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RAILROADS The Great American Adventure by Ogburn Dust Jacket
RAILROADS--The Great American Adventure by Charlton Ogburn
DUST JACKET. 203 pages indexed.
Contents -- From the Teakettle on Wheels to Iron Horse -- Buccaneers and Builders: Spanning a Continent -- A growing Nation Takes to the Rails-- The Golden Era of the Railroads -- The Tracks Ahead: Today and Tomorrow -- Printed in 1977
THE STEAM LOCOMOTIVE! "As often as I saw that. masterwork barreling down the main line in a white surf, wheels tucked beneath her, six-foot drivers pounding the shining rails, her plume of smoke laid down her back, it brought my heart to my throat," reminisces author Chariton Ogburn. Such iron horses thundering across the continent stirred the soul, whetted the appetite for adventure, and nourished the pioneering spirit.
The story of American railroads is the story of the growth of a nation. Towns mushroomed, industries flourished, and the country boomed along the new routes of travel and commerce that linked cultural groups as well as geographic regions. "For most of our history, railroads have been a vital part of American life," writes Ogburn "However different we may have been.. . we were all parishioners" of what became for a time the nation's most important industry.
Relive a glorious age in Railroads: The Great American Adventure-from the first belching "teakettle-on-wheels" to the highly efficient diesel-electric locomotives of this century.
As steam engines captured the American imagination, railroad fever gripped the country. Work gangs struggled over forbidding mountain ranges and across vast prairies to span the continent with ribbons of iron. Shrewd financiers built railroad empires as desperadoes plundered the western lines. Heroic engineering feats and the tragic tales of Casey Jones and "Old 97" made legendary the drama of working on the rails.
You will hear the roar of luxurious passenger trains heralding the golden era of the railroads. Then you can look to the tracks ahead as the author ponders the future role of the iron horse.
Carefully researched historical illustrations, contemporary color photographs, and special picture essays enrich the text, evoking the romance and excitement symbolized by the steam locomotive - "the most dramatic, most beautiful, most awesome expression of the machine age."
-Foreword
Come all you rounders, I want you to hear,
The story told of a brave engineer.
SO BEGINS the immortal ballad of railroader "Casey" Jones, who died in one of history's most famous train wrecks. The song is more than a eulogy; its spirit and message staunchly proclaim America's durable love affair with the iron horse. Highlights of a memorable era leap to mind: the Great Locomotive Chase of the Civil Warhome the golden spike at Promontory, Utah. . . Butch Cassidy, Jesse James, and other train robbers battling the Pinkertons . . . George Mortimer Pullman's famous sleeping cars. . . Fred Harvey and the Harvey girls droves of hoboes during the Depression. . . the Twentieth Century Limited, renowned for comfort, fine meals, and on-time service....
The list goes on. In today's world of supersonic planes and eight-lane freeways, we tend to forget the tremendous impact that railroads have had upon our nation and our lives. Not very long ago, almost every town boasted a railway station, and that station was likely to be its hub. Here people congregated, not only to travel and do business, but also to see and be seen, and perhaps to eat in its restaurant or at one of the hotels that sprouted nearby. This was railroading's romantic age, when heroes rode smoke-belching locomotives in folk songs and dime novels, and trains established such a reputation for holding to schedules that "the farmers set their clocks by them," wrote Henry David Thoreau.
Of course, railroads also served more pragmatic functions. They tamed the West and opened it to settlement, enabling millions of newcomers to realize the American dream - a homestead of their own. They contributed mightily to America's industrial and economic growth. They carried the mails, transported raw materials to factories and finished products to market, and made some of their owners very, very rich. Railroads affected all Americans, from Vanderbilt and Harriman to the nameless, down-and-out drifters who sought a wind-free corncr aboard the next slow freight.
Today, though they are less visible, trains remain vital to America. We at NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC rely on them to bring us virtually all of our paper stock, and to distribute about 80 percent of the nine and a half million copies of our magazine published each month. Despite America's extensive trucking and airline industries, railroads still carry the most freight. Passenger bookings, down considerably from the 1944 record of 97.7 billion passenger-miles, are now on the rise with Amtrak-and should continue to increase with our concern for energy conservation.
The reason is simple - trains represent our most fuel-efficient transportation system. In the high-density corridors, they offer an additional advantage: Unlike trucks or planes, they can convert to electricity (and thus, in many cases, to non-petroleum energy sources). With high-speed rails, computerized controls, and reemphasis on service, passenger trains may yet renew their long romance with the American people.
And then, who knows? Perhaps we'll find ourselves with not only a healthier economy, but a whole new round of railroad folklore as well!
GILBERT M. GROSVENOR
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