The following new books about the railroad are available in the Little Turtle Branch

of the Allen

County Public Library.

•“The Indiana Rail Road Company: America’s New Regional Railroad

” by Christopher Rund, Fred W. Frailey and Eric Powell

This is the updated story of extraordinary success among the scores of independent short line and regional railroads spawned in the wake of railroad deregulation. Development of the company is chronicled from its origins as part of America’s first land-grant railroad, the Illinois Central. The INRD has become a model for the new American regional railroad.

•“The American Railway: Its Construction, Development, Management, and Trains

” by Thomas Curtis Clark

This is a reprint of a rich history of the American railroads in the 1880s, enhanced with hand-drawn illustrations of many facets of railway development, operations and life.

•“The Great American Railroad War: How Ambrose Bierce and Frank Norris Took on the Notorious Central Pacific Railroad” by Dennis Drabelle

Drabelle tells the story of corporate greed and how the writings of Bierce and Norris documented the abuse of railroad practices that influenced Congress.

•“The Great Railroad Revolution: The History of Trains in America” by Christian Wolmar

Wolmar examines the railroad’s effects on American society in the 19th century. Railroads helped the United States become a world power. Wolmar argues that it is time for the rail service to become important again.