North American Railroad Family Trees: An Infographic History of the Industry's Mergers and Evolution Hardcover – October 20, 2013

When we build our first model railroads, or play with our early Lionel train layouts, we are trying to reproduce some of the thrill of standing beside tracks and watching the roaring leviathans pulling unimaginably long strings of freight, or shiny streamliners with the glittering varnish trailing them to places of the imagination: mountains, tunnels, snowy valleys, green forests and lakes reflecting the sky while our beloved trains whisk through on rails laid generations before.Later in life, we see change. Our favorite railroads are gone, and the locomotives that now tread their high-iron bear logos and paint we may not have seen except in pictures. What happened to the little branch line that handled the grain elevator in that farm village 20 miles from here, where now there is no trace of wooden ties or steel rails, except the occasional imprints they left in the ground itself?And what of these families we have heard so much about? Vanderbilt, Harriman, the Goulds (elder and younger), Hill, Mellen, Morgan, Hawley. Why were they important? What was the result of their life-work, and how are we to understand these giants who never lifted a hammer or pulled on a throttle?Why do some roads seem always one step from bankruptcy, even though they haul great, fast trains, while other roads may be short, slow, and old-fashioned, but they always seem to do business? Some railroads are built where there is little population, so they don't have the branch-line feeds that help keep other railroads budgets high enough to stay in good repair, yet those roads are just as important to keep a continent linked with a transport system. How to balance those with the roads that have business but nowhere to take it?The answer, of course, is mergers. Since the first years of railroading, it became apparent that two roads were usually better than one, so they merged and each benefited from the attributes of the other. That trend continued until the entire network, the vast web, was redefined, rebuilt, and sometimes pulled up stakes leaving little behind but the occasional bridge abutment and a scar across the landscape, visible only from aerial photos.So, this book ties those questions together and weaves a fabric of these mysteries, imparting a sense upon the whole body of phenomena that causes railroads to be built, merged, abandoned, rebuilt, expanded or shrunk, depending on the age, the traffic, politics, public, economy and needs of each era. Railroads are very visible creations that have survived over almost 200 years. This book truly helps us to understand how they evolved into what we see today, and why. It also tells us the names behind this evolution, and in a nutshell gives us insight into their strategies, brilliance, and of course, their mistakes, some of which were stupid beyond belief, but most of which were due to circumstances that, like deadly storms, caught them off-guard, unprepared, by surprise. It was always a learning situation, and it always will be.Today we see some of the oldest and/or largest companies on earth running railroads, and we see their daily challenges. The onlooker may be critical of flaming tank cars, derailed unit trains, or fatal Amtrack or commuter rail accidents, but as we see from the evidence in this book, it's all part of the evolution, and each incident will have consequences which may unexpectedly lead to more mergers, divestitures, bankruptcies, or growth.Aspects of the book that are unique and wonderful: the infographics are fantastic aids in understanding what happened to various rail lines over the decades. They include transparent overlays, timelines, family tree diagrams (in brilliant railroad colors), foldouts, charts, overlapping sets diagrams, anything that helps make sense of the changing rail network. Always, there is focus on what went into a deal, what came out of it, and why. The graphics show the result of many, many deals over decades of change.It's a lot to absorb, but until I read this book, I could never say that I really understood what goes into a railroad, yet I was a railfan who could cite road names, recognize all the logos, and hold my own in conversations about the details of locomotives, rolling stock, maintenance of way, operations, and railroad life. (I spent some early years as a brakeman on the Frisco; I talked the talk and walked the walk.) But as I mentioned at the beginning of this review, all that sat upon some kind of foundation that was invisible to me, or incomprehensible, or both. This book illuminates that foundation and makes sense of a very, very tangled web of information almost impossible to track. I collected dozens of Official Guides of the Railways from as far back as the mid-1800s, in hopes of being able to pull some of that information together myself. Brian Solomon has made that unnecessary; his work shows us the real source of railroads, the real reasons they evolve the way they do. If you want to consider yourself an informed railroader or fan, you could do no better than to study this book until the light dawns. Then you'll know at least where you need to go to find more information, what to look for, and why.This is the key that makes the whole affair come to life. You'll never see those trains quite the same way again, but it's in a good way. To sum up, this is one of the key books that should be within arm's reach of everyone who really wants to understand railroads.Shooshie

There have been literally thousands of different railroad companies in America's railroad history. Most of them died off and/or were absorbed within the first five or ten years of the individual RR Company's life. Many of these mergers were only temporary--thus complicating the story. It would drive a historian bonkers trying to follow the numerous name changes, bankruptcies, leases and mergers that make up the story of even one of our major railroad corporations.Brian Soloman has accepted this challenge. His book provides the reader with easy to read family tree charts to go along with the text of his story. Most of this concentrates on the years after World War II. There is almost nothing said about railroads prior to 1900.. . . And yet I was disappointed. As I said earlier, there were thousands of different railroad companies; but this book barely covers a hundred (including those that were absorbed). I counted only eleven tree charts prior to 1945. (These charts typically show less then a dozen RR companies over a twenty year period.) My problem with the book is that I wanted to know about these numerous railroads during the earlier years. Another failing of this book is that it only concentrates on the history of the corporation with little information about where the tracks were laid. More maps would have helped too.This book is okay for those who are interested in the modern mega railroads like the Union Pacific and CSX. But for readers who want more historical information, they should read ... Routlege Historical Atlas of the American Railroad, by John Stover, c.1999. Historical Guide to North American Railroads, by George Drury, c.1985. Poor's Railroad Manuals (printed annually since 1868 ...warning- this is heavy reading!) Railroads of the South 1865-1900, by John Stover, c. 1955. Railroad Names A Directory of Common Carrier Railroads by William Edson, 1993. Richard Prince has also written many excellent histories of many major railroads in the southeast.

The only constant in my opinion about North American railroads is that the companies operating them will change. The superseded railroad companies, fallen flags, are numerous and in many cases famous. This book traces the relationships between railroad companies through a series of comprehensive, graphical lineage charts. Given the large number of fallen flags over a long period of evolution, this is a research triumphant. The graphical presentation is probably easier to comprehend than a straight narrative one would be. I was very glad that I added this book to my small railroad history library.

Railroad Family Trees is a very helpful guideline to understand the railroad history of North America. It uncovers the intermingled interests and actions of public legislation and private financing of this most important industrial sector in the USA and in Canada. It should be mentioned that the dendrograms are to be read upside down different from common biological family trees which is implicated by the clearly arranged timelining. All major railway companies are introduced, and, after finishing with reading, you may have got appetite for a similar comprehensive book about the history of the rural shortlines in North American railroading.

Over the years, a large number of North American railways have been reduced to a relatively small number, especially the larger ones. In text and clear diagrams, Solomon clearly maps and describes these changes over time. Clear, interesting, and especially interesting for those with an interest in U.S. Railway history. Enough detail to clearly tell the story, but not overwhelming.

Great for showing linage. Diagrams good. I would have appreciated more history - the book is short on text and long on diagrams. So it compliments other sources more than replaces them.

very interesting book

Brian Solomon est un auteur émérite quand il s'agit de Chemins de fer. Bravo pour ce bel héritage ferroviaire.

Great book!

Toutes les plus grosses compagnies de chemins de fer d'Amérique du nord sont clairement détaillées: historique, arbre généalogique, carte et de très belles photos en couleurs illustrent le tout. On se projette dans le futur avec plusieurs scenarii de réorganisation des grands réseaux actuels.

Habe viele alte Bücher über US-Eisenbahnen, von denen viele nicht mehr selbständig sind. Nun habe ich die passenden Stammtafeln dazu.