A richly illustrated look at the multifaceted history of American railways. It's no exaggeration to say that, in the nineteenth century, railroads completely remade the United States: geographically, economically, and-through the advent of standardized time zones-temporally. Though today their domination on transport and freight shipping has been superseded by automobiles and aviation, the railroad remains a vital piece of the nation's infrastructure and self-image. Drawing on the rich and diverse holdings of the John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library, the St. Louis Mercantile Library, and select railroad historical organizations, Travelers, Tracks, and Tycoons showcases the profound changes the US railroad industry has wrought on the land and its people since the 1820s. The vast array of artifacts collected here includes early railroad prospectuses and reports, promotional materials from the country's first railroad projects, technical publications by engineers, ledgers from railroads like the New York Central, conductors' logbooks, and dispatchers' records. A wide assortment of plans, maps, and drawings presented alongside these materials helps illuminate the technological advancements brought about by the railroad industry, while posters, sheet music, and art show how trains quickly became an indelible part of the American social fabric. Published in conjunction with a 2022 Grolier Club exhibition, this book provides a multifaceted look at American railroads in all their locomotive glory.

For nearly seventy years, John J. Young Jr. photographed railroads. With unparalleled scope and span, he documented the impact and beauty of railways in American life from1936 to 2004. As a child during the Great Depression, J. J. Young Jr. began to photograph railroads in Wheeling, West Virginia. This book collects over one hundred fifty of those images-some unpublished until now-documenting the railroads of Wheeling and the surrounding area from the 1930s until the 1960s. The photographs within this book highlight the major railroads of Wheeling: the Baltimore & Ohio, the Pennsylvania, the Wheeling & Lake Erie, the Pittsburgh & West Virginia, the New York Central, and the industrial and interurban rail lines that crisscrossed the region. These images capture the routine activities of trains that carried passengers and freight to and from the city and its industries, as well as more unusual traffic, such as a circus-advertising car, the General Motors Train of Tomorrow, and the 1947 American Freedom Train.