As
Americas first common-carrier railroad--a railroad mandated to operate
for the public and for commerce--the Baltimore & Ohio set the stage
for North American railway development. And as such, the railroad racked
up a remarkable list of firsts--first to offer scheduled passenger
service, first to experiment with steam power, and the first
air-conditioned passenger cars, lightweight streamliners, high-speed
passenger diesels, and piggyback freight services--to name just a few.
In this expanded hardcover reissue of the popular 2000 release,
authors Kirk Reynolds and Dave Oroszi explore these accomplishments, and
with them a significant chapter in American railway history. With an
all-new collection of more than 150 photos and illustrations, the book
gives a colorful account of the evolution of one of the nations most
enduring railroad icons, through good times and bad. Reynolds and Oroszi
follow the B&O from its infancy as a horse-powered railway in the
first half of the nineteenth century to its 1987 amalgamation into the
vast CSX Transportation network.
The book tells how the B&O, handicapped by its rugged route
from the East Coast to the Midwest nonetheless proved second to none in
serving its customers--whether on star passenger lines like the Capitol
Limited and National Limited or on a freight network that included such
notable offerings as Sentinel Service and the Timesaver freights. The
railroads story, as it unfolds in these pages, makes for an evocative
journey through 160 years of railroad history.
