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On The 8:02 An informal history of commuting by rail in America DJ 1st ed
On The 8:02 An informal history of commuting by rail in America By Lawrence Grow Dust Jacket 1979 FIRST EDITION 176 Pages
On the 8:02 is the story of the search for suburban Elysian fields during the 19th and early 20th centuries in four major American metropolitan areas - Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago. It primarily concerns the railroads, the means of reaching out for a new way of life on the part of millions of people during this period, for it was the train, more specifically the commuter train, that defined the extent of these territories and how they were to develop. By no means does the focus on these four cities and their suburbs exhaust the perimeters or possibilities of suburban life. All large cities in America developed a system of rail commutation during the 19th century. Baltimore, Washington, Cleveland, Detroit, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, St. Louis, New Orleans- these are among the notable omissions from this book. Even in California, around both Los Angeles and San Francisco, sophisticated suburban rail systems emerged in the late 19th century. A remnant of the Southern Pacific's once-proud fleet of Bay area commuter trains still makes its way through San Mateo County to San Jose. None of these cities, however, developed quite so spectacularly as a center of a universe of commuter rail lines as did the big four of the East and Midwest. And these are the only areas today where service is still extensive.
On the 8:02 addresses itself to the old railroads, the class A carriers that converted to diesel or electric motive power in the 20th century after decades of operating with steam. The rapid transit streetcar and elevated lines, as well as the electric interurbans, are outside the scope of this informal study of the whys and wherefores of traditional suburban railroading. The subject of rapid transit is a chapter in urban transportation history best covered separately, and will be the focus of a second and later volume.
This is a book intended for the general reader and not only for the enjoyment of the rail fan. How trains ran and who operated them is an important matter, but it is well treated in the numerous specialized studies of the various railroad companies. After four introductory chapters devoted to the development of suburbia, a profile of the commuter, the role the railroads played, and the manner and means by which commuting was carried on, the history of major suburban service in each of the four metropolitan areas is explored. Special attention has been given to those lines still existing and to the towns and villages which they serve. The story is that of fifteen railroad companies and their riders over the years. Because the history of the companies themselves is one of almost constant consolidation or merger until the 1900s, numerous smaller, previously independent lines enter into the story. The New Haven system, for instance, was made up of at least 100 leased or directly-owned companies. Now all of the systems in the Northeast are part of the federal Conrail network or are under the jurisdication of regional transportation authorities. In the Chicago area nearly all of the lines are part of the Regional Transportation Authority, and moving stock has been purchased by that public agency. It will not be long before even the names of the historic passenger rail lines are consigned to history. The paths they blazed, however, can serve an even more important role in the urban America of the future. Within several years, the majority of Americans will have developed an economic fondness for the rails.
The writing of any book is a solitary affair. No one but an author can decipher scribbled notes or hastily copied Xeroxes of documents. In putting together a book on railroading, however, the assistance of knowledgeable enthusiasts, scholars, and curators is indispensable. Aid in tracking down dates, corporate decisions and projects, as well as illustrations which give depth to the written record, has been particularly indispensable to assembling On the 8:02. Suburban history is largely unrecorded, and its intimate association with the railroads has gone virtually unrecognized. Even the railroads themselves, as the corporate histories testify, make little mention of the development of the commuter passenger business. It is with special appreciation and admiration, then, that the following persons are recognized for their contributions to On the 8:02:
John McLeod, Helen M. Rowland, and Ron Shumate of the Association of American Railroads, Washington, D.C.; Marie Spina, Librarian, History Division, Brooklyn Collection, Brooklyn Public Library; Jim Hagle of the Burlington Northern, Chicago; Ranulph Bye, artist, Doylestown, Penn.; Merrie Good, Chase Manhattan Bank Collection, New York City; Thomas J. Judge, Chicago & North Western Transportation Co., Chicago; Norton D. Clark, Newton, Mass.; Vincent Horan, Conrail, Hoboken, NJ.; Ellen Denker, Monmouth County Historical Association, Freehold, NJ.; Jim Scribbins, Milwaukee Road, Chicago; Esther Bromberg, Museum of the City of New York; Earle E. Coleman, University Archivist, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ.; George M. Hart, Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania; Howard F. Greene, Railway & Locomotive Historical Society, Cambridge, Mass.; John White, Curator of Transportation, Smithsonian Institution, Museum of History and Technology, Washington, D.C.; and Thomas T. Taber III, Muncy, Penn.
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