Encyclopedia Britannica complete text of monumental 11th edition (1910); excellent source for all topics as of that date, especially on cities and states, and on railroad technology
word searches search through thousands of 19c books and articles recommended
"The South-Western Strike of 1886," scholarly article by F. W. Taussig
The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 1, No. 2. (Jan., 1887), pp. 184-222. from JSTOR
"Employment on the railways in east Kent, 1841-1914". By: Andrews, Frank W. G.. Journal of Transport History, Mar 2000, Vol. 21 Issue 1, pp 54-72, 19p; on England; online at many academic libraries (EBSCO)
Fleisig, Heywood. "The Central Pacific Railroad and the Railroad Land Grant Controversy" Journal of Economic History 1975 35(3): 552-566. Issn: 0022-0507 Fulltext in JSTOR. Questions whether promoters of the Central Pacific Railroad were oversubsidized. Confirms the traditional view that subsidies were not an economic necessity because they "influenced neither the decision to invest in the railroad nor the speed of its construction." Notes that estimates of rate of return for the railroad developers using government funds range from 71% to 200%, while estimates of private rates of return range from 15% to 25%.
Mercer, Lloyd J. "Rates of Return for Land-grant Railroads: the Central Pacific System" Journal of Economic History 1970 30(3): 602-626. Issn: 0022-0507 Fulltext in JSTOR. Analyzes the impact of land grants, during 1864-90, on rates of return from investment in the Central Pacific Railroad. Results suggest that even without land grants, rates of return were high enough to induce investment. Also, land grants did not pay for the construction of the railroad. Land grants, however, did produce large social returns in western states by accelerating construction of the system.
Mercer, Lloyd J. "Land Grants to American Railroads: Social Cost or Social Benefit?" Business History Review 1969 43(2): 134-151. Issn: 0007-6805 Fulltext in Jstor. Attempts by the use of econometrics to determine the values of railroad land grants of the 19th century to the railroads and to society as a whole. The author summarizes and criticizes previous treatments of this subject and then discusses his own findings. Using only the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific systems as the basis for his investigation, the author concludes that the railroad owners received unaided rates of return which substantially exceeded the private rate of return on the average alternative project in the economy during the same period. Thus the projects turned out to be profitable although it was generally expected by contemporary observers that the roads would be privately unprofitable without the land grant aid. The land grants did not have a major effect, increasing the private rate of return only slightly. Nevertheless, it is contended that the policy of subsidizing those railroad systems was beneficial for society since the social rate of return from the project was substantial and exceeded the private rate by a significant margin.
Land grants note: the federal government gave the RR empty land to construct new lines in the west; the government kept every other section in checkerboard fashion, and resold its land for large sums; the railroads used their lands to back construction mortgages, then sold the land to farmers to pay off those mortgages
"Railroad Control in Nebraska" scholarly article by Frank Haigh Dixon,
Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 13, No. 4. (Dec., 1898), pp. 617-647. in JSTOR
"The early years of electric traction: invention, development, exploitation". By: Robbins, Michael. Journal of Transport History, Mar2000, Vol. 21 Issue 1, pp 92-102. On England; available online at many academic libraries via EBSCO
Joseph Harrison, The Locomotive Engine (1872) useful history; well illustrated. According to DAB, his Philadelphia firm originated several important improvements in the locomotive. They were the first to design a practical eight-wheel engine, with four driving and four truck wheels. A method for equalizing the weight on the driving wheels was patented by Harrison in 1839, and he also devised an improvement in the forward truck, making it flexible so that it would accommodate itself to irregular undulations on the rails. Locomotives designed and built by this firm were among the first to burn anthracite coal successfully, and they surmounted higher grades than had previously been overcome in America or in Europe. In 1841 the firm built a locomotive called the Gowan & Marx, weighing but little over eleven tons, for the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad. Its performance in drawing 101 loaded coal cars over that road caused a sensation and brought a major contact from the Russian government. He built 162 locomotives in Russia in the 1840s. Returning to Philadelphia he in 1859 invented a major safety improvement in the steam engine.
for more on the travel experience, see the scholarly book by Sarah Gordon, Passage to Union: How the Railroads Transformed American Life, 1829-1929 (1997)
"Employment on the railways in east Kent, 1841-1914". By: Andrews, Frank W. G.. Journal of Transport History, Mar2000, Vol. 21 Issue 1, p54-72, 19p; online at many academic libraries (EBSCO)
"Rates of return, concentration levels and strategic change in the British railway industry, 1830-1912" By: Arnold, A. J.; McCartney, S.. Journal of Transport History, Mar 2005, Vol. 26 Issue 1, pp 41-60, online at many academic libraries (EBSCO)
"The Channel tunnel, 1955-75". By: Bonnaud, Laurent. Journal of Transport History, Mar 2001, Vol. 22 Issue 1, pp 6-22, online at many academic libraries (EBSCO)
"The sad state of British railways" By: Bagwell, Philip. Journal of Transport History, Sep 2004, Vol. 25 Issue 2, p111-124, online at many academic libraries (EBSCO)
Dobbin, Frank, Forging Industrial Policy: The United States, Britain & France in the Railway Age (1997), major scholarly comparison for 19c (not online)
Ambrose, Stephen E. (2000). Nothing Like It In The World; The men who built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-84609-8.
David Haward Bain, Empire Express: Building the First Transcontinental Railroad (2000)
Cerinda W. Evans; Collis Potter Huntington Vol. 1 Mariners Museum, 1954
John Debo Galloway; The First Transcontinental Railroad: Central Pacific, Union Pacific (1950)
Kraus, George. "Chinese Laborers and the Construction of the Central Pacific." Utah Historical Quarterly 1969 37(1): 41-57. Issn: 0042-143x. Shows how Chinese railroad workers lived and worked, how they managed the finances associated with their employment, and concludes that Central Pacific officials responsible for employing the Chinese, even those at first opposed to the policy, came to appreciate the cleanliness and reliability of this group of laborers. There are many quotations from accounts by contemporary observers.
Lake, Holly. "Construction of the CPRR: Chinese Immigrant Contribution" Northeastern Nevada Historical Society Quarterly 1994 94(4): 188-199. Issn: 0160-9602
Ong, Paul M. "The Central Pacific Railroad and Exploitation of Chinese Labor." Journal of Ethnic Studies 1985 13(2): 119-124. Issn: 0091-3219. Ong tries to resolve the apparent inconsistency in the literature on Asians in early California, with contradictory studies showing evidence both for and against the exploitation of Chinese labor by the Central Pacific Railroad, using monopsony theory as developed by Joan Robinson. Monopsonists are buyers whose share of the market is large enough to affect prices, or whose supply curves are not completely elastic. By setting different wages for whites and Chinese - each having different elasticities of supply - and using Chinese in the menial and dangerous jobs, with whites in the better positions, the two groups were complementary rather than interchangeable. Calculations thus prove higher levels of exploitation of the Chinese than in previous studies.
Tutorow, Norman E. "Stanford's Responses to Competition: Rhetoric Versus Reality." Southern California Quarterly 1970 52(3): 231-247. Issn: 0038-3929 Leland Stanford and the men who ran the Central Pacific Railroad system paid lip-service to the idea of free competition but in practice sought to destroy or weaken competing railroad and shipping lines. Focusing on the years between the completion of the first transcontinental railroad line (1869) and Stanford's death (1893), the author shows how Stanford and the Central Pacific associates repeatedly entered into pooling arrangements to prevent competition, brought out competitors, or forced rivals to agree not to compete with them. He concludes that Stanford and his partners viewed laissez-faire as applicable only to government controls and not to destruction of competition within the system by those involved
Williams, John Hoyt. A Great and Shining Road: The Epic Story of the Transcontinental Railroad (1988)
Goodwin, Neil, prod. The Iron Road. Video. Color. 58min. (American Experience series.) Publication: Peace River Films, 1990. Distrib. by PBS Video
"A Chapter of Erie" classic 1869 expose of Erie RR by businessman/historian Charles F. Adams
"Erie Lackawanna: An Ohio Railroad" scholarly 1992 article by H. Roger Grant, author of Erie Lackawanna: Death of an American Railroad: 1938-1992 (1994)
After briefly tracing its mid-19th-century beginnings as the Erie Railroad, America's first long-distance trunk rail line, concentrates on the rise and fall of the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad
(EL). Formed in 1960 with the merger of the Erie Railroad and the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western,
the EL faced enormous problems until 1968, when it was merged with the Norfolk & Western. An infusion
of new executive talent as a result of this last merger helped boost the morale of EL workers, but
the rail line nonetheless faced bankruptcy in 1972, as its volume of freight traffic dropped
drastically due to trucking industry competition. Finally in 1976, after an effort to reorganize, EL
was forced to accept financial assistance from the federal government and was absorbed into Conrail,
thus disappearing as an identifiable carrier. [Am Hist & Life]
"Interurbans in the Automobile Age: The Case of the Toledo, Port Clinton and Lakeside" scholarly 1994 article by Douglas Shaw. During the 1900's-30's, electric interurban railways connected almost all Ohio towns and
cities of populations over five thousand. Such lines as the Toledo, Port Clinton and Lakeside
Railway initially filled a useful niche, transporting seasonal tourist traffic as well as agricultural and mining products. As trucks and automobiles became more popular, however, the sale
of excess electricity became a more important source of income. By 1940 most interurban railways had folded, as motorized transportation on paved highways was found to be more flexible and convenient. [Am Hist & Life]
Copyright (c) 2012 Richard Jensen. This Guide was prepared with support from the National Endowment for Humanities, the Center for Global Partnership of the Japan Foundation, the University of Illinois, RPI, the Gilder-Lehrman Foundation, the Luce Foundation, and the Robert H. Michel Civic Education Grants sponsored by The Dirksen Congressional Center. Scholars are invited to post the complete Guide to campus WWW sites and distribute it to students.