The Railroad Builders A Chronicle of the Welding of the States John Moody 9781356893386 Books
Download As PDF : The Railroad Builders A Chronicle of the Welding of the States John Moody 9781356893386 Books
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The Railroad Builders A Chronicle of the Welding of the States John Moody 9781356893386 Books
I could not find any information on when this book was actually written, but by its style and content, certainly suggests around 1918. As a result, the writing style is somewhat archaic, and some of the language is certainly dated. The book concentrates more on the financial and legislative side of railroad building, and not as much on the actual construction or operations techniques.=== The Good Stuff ===
* John Moody certainly pulls no punches. He is often critical of the way in which railroads were managed and the financial shenanigans that plagued them. The book attempts to define some of the schemes used, and provides brief sketches of the major players involved.
* There is a good amount of detailed information on many railroads, the routes they chose, and the markets they planned to serve. Moody concentrates on the railroads of the East Coast, the South, and the three major transcontinental routes (the Northern, Union and Southern Pacific lines).
=== The Not-So-Good Stuff ===
* Moody makes a valiant attempt, but his writing is just not up to capturing the complexity and shady financial dealing of the large railroad barons. Some of this is the nature of the men involved-there was no requirement in those days for financial disclosures by public companies. There are also some language issues. For example, I am still not sure what "financial embarrassment" entails, and I suspect that "receivership" meant something a little different that its current meaning. But while Moody devotes a lot of words to explaining financial dealings, I came away without a good understanding of what was going on.
* The narrative also gets confusing. For example, Moody uses various terms to describe how one railroad could be controlled by another. Fair enough, but as a reader I was baffled. For example, the Philadelphia and Reading was portrayed as being controlled by the Pennsylvania Railroad through a minority stockholding. But then there are actions where the Reading is quite clearly acting against the interests of the Pennsylvania. No explanation or justification is supplied.
* There is also little attention paid to strategies. For example, Moody indicates that financiers gained and lost control of railroads, but makes no mention of how it was done. Similarly, he provides no framework for what the financiers were trying to do. Were they collecting trains, trying to corner markets, develop connecting networks, seeking economies or scale or just growing for the sake of growing.
=== Summary ===
The book is the product of a different time, and while it provides some insight in to how railroads were grown, it leaves out some very important parts of the puzzle. Still, for the price and the time it took to read, it was worth the effort. The book is written in a relatively easy to read style, and I found that I enjoyed it for what it was.
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The Railroad Builders A Chronicle of the Welding of the States John Moody 9781356893386 Books Reviews
As might be expected this document focuses on the author's perspective of the railroad industry evolution in the United States from earliest times. It is an easy read and offers information that an average enthusiast likely will find of benefit if their interests are to learn about the transportation evolutions in the U.S.A. It is a bargain by any measure and it is my hope that more similar works will become available in the future. Thank you
With regards to the overall history of US railroads this book delivered a concise description from start to finish on the main players. I think this book managed to capture some of the almost romantic aspects of rail history and brought them back to life. It lets the reader picture an amazing time of history where the world for the first time began to shrink.
From my perspective I was thrilled with the insights of the people who made these railroads happen. These are some of the most visionary business minds ever known and for someone who knew the names, but little more, this is a great starting point. On a side note, it's amazing how many of the scams and corporate tricks are still done today - it goes to show how little changes in human nature over time.
Keep in mind that this book will read like a text book in many ways - not a problem at all - but I think with a little more smoothing of the stories into one another it could have become a historical page turner. In any case it was well worth the price of admission for anyone looking for history of finance and the US railroads.
In about 50 years the American railroad system grew from a few teakettle lines running from nowhere to nowhere into a mighty continent spanning entity. This is the story of that growth, told through the progress -- or lack thereof -- of the various railroad companies.
And it wasn't all progress. The story is rife with failures and weak sisters who were eventually squeezed out as independent companies.
One of the most interesting things about this book is how little government involvement there was in 19th century railroads. Until the end of the century when the dangers of unregulated monopolies became blatant there was very little government control, financing or support. And there was never any central planning. Each railroad grew or failed on its own, yet the country ended up with a system which was the envy of the world and superior even to the British system.
The book ignores the later social issues growing out of the railroads, the mechanics of managing the system or the locomotives or other technology. It also doesn't discuss the financing in detail. But for what it does cover it does a pretty good job in an early 20th century fashtion.
This is a fascinating study of the emergence and abrupt nationalization of the railroad industry in the United States. While there are no doubt incidences in which the owners of these trains exploited their customers, these conditions most often arose as a result of government interference. The author does a very good job of concealing his political beliefs, which made the entire book infinitely more enjoyable to me. He does not take great pains to portray the railroad tycoons as robber barons, nor does he try to paint the trust busters as absolutely evil. However, merely by giving us the facts, and simply mentioning how wage mandates and price fixing affected the railroads, it becomes clear that the root of the problem is not the free market. The author does not mention it, but the infamous Central Pacific, which inspired Frank Norris's novel The Octopus, was a monopoly sanctioned by the California legislature. Norris's indignation was targeted at the wrong faceless entity.
I wish the author had added a few pages about the personal lives of the famous men in the book, but that is my own personal whim. I'm sure many other readers are happy to know only a bit about Vanderbilt, Gould, Garret and the rest.
I could not find any information on when this book was actually written, but by its style and content, certainly suggests around 1918. As a result, the writing style is somewhat archaic, and some of the language is certainly dated. The book concentrates more on the financial and legislative side of railroad building, and not as much on the actual construction or operations techniques.
=== The Good Stuff ===
* John Moody certainly pulls no punches. He is often critical of the way in which railroads were managed and the financial shenanigans that plagued them. The book attempts to define some of the schemes used, and provides brief sketches of the major players involved.
* There is a good amount of detailed information on many railroads, the routes they chose, and the markets they planned to serve. Moody concentrates on the railroads of the East Coast, the South, and the three major transcontinental routes (the Northern, Union and Southern Pacific lines).
=== The Not-So-Good Stuff ===
* Moody makes a valiant attempt, but his writing is just not up to capturing the complexity and shady financial dealing of the large railroad barons. Some of this is the nature of the men involved-there was no requirement in those days for financial disclosures by public companies. There are also some language issues. For example, I am still not sure what "financial embarrassment" entails, and I suspect that "receivership" meant something a little different that its current meaning. But while Moody devotes a lot of words to explaining financial dealings, I came away without a good understanding of what was going on.
* The narrative also gets confusing. For example, Moody uses various terms to describe how one railroad could be controlled by another. Fair enough, but as a reader I was baffled. For example, the Philadelphia and Reading was portrayed as being controlled by the Pennsylvania Railroad through a minority stockholding. But then there are actions where the Reading is quite clearly acting against the interests of the Pennsylvania. No explanation or justification is supplied.
* There is also little attention paid to strategies. For example, Moody indicates that financiers gained and lost control of railroads, but makes no mention of how it was done. Similarly, he provides no framework for what the financiers were trying to do. Were they collecting trains, trying to corner markets, develop connecting networks, seeking economies or scale or just growing for the sake of growing.
=== Summary ===
The book is the product of a different time, and while it provides some insight in to how railroads were grown, it leaves out some very important parts of the puzzle. Still, for the price and the time it took to read, it was worth the effort. The book is written in a relatively easy to read style, and I found that I enjoyed it for what it was.
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