—It has been shown that at the beginning railroad building consisted of short stretches from town to town, or from the end of one water communication to the beginning of another. It was but reasonable that these would join for the purpose of through traffic. The result was also better efficiency as the equipment could be used to better advantage; the terminal costs were reduced as there were not so many of them; and, what may have been a leading cause, the control, and perhaps prevention, of competition. Unrestricted competition caused rate wars; rates once down it was difficult to get them back and frequently bankruptcy occurred. Government regulations were made prohibiting rate agreements and pooling. Such apparently hastened consolidation. One objection to consolidation was the concentration of vast financial powers in the hands of a few, and since money had much influence in Washington and in the state capitals, political power as well. This and combinations of other industrial concerns were causes which brought about the enactment of the Sherman Anti-Trust law of July 2, 1890.[109] This law did not come in time to stop consolidation and it may be doubtful if it would for the Supreme Court has decided that combinations are not unlawful unless they exercise an unreasonable restraint upon trade.[110]
The methods of consolidation are: merger or outright purchase, in which case the individual lines lose their separate identity; stock purchase, wherein a controlling share of the stock of another road is held by the purchasing line or by a holding company; lease usually for long periods, a rental being paid periodically for the use of the line; and, community of interest, that is the establishment of friendly relations. The consolidations are more often financial than physical. When two roads physically combine under one management it is customary to reorganize and assume the same name. In the consolidations given in the table below many of the roads are operated separately and almost independently but are dominated by common financial interests with common policies or very friendly relations. Some of the principal consolidations prior to 1912 are:[111]
| Vanderbilt Interests | |
| Mileage | |
| Boston & Albany | 392 |
| New York Central | 3,591 |
| Lake Shore & Michigan Southern | 1,663 |
| Michigan Central | 1,805 |
| New York, Chicago & St. L. | 561 |
| Lake Erie & Western | 886 |
| Big Four | 1,979 |
| Pittsburgh & Lake Erie | 215 |
| Chicago, Indiana & Southern | 329 |
| Other affiliated eastern lines | 1,759 |
| Western Maryland[112] | 575 |
| Chicago & North Western Systems | 9,827 |
| Total | 23,582 |
| Morgan Interests | |
| Erie Railroad | 2,565 |
| Pere Marquette | 2,334 |
| Southern Railroad System | 8,667 |
| Cincinnati, New Orleans & Texas Pacific | 335 |
| Mobile & Ohio | 1,114 |
| Atlantic Coast Line | 6,818 |
| Louisville & Nashville | 4,590 |
| Chicago & Great Western | 1,495 |
| Total | 27,918 |
| Harriman Interests | |
| Oregon Short Line | 1,646 |
| Oregon Railway & Navigation Company | 1,737 |
| Union Pacific System (remainder) | 3,791 |
| Southern Pacific | 10,257 |
| Illinois Central System | 6,340 |
| Central of Georgia | 1,915 |
| Baltimore & Ohio | 4,555 |
| Delaware & Hudson | 875 |
| San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake | 1,105 |
| Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton | 1,015 |
| Total | 33,236 |
| Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé | 10,472 |
| Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul System | 9,657 |
| Seaboard Air Line | 3,084 |
| Pennsylvania Railroad Interests | |
| Pennsylvania Lines | 11,197 |
| Norfolk & Western | 1,990 |
| Total | 13,187 |
| Gould Interests | |
| Wabash System | 2,663 |
| Wheeling & Lake Erie | 457 |
| Missouri Pacific System[113] | 3,920 |
| St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern[113] | 313 |
| St. Louis, Southwestern[113] | 1,675 |
| Texas & Pacific[113] | 1,991 |
| International & Great Northern[113] | 1,159 |
| Denver & Rio Grande[114] | 2,778 |
| Western Pacific[113] | 979 |
| Total | 15,935 |
| Moore Interests | |
| Rock Island System | 8,144 |
| Delaware, Lackawanna & Western[114] | 1,052 |
| Lehigh Valley[115] | 1,431 |
| Total | 10,627 |
| Hill Interests | |
| Great Northern | 7,397 |
| Northern Pacific | 6,281 |
| Chicago, Burlington & Quincy | 10,443 |
| Colorado & Southern | 1,249 |
| Total | 25,370 |
| New Haven Interests | |
| New York, New Haven & Hartford | 2,887 |
| Boston & Maine | 3,594 |
| Total | 6,481 |
| Hawley Interests | |
| Minneapolis & St. Louis | 1,027 |
| Iowa Central | 559 |
| Toledo, St. Louis & Western | 451 |
| ’Frisco System | 7,147 |
| Chicago & Alton | 1,025 |
| Chesapeake & Ohio System | 2,232 |
| Missouri, Kansas & Texas | 3,393 |
| Hocking Valley | 350 |
| Total | 16,508 |
| Philadelphia and Reading | 2,137 |
| Grand Total of above Groups and Systems | 198,638 |
| Total milage of railways in the United States, Dec. 31, 1916 | 397,014 |
For a more extended discussion see “National Consolidation of Railroads,” by George H. Lewis.
Mechanical Development.
—There is not space to follow in detail the mechanical development of railroads. The rail, for instance, was at first a mere plank placed in the cart track to prevent rutting; this evolved into a rail of timber about 4 x 6 inches held in proper position by cross-ties not to be considered as sleepers or supports especially. On top of the rail was later placed a strap iron. Since this strap iron under the wheel loads curled up, thicker plates began to be used. Then cast-iron rails some 4 or 5 feet long from tie to tie, cast deeper at the middle for greater strength. Then the rolling mills were becoming sufficiently improved to roll out wrought-iron rails, at first rectangular plates, then T-rails held up by chairs and finally through a dozen or more forms to Bessemer, then open-hearth steel rail shapes as at present used. The fastenings and fish plates have gone through a stage of evolution. The track soon assumed a standard form and has retained it with little variation notwithstanding attempts to use steel and concrete ties.
The freight cars, at first boxes with wheels on them, have gradually developed into monsters of steel with draw bars, automatic brakes and couplings. Passenger cars at first very variable were developed from stage coaches and Conestoga wagons hitched together. In Europe they remained short, like stage coaches with side doors. In the United States they lengthened out with seats through the interior and doors and platforms at the ends. Platforms were eventually housed in with vestibules. Both types have their advantages and disadvantages. Sleeping cars seem to be a development of the canal and steamboat sleeping quarters. Here a single company early obtaining a working, if not a legal, monopoly of the business of making and operating sleepers. As a result no improvements of note have appeared in them for years. For financial efficiency the monopoly seems to be a good thing; for mechanical progress it is not.
Locomotives have shown a continual progress. One reason perhaps is their short lives; new ones must always be coming along and there is ample opportunity for experimentation. From the Tom Thumb to the powerful Mountain Type is a long climb, but as each step was taken the individual changes were not very noticeable. Like the hour-hand of a watch only by observing its position at times quite separated can it be noticed to have traveled.
In fact the entire railway system with its millions of cars operating on hundreds of roads has grown complex and yet standardized. To get a common gauge that cars from one road might pass to another required an act of Congress. At first companies adopted diverse gauges that their cars could not go onto another road, but when transcontinental roads were to be built and through lines of traffic established President Lincoln was called upon to set a gauge. He “side-tracked” the matter and threw it onto Congress, who established the distance 4 feet 81⁄2 inches as the standard width between rails.
Without the telegraph the present amplification of railroad business could not have taken place. The early trains traveled by time schedule. No extra train could be added, although looking-posts were established at the stations up which the train men could climb to watch for the smoke of an approaching train. Now every division point must have its coterie of dependable dispatchers. Each wire carries multiple messages. Electric signals and other safety devices to lessen accidents are universal, while the bewildering network of tracks in the ordinary city yard are operated easily from distant towers by interlocking switches. That railroads have brought about an industrial and social revolution, that they have increased enormously the country’s transportation, that they have thus been very instrumental in bringing the present civilization to its high and uniform state of attainment, cannot be denied.