Merging Lines: American Railroads, 1900-1970

Why did American railroads decline from the glory days at the turn of the twentieth century to the near-death experience of the early 1970s? Why did so many railroad mergers in the 1950s and 1960s, intended as a panacea for the ills of an outdated system, go sour and, in fact, make a bad situation worse? Saunders addresses these and other questions in this authoritative history of twentieth-century U.S. railroading.

Beginning with a wide-ranging analysis of the role of railroads in the economic and social fabric of American life, Saunders traces the factors that brought about the "merger mania" of the 1950s and 1960s. Mergers, he explains, were expected to lead to better customer service, save money, and help railroads compete against other modes of transportation, such as the growing airline and trucking industries. Saunders then gives colorful, richly detailed accounts of the mergers and shows the reasons -- including corporate greed and the inept blundering of government regulatory agencies -- the outcomes fell far short of expectations.

Revisiting the theme of Saunders's earlier classic, Railroad Mergers and the Coming of Conrail (1978), Merging Lines offers new information and fresh insights that will appeal to all readers interested in railroad and transportation history.