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Impossible Challenge The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in Maryland w/ dust jacket
Impossible Challenge The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in Maryland by Harwood Jr.
Hard Cover With Dust Jacket. DUst jacket has damage
Copyright 1979.
497 pages. Indexed.
The first complete operational and engineering history of the States greatest adventure..Baltimore to Washington and Harpers Ferry from 1828-1979.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1A Stunning Sendoff: 1828
Chapter 2Learn as You Go: The Main Line, 1828-1836
Chapter 3Making the Main Line into a Railroad: 1836-1860
Chapter 4New Baltimore Terminals: 1848-1863
Chapter 5Running an 1850's Railroad
Chapter 6Ordeal by Fire, Flood and Blood:1859-1865
Chapter 7The Victorian Main Line: 1865-1890
Chapter 8A New "Old Main": 1890-1910
Chapter 9The Erratic 20th Century: 1910-1979
Chapter 10 Washington's First Railroad: The Washington Branch, 1835-1865
Chapter 11 The Washington Branch in a New World: 1865-1979
Chapter 12 Washington Finally Gets West: The Metropolitan Branch
Chapter 13 Getting South the Hard Way: The Alexandria Branch
Chapter 14 Another Try at Going South: The Georgetown Branch
Chapter 15 B&O's Three and a Half Terminals in Washington
Chapter 16 Into Hagerstown's Back Door: The Washington County Branch Chapter 17 Epilogue: Raising the Ghosts of the Past
The Parr's Ridge Planes
A B&O Archeologist's Itinerary
Bibliography Appendix and Index
INTRODUCTION --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 the 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 towards such things cannot help but soak up some of the railroad lore that permeates most of the State.
The B&O was, more so than most of its competitors, a home-grown project that reflected the needs, aspirations and limitations of its public and private sector parents. To be sure, it touched the lives of millions of people throughout the country, but as Harwood writes, its heart and soul were in Baltimore. In B&O territory, one is hard pressed to find an individual who does not have a grandfather, uncle or in-law who worked for "the Railroad". For eight generations, railroading has superimposed its own rhythms on those of the city and farm, in effect bringing the Industrial Revolution to within easy reach of virtually everyone. Loyalties to the agent of that revolution go back a long time-and die hard. Such was also the nature of the enterprise. Continually in second or third place by virtue of geography, seniority and the maneuverings of its more northern rivals, the Company made the most of its two premier assets: service and style. Those assets had roots in the railroad's inception as a work of, by and for the people of Baltimore and Maryland, but they also reflected traditional Maryland hospitalities. For every timeworn anecdote involving a dining car meal or a held connection, there were countless other unrecorded courtesies extended to the shipper and the public. Of course, the B&O was a for-profit corporation; it just seemed that at times the road to prosperity was laid with good intentions.
Yet much more than those good intentions was required. A "Rail Road" to the Ohio River, in those not-so-naive days, was a venture that simply had to succeed. Baltimore knew too well that it was in a very high stakes contest, with its future as a viable seaport as the wager. The B&O was locally controlled until the turn of the century and it would not be an overstatement to say that it was the single most important investment ever made in Maryland. Without it, the "Port that built the City and State" would almost certainly have perished in the backwash of New York and Philadelphia.
Why it did not is more properly the concern of economic historians. This book is an examination of the physical plant and operations of the link to the west that kept Baltimore alive. Though necessarily limited to Maryland, it treats probably the most historic slice of railroading in the Country. That one can still ride (at least for a few miles) along the route of the Nation's first passenger train is confirmation of the soundness of the Founders' vision. That there has never been a coherent account of the actual development of that stretch of railroad was the motivation for this book.
I can only guess that it was his sense of justice that prodded Herb Harwood into taking on the project. Well known for his careful studies of the Hagerstown and Frederick and Washington and Old Dominion Railin addition to numerous contributions to scholarly and popular serials, he is a skilled analyst of the railroad industry. Most importantly, his career with the Chessie System and residence in Baltimore have given him the understanding of his subject vital to any author. In his two year research, he left no known rock unturned in the quest for accuracy and context.
It was not an easy book to assemble. The data had to be gleaned from a wide array of primary sources, no mean feat in spite of the body of published work bearing on the B&O. As with any entity that has become part of the popular culture, there was a great deal of debunking to be done. . . .however hoary, many of the well liked and oft told stories surrounding the early days of the B&O are just that.
Photos also proved to be a challenge. To be informative, entertaining and appropriate meant winnowing several thousand available graphics down to the best several hundred. The integration of the well researched text and the pictures speaks for itself; an author less sensitive to his subject could not have accomplished it. The story itself has been repeated a thousand times in the history of American enterprise. The successes, failures and unfailing optimism that emerge here are at once comfortably familiar and strikingly universal. What follows is a solid, original-source history that reads like a novel - as well it should.
Baltimore, Maryland John P. Hankey September, 1979The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum
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