prologue 8
1A Stunning Send-off: 1828 9
2Finding The Way West 14
3Learn As You Go: Building The Main Line, 1828-1836 21
4Washington's First Railroad:
The Washington Branch, 1833-1840 46
5Making The Main Line Into A Railroad: 1836-1853 62
6New Baltimore Terminals: 1848-1865 76
7Running An 1850s Railroad 83
8Tranquil Times For The Washington Branch: 1840-1861 90
9Ordeal By Fire, Flood And Blood: 1859-1865 99
10The Victorian Main Line: 1865-1890 112
11The Washington Branch In A New World: 1865-1900 144
12Washington Finally Gets West:
The Metropolitan Branch, 1873-1900 163
13The Struggle To Get South: The Alexandria
and Georgetown Branches, 1873-1906 174
14Heavy Works and Severe Shocks: 1890-1910 187
15A New Era In Washington: 1890-1910 218
16Two Stable Decades: 1910-1931 243
17A Steep Slide and Abrupt Climb: 1931-1945 265
18Painful Readjustments: 1945-1960 286
19A Transformed Landscape: 1%1-1994 298
20Epilogue: Raising the Ghosts of the Past 323
Appendix 1 Postscript: The Parrs Ridge Planes 348
Appendix 2 Trains on the Streets and the Water 355
Appendix 3 America's Oldest Railroad Shop 366
Appendix 4 Tunnels Between Baltimore And Harpers Ferry 374
Form 6 September 1, 1889 376
A Tour In Color 385
Employee Timetable No. 58 September 28, 1947 401
An 1893 Day in the Life of B&O's New Jersey
Avenue Station, Washington DC 416
Form 6 February 1, 1917: Baltimore Division 417
Acknowledgements 425
Bibliography 427
Index 429
On first reading the rough draft of this book, what struck me was not the quality of the scholarship (which is superb) or the smooth way in which the author makes sense of a century-and-a-half of confused history...rather, it was a feeling of being with old acquaintances, long time neighbors. The work had a feeling of a family album.
After reflection, I decided that the satisfaction I felt stemmed from several sources. First, it was a good story well told, offering excitement, intrigue, and heroes and villains in the best American tradition. Too, I had a very parochial bias. The story of the B&O has been taught in Maryland grammar schools for decades and one with an inclination for such things cannot help but soak up some of the railroad lore that permeates most of the State.
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