By 1900 , America ’s railroads were very nearly at their peak , both in condition of overall mileage and employment . In the 20 years leading up to World War I , however , the foundations of railroading would exchange drastically . New technology would be infix , and the nation would go to warfare , during which time the railroads would be run by the government . Most significantly , the railroads would introduce the historic period of government regulation .
The morning of the 20th century was , for the most part , eagerly anticipated by America . There was much to celebrate . Things were go well for business , and that mean there was exercise for almost everyone .
Railroads capitalized on the prosperity with colored brochures advance top - nick passenger railroad train . The West was transfigure as the nation ’s wonderland , on a regular basis being boast in railroad - commissioned paintings and in the pages of numerous powder store . poster feature dreamy damozel lured vacationers to alien destination like California , while tight " Limiteds " raced business concern travelers across the land .
The nation ’s railroads were still growing . By 1900 , more than 195,000 miles of track were in service , and there were still another 16 years of elaboration forward . The biggest opportunities existed in the West and in the South , where heavy lot of the landscape painting were still lightly populated .
During the age preceding World War I , the Florida East Coast Railroad extended its runway all the mode to Key West ; the Union Pacific reached Los Angeles by crossing through the Utah , Nevada , and California desert ; the Western Pacific completed its dividing line from Salt Lake City to Oakland , California ; and the Chicago , Milwaukee , St. Paul & Pacific linked the Midwest to the West Coast .
It was around this clock time that the passenger railroad train achieved levels of reliability , comfort , and speed that railing rider would more often than not enjoy for the next 50 to 60 years . train became so reliable as to boost entire generation of patronage traveller to schedule meetings in remote cities the next mean solar day , and the canonic amenities of train travel – a prosperous lounge , impeccable dining machine service , sleepingcars with restrooms and runningwater , and carpets throughout – were here to remain . railway even begin to regularly operate their fine geartrain at speeds that even today ’s travelers would deal " fast " – 80 to 100 mile per hour .
Casey Jones
Nowhere was the railroad line more evident than in the newsworthy events and popular culture of the solar day , which often sport colorful tales of railroad and railroaders . Take the story of Casey Jones , for example . Although patently due to Casey ’s own misjudgment , the far-famed wreck of his rider power train in 1900 at Vaughan , Mississippi – in which he pass away – resulted in the deaths of no passengers . By bond with hislocomotiveuntil it was too late to save up himself , engine driver Casey was capable to slow the train appreciably , minimizing the hit ’s issue . The consequent packaging painted Casey as a hero ; here was the story of a " brave engineer " who gave his life to save those of his passenger . The fib – and the democratic strain that soon followed – remain a permanent part of American folklore and history today .
With the hike of motion picture andmovie theater , railroads and railroader would savour a drawn-out stay in the cinematic calcium light . The success of the 1903 film TheGreat Train Robbery– a unsubdivided , fast - paced " shoot-‘em - up " Western – guarantee that more gearing - related moving picture would follow .
In 1905 , a record - break dash by train , from Los Angeles to Chicago via the Santa Fe , was another railroading event that captured the Carry Amelia Moore Nation ’s attention . The instigator , Walter Scott – popularly known as " Death ValleyScotty " and wide call up for his colorful claims about his mining exploits – manifestly rent the railroad train purely for publicity ’s sake .
Threats to Early 20th Century Railroads
Of course , there had to a be a downside , too . And indeed there was , in the form of a develop inquietude among Americans about the ownership and management of the nation ’s biggest business – which the railroads had collectively become – being concentrated in the hands of a relative few . How much power was too much ? Was government regulation or ascendancy necessary , or were market forces the best fashion to keep these empire in balk ? wide verbalise about by citizen and political leader alike , and discourse in books such as " The Railroad Question , " these were issues that would not go away in the first decades of the twentieth century .
Before the turn of the century , railroad track were hire in an ongoing process of innovation , expansion , and consolidation . Railroads shaped the nation , and were in turn shaped by it .
The new century was no different in a basic sense ; the change continue . But while some of the changes pop the question hope others seemed of less usage , at least to the railroad . There were even invention that , down the road , would get competitive threats to railway system , though these were largely unrecognised at first .
Consider the telephony , for instance . In the early 1900s it was replace the telegraph on American railroad . The idea was the same – electric impulses carried over wires – yet " telephone " represented a way to make these transmissions approachable to everyone . Previously , the place federal agent in many small towns was often the only person who had the " power " to translate telegraphic subject matter ship in Morse code .
The phone held howling possibility for business as well . It offer a way to pass in veridical words , in real sentence – and at a moment ’s observation . Some observers speculate that there would be less indigence for traveling and face - to - grimace meetings in the future ; there was even the possibility that telephone might prove utile in the home .
The internal - combustion engine also accommodate promise for railroads . As early as 1890 , a naive 18 - horsepower gasoline engine was used near Chicago to show the usefulness of self - propelled railcars . Just after the turn of the century , primitive gasolene - mechanical and gas - electric motorcar ( the distinction being manifest in thetransmissions ) were build for such railroads as the Erie , the Pennsylvania , the Union Pacific , and the Southern Pacific .
As it turned out , ego - propelled cars volunteer rescue in the form of labour , but were broadly speaking quite troublesome to keep function properly . The gasoline engine would turn out to be better suited to the personal automobile , which was also being develop at this clock time .
Then there was the Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel engine . In the early years of this C , the Rudolf Diesel – named for Rudolf Diesel , its German inventor – was already being put to work in a variety of industrial uses .
The Corliss Engine industrial plant , considered the universe ’s largest in 1902 , ran its huge manufacturing plant entirely with Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel big businessman . Brewer Adolphus Busch built the first diesel motor engine constructed in America for use at his brewery , eventually forming a new house , Busch - Sultzer , to fabricate diesel motor engines for American and Canadian user . Even mighty American Locomotive Works , the nation ’s second - orotund builder of steam locomotive engine , had tested the diesel with favorable results . Still , it would take American locomotive detergent builder another one-fourth of a century to get down a serious programme of building and testing these prototype pattern .
Railroad Passenger Improvements
electrical energy finally provided clean , safe lighting aboard passenger cars , but a related event in Richmond , Virginia , in 1887 was almost immediately of worry to America ’s steam railroads . When discoverer Frank J. Sprague successfully electrified that metropolis ’s street railway system , the stage was set for the large - plate program of street railway line to towns and city of all sizes . Up to this time , only the largest metropolis could brook the necessary high-pitched ridership or large majuscule investments required for horse- or cable - propelled railway organisation .
In a pre - automobileage , Sprague ’s winner mean that metropolis workers could now get to and from their jobs much more efficiently ; it also meant that development was spur to the edges of city , a precursor to our modernistic - day convention of suburban animation .
Electric Trains
shortly the young technology of the trolley railcar was being applied to elevated railways as well , allowing large cities such as New York , Chicago , and Boston to extend to uprise apace . As the 100 - turned , the boom was on . The electrical railway industry mushroom in size until by 1920 it was the fifth large diligence in the United States . In 1890 , street railways carried two billion passengers ; by 1902 , the number had come up to five billion , more than several time the number conduct on the nation’ssteamrailroads .
Another variation , the interurban electrical railway , competed directly with steam railroad line for the first two tenner of the 20th century . These interurbans , as they were call off , be major streets in urban areas , then set out – often twin be railroads – across the countryside to serve nearby Town .
Although the stumble often was slower than the paralleling steam route ’s armed service , it was tender more oft . Thus the interurban produce to its biggest proportion in regions that had scattered town and suburb surround a major metropolitan core – such as Los Angeles and Indianapolis – or had concentrated development along apopulationcorridor , such as those connect Chicago - Milwaukee , Cincinnati - Day long ton , or Oakland - Sacramento - Chico ( California ) .
The interurban turned out to be little more than a transitional footstep between lonesome reliance on the steam railway line for intercity transit and almost solitary reliance on the personal auto ( which was still several ten in the futurity ) . Although a few interurban organization actually prospered – unremarkably due to the fact that they also carried load , in verbatim competition with steam railway system – few industries have grown so chop-chop or declined so quickly , and no industry of its sizing ever had a more dismal financial record .
Not surprisingly , the interurbans set out their precipitate decline on the eve of World War I – as theautomobilewas becoming usable to all – and during the Depression the industry was virtually annihilated .
Early 20th Century Railroad Competition
Competition is expected to be not bad in a gratis - marketplace society , but railway system prior to the turn of events of the 100 were engaged in a particularly fierce variation . railroad line mileage was expanding , but particularly in the East and Midwest – where the railroad line internet by 1900 was densely packed – this new mileage was often build at the expense of competing line . " The day of high rates has pass by ; got to make money now on the volume of clientele " say W. H. Vanderbilt , eldest son of " Commodore " Vanderbilt and pass of New York Central .
Controlling costs was one way of helping make railroad more profitable , and the many improvements in technology around the turn of the century assist to fulfill just that . At the same time , the American railroad line scheme was die through a menstruation of consolidation that was unprecedented . By 1906 , seven major interestingness groups controlled approximately two - thirds of all railroad mileage in the United States .
The Harriman personal line of credit – Union Pacific , Southern Pacific , and Illinois Central – comprise 25,000 miles ; the Vanderbilt route – New York Central and Chicago & North Western – 22,000 ; the Hill roads – Great Northern , Northern Pacific , and the Chicago , Burlington & Quincy – 21,000 ; the Pennsylvania chemical group – the Pennsylvania Railroad , Baltimore & Ohio , and Chesapeake & Ohio – 20,000 ; the Morgan road – Erie and Southern organisation – 18,000 ; the Gould road – Missouri Pacific and several other southwest systems – 17,000 ; the Rock Island group – Chicago , Rock Island & Pacific system – 15,000 .
Consolidation , interestingly , blend largely bridge player - in - hand with a style toward less expansion . By 1910 , the state ’s railroads aggregated 240,293 miles ; by 1916 , the total reached 254,037 – America ’s all - meter record for railway line gas mileage .
railway system employmentgrew as well , to a 1916 tip of 1.7 million soul , but the trend would be downhill from there . The earned run average of the big - name " empire builders " was also come to a close ; the last , James J. Hill , die in 1916 .
Increasingly , business managing director and banker – rather than entrepreneurs – would assume the challenge of black market the Carry Amelia Moore Nation ’s railroads . And unmanageable though it may be to grok today , a issue of forces were at work to drastically alter the free-enterprise motion-picture show – just as the railroads , it seemed , had reached some kind of sense of equilibrium .
Those forces had actually been at body of work for some time .
Early 1900s Railroad Laws
As early as 1871 , railroad line regulation had been reenact within individual states , in reply to excitement by farmers for rate controls . The first significant Union ordinance – the Interstate Commerce Act – follow in 1887 ; even then , the railway diligence had little to fear , since " supervision is almost entirely nominal , " wrote Attorney General Richard S. Olney in 1892 .
The following twelvemonth , President Benjamin Harrison signed the Railroad Safety Appliance Act into law , requiring air brakes ( put back manual ones cranked down " at speed " by brakeman atop swaying railroad cars ) and automatic couplers ( substitute the infamous " link and fall " miscellany that was responsible for the crushing of dozens of brakeman each yr , and the loss of 1000 of their finger ) to be phased in on mostlocomotivesand cars around the turn of the century .
Although the Interstate Commerce Commission was largely futile prior to 1900 , the onrush of the Progressive Movement revive the exit of regularisation . Most Americans were of the opinion that more rigorous controls were needed to prevent ill-treatment such as those perceived within the financial markets – and which on social function had direct to great collapses of railway system , as well as the incidental loss of investor fortunes . It was obvious that something needed to be done to restore the world ’s confidence .
In this light , President Theodore Roosevelt in 1901 directed his lawyer general to file wooing – under the provision of the Sherman Anti - Trust Act – against Northern Securities , a giant holding company shape by railroad consolidationists Edward H. Harriman and James J. Hill . The company was criminalize in 1904 , and afterward that twelvemonth Roosevelt was reelected to a 2nd term . Before the yr was out , Roosevelt asked Congress to increase the powers of the I.C.C. This was done overwhelmingly with passage of the Hepburn Act , which empowered the commission to establish " just and sane " maximum pace .
" Within two long time of [ the Hepburn Act ’s ] musical passage , more rate ill – some 1,500 – were made with the I.C.C. than had been file in the two forego decades , " write historiographer John F. Stover in his Koran " The Life and Decline of the American Railroad . " A related to bill strengthened the I.C.C. ’s powers in 1910 , take railroads to try out that any future rate hikes were fairish and necessary . A related to piece of legislation in 1913 supply for the regulatory agency to commence assessing the on-key value of each railroad , info that was needed if rates were to be established that would provide a sightly issue for investors .
Not unexpectedly , rate increases requested by the railroads were not always grant by the I.C.C. Rates between 1900 and 1916 dropped somewhat , even though the commonwealth ’s general price level increased by almost 30 percent .
Investment in railroads fall ; sustainment standards went down ; and fresh freight and rider equipment was not order in sufficient quantities to keep up with the ongoing demand for replacement and modernization of railroad fleets . The nation had follow in regularise its railroads , but with unintended result .
Railroads During World War I
On the even of World War I , America ’s railroad were afloat in a sea of striking contrasts . On the one mitt , the railroad ’s influence could still be felt in the townspeople and cities of America , and long - aloofness change of location was still almost solely the domain of the passenger train .
And yet , in contrast to these healthy signs , wooden rider cars were still in use on many railway system , as were outdated and underpoweredlocomotives . Freight - car fleet still were made up , in prominent part , of older , lower - content ( 30 - long ton ) car , even though the increasing utilisation ofsteelhad made the 40 - short ton car a reality by now .
The outbreak of warfare in August of 1914 at first result in decreased American industrial bodily process . Rail ton - miles lessen four percent in 1914 and another four percent the following twelvemonth . It was not until 1916 that the confederate nations began to describe upon the economic resources of the United States . That year , short ton - miles increased dramatically – 32 percent – and soon the land ’s railroad line were sense the strain . As the flow of traffic was mostly eastward , serious over-crowding was go through in the G , terminus , and ports of the Northeast and New England .
A motorcar deficit developed as a result , in the first place in the West and South . Car shortages were not unusual during summit periods of business successfulness , and a number had occurred before this meter . Yet this one would he different . Things went from sorry to big , and in January of 1917 the Interstate Commerce Commission reported that , " The present circumstance of car statistical distribution throughout the United States have no parallel in our history . . . mills have close down , prices have advanced , perishable article of large note value have been destroy . . . . shipping service has been throw into unprecedented confusion . "
By the metre war was actually declared by the United States , in April of that year , the situation had grow intolerable . American railroad line experience their heavy dealings in history during the antecede eight months , and the onset of war simply increased the burden . Yet the American intent of individualism prevailed , and an executive committee called the Railroads ' War Board was formed by industry leaders . This eubstance succeeded in lessening car shortage and other problem . Unfortunately , the winter of 1917 - 1918 assume with a vengeance . That , plus a series of conflicting " priority shipment " orders from the Union government ’s own war agencies , finally brought things to a standstill .
On December 26 , 1917 , President Woodrow Wilson finally proclaim : " I have excercised the powers over the conveyance arrangement of the country , which were cede me by the act of Congress of last August , because it has become peremptorily necessary for me to do so . " He cover Congress just a few days subsequently , on January 4 , 1918 , telling all forgather that he had excercised this baron " not because of any willful neglect on their [ the Railroads ' War Board ’s ] part , but only because there were some affair which the government activity can do and individual management can not . "
United States Railroad Administration
The raw United States Railroad Administration , headed by William McAdoo , Wilson ’s former repository of the treasury , went about its study with despatch . Duplicated service were trimmed or eliminated ; hefty wage increases were granted by the government to avertstrikes ; standardizedlocomotiveand car designs were introduced ; and increases in freightage rate and passenger fare were approved – but not enough to cover the increasing costs of provide serve during those turbulent eld .
The reasons for the inability of railroad to meet the needs of warfare went back at least a quarter of a hundred , largely orb around their inability to make a reasonable return on investment due to burdensome regulations . Maintenance had already been deferred on the country ’s railroads prior to the war ’s onset ; by the sentence the armistice was signed in 1918 , unbelievable amounts of dealings had been moved by rail , yet relatively little maintenance had been performed . The railroads were fag out out .
Ultimately , government activity operation of the railroads may have been satisfactory from an useable point of view , but it was a financial disaster . It also rape American business ideology , and the cosmopolitan world by warfare ’s ending was in the mood for a yield to normalcy . Although a figure of labor and other interests commove for federal purchase and continue control of railroad track follow the end of hostilities , this was not to be . The Transportation Act of 1920 hark back the railroads to their owner as of March 1 of that yr .
The Act greatly increased the power and scope of the Interstate Commerce Commission , while at the same time train the Commission to gear up plans for the formal integration of railroads into a modified routine of systems . Unfortunately , the Transportation Act seems mostly to have ignored the fact that there were new forms of shipping on the skyline .
Rebuilding the Railroads
The railroads would enjoy no such rebuilding programme . In some cases there would be year of higgle over the governance ’s recompense for using the railroads ( each was paid for the full stop of governing ascendence , but payment were based on pre - war freight rate rates ) . The entire saga of government dominance should have pointed to carry off competition – not nationalization – as the answer to the woes of America ’s railroads , but it would take a good many more year for anything to be done in that direction .
As the 1920s click , so too did a time of recovery , general optimism , and societal experimentation – specially with regard to the role ofwomenin society . American railroaders could face back proudly at their accomplishments over the retiring two ten , even with the tarnish of wartime confusion and stifle government controller . Yet the hereafter held much less promise . A new era was dawn for the shipping system of America , and railroads seemed likely to have a diminishing role .
Despite the less than well-disposed economical prognosis , the 1920s would become the golden years for American railroading . The ten inspire a romantic ikon of the diligence that persists to this very Clarence Day .
Early Twentieth Century Railroad Timeline
1898 :
Spain and the United States go to war over Cuba ’s right hand to independence .
1900 :
Casey Jones ' celebrated train shipwreck occurs at Vaughn , Mississippi . Jones yield for his miscalculation with his life , but no passengers are pour down , and the technologist becomes an American fable .
1901 :
The federal government register courting against Northern Securities , a gargantuan rails accommodate ship’s company , for restraint of trade .
1902 :
Diesel power is on the rise , operate the total Corliss Engine work manufacture procedure . Street railways , meanwhile , pack five billion passengers nationwide .
1906 :
Two - thirds of U.S. railroad mileage is see to it by a fistful of rails mogul . Congress strengthens the regulatory power of the Interstate Commerce Commission .
1908 :
Henry Ford introduce his Model T gas - powered automobile .
1909 :
Milwaukee Road joins the ranks of transcontinental railroads .
1910 :
Penn Station opens in New York City .
1914 :
World War I break out in Europe .
1916 :
America ’s peak class for railroad line mileage – 254,037 – and employment – 1,701,000 . U.S. industrial activity foot up for the war drive .
1917 :
The United States formally enters World War I. The Union authorities assumes control of American railway as a wartime measure on December 28 .
1918 :
Armistice is signed on November 11 . U.S. Railway Administration Director - General advocates five - yr " run " of government ascendancy .
1919 :
President Wilson announces that railroads will be returned to individual mastery within a yr .
