Hi All, First I want to apologize, if this question is in the wrong category of the forum. But the forum has so many categories, so I chose the one I thought is the best, okay? I know a lot about European, and mostly Dutch, railways. The history of the rail network and the older trains. Now I want to dig into the American railway history, as well as the current rolling stock. Are there some sites, maybe from yourself, about the history of the American railways and sites about the current/normal trains and networks? Can you still follow me, haha? Well I hope you guys can help me, in my search of American trains! Many thanks, Rik PS. Moderators, if this topic is in the wrong category, please move it.
There are so many web sites, I cannot think of one specific place which would have all of the answers. Many of the currently operating companies have a brief writeup on their web pages. Many of the Class 2 and smaller companies, but by no means all, can be linked from here: http://www.aslrra.org/home/index.cfm For past railroads, a fair number are represented by historical societies. Google searching can help you with these.
Thanks both for the help. I will have a look at Wikipedia. But for the "research", what should I type in Google? Because I see there are multiple railway operators... (In Holland we have only the NS) Sorry but that's one of my problems, caused by my autism.
Thank you Boxcab for your reply. More tips and hints are always welcome (and needed). Greetings, Rik Send from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T
For older railroads, no longer in operation, there are historical societies. Here is a good place to start. Those which show a web site, often have at least a brief writeup of company history: http://www.rrhistorical.com/rrpro/database.html
It might be helpful to get a quick overview of the current situation of the US railroad network. The US is dominated by 7 class I freight operators: Union Pacific (UP) and BNSF in the west; CSX and Norfolk Southern (NS) in the east. Kansas City Southern (KCS), Canadian Pacific (CP), and Canadian National (CN) round out the list. All long distance passenger trains in the US are operated by Amtrak, which, in most of the country, operates over the lines of the freight railroads I mentioned. If you'd like to get a feel for the current state of operations in any particular area, take a look at Railfan Atlas, which is a project I've been working on that shows railroad photography through a map interface - http://railfanatlas.com
Thank you for your addition Ottergoose! If you or someone else has more site's, I'd love to hear it. :teeth:
A decent starter site is Trains magazine. This is a sort of entry-level railfan magazine, with a variety of articles and areas covering most aspects of railroading, focused most usually on North America. Some of the information and features are limited to subscribers (naturally) but hey have a good deal of general information.
Thanks, I knew this website, but a lot of things are limited to subscribers. That's the downside of that website... And the navigation on the site is also a little weird. But thanks (again) for this site. Greetings, Rik
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. It's such a large topic, it may be helpful to narrow things down a bit. Perhaps the easiest thing to do is choose one of the current Big Seven (UP, BNSF, CSX, NS, CP, CN and KCS), and trace its history back through the larger mergers and larger "fallen flag" railroads that make it up. Then move on to the next. For example, you might look at CSX, then work back to the Seaboard System and Chessie System, back from Chessie to C&O, B&O and WM. You might then work back through the C&O history to some of its major acquisitions (Pere Marquette, etc.), and so on. If you remain interested, dig deeper. If you find something not so interesting, move to another "branch" or another "tree". Or you might go by region, looking at Western railroads, then Southeastern railroads, then Central lines and Northeast. Or by decade, looking at the largest "Class I" railroads in each decade. By working through systematically like this, but with the option to jump around and follow your interest, it will break down the topic into bite size chunks.
Thank you for your message, TwinDad. It is really a big network, so I will take it piece by piece. It is now a little more clear for me. I did not knew there were more railway operators through the USA. So I assume that they all have other websites? Greetings, Rik
