Grant Writes Book on Railroad Station Agents

Long-time Akron Railroad Club member H. Roger Grant has written a new book that focuses on the role of railroad station agents.

Published by Indiana University Press, the book, The Station Agent and the American Railroad Experience describes those agents as “unsung heroes of the golden age of rail.”

They worked during a time when nearly every community served by a railroad had a depot and an agent.

In his book, Grant describes the life and work of station agents and shows how as railroads changed their business practices those agents disappeared.

Grant writes that station agents were well regarded by the public and shippers alike.

“They met the public when they sold tickets, planned travel itineraries, and reported freight and express shipments,” Grant writes. “Additionally, their first-hand knowledge of Morse code made them the most informed in town. But as times changed, so did the role of, and the need for, the station agent.”

The 226-page book has 45 black and white illustrations and is set to be released in November. It will retail for $28.

Grant is the author of numerous books and articles about railroads and transportation, and is the Kathryn and Calhoun Lemon Professor of History at Clemson University.

Publishers Announce Books About Amtrak

Two publishers have announced the coming release of books tied to the 50^th anniversary of Amtrak.

White River Productions said Fifty Years of Amtrak Trains will be a detailed summary of every route operated by Amtrak.

Authored by Bruce Goldberg and David Warner, the book will have 256 pages and numerous color and black and white photographs.

It is priced at $79.95 but is available for $70 at the publisher’s website through May 31.

A promotion for the book on the publisher’s website said many of the photographs have never been published.

Other illustrations will include route maps and illustrations of brochure art. The contents also include detailed tables showing train schedules and station stops at 10-year intervals.

Goldberg and Warner have written about Amtrak in previous works.

Warner was the co-auithor with Elbert L. Simon of Amtrak by the Numbers, a review of the passenger carrier’s locomotive and rolling stock rosters.

That book was published by White River in 2011.

Goldberg and Warner were co-author of The Metroliners, which was published by White River in 2016. He also authored a long out of press book titled Amtrak: The First Decade.

Ordering information about Fifty Years of Amtrak is available athttps://shop.whiteriverproductions.com/products/am50

Indiana University Press plans to release in October Amtrak, America’s Railroad: Transportation’s Orphan and Its Struggle for Survival, by Geoffrey Doughty, Jeffrey Darbee and Eugene Harmon.

A publisher’s summary said the book explores how Amtrak’s has been a company hindered by its flawed origin and unequal quality of leadership, subjected to political gamesmanship and favoritism, and mired in a perpetual philosophical debate about whether it is a business or a public service.

The authors interviewed former Amtrak presidents and explore the current problems and issues facing the passenger carrier while offering proposed solutions.

The book concludes that Amtrak was created in the absence of a comprehensive national transportation policy but managed to survive its inherent flaws due to the public’s persistent loyalty.

The book has 264 pages and 42 color illustrations. It is priced at $40. The cover has yet to be displayed on the publisher’s website.

Ordering information is available at https://iupress.org/9780253060631/amtrak-americas-railroad

IU Press Publishes Grant Book on Transportation

Indiana University Press has published Transportation and the American People by H. Roger Grant, a noted railroad and transportation historian.

Grant, a long-time member of the Akron Railroad Club and was once a professor of history at the University of Akron, writes in his latest book that transportation is the unsung hero in America’s story.

The book reviews various forms of transportation including stagecoaches, , waterways, canals, railways, buses, and airplanes.

Grant concludes not only did these modes of travel revolutionize the way that people got around, they also transformed the economic, political, and social aspects of everyday life.

Each of these modes has a chapter in the six-chapter hardback book.

A description of the book posted on the IU Press website said Grant’s book “tells the story of American transportation from its slow, uncomfortable, and often dangerous beginnings to the speed and comfort of travel today.

“Early advances like stagecoaches and canals allowed traders, business, and industry to expand across the nation, setting the stage for modern developments like transcontinental railways and buses that would forever reshape the continent.”

The book is said to be a compelling and thoroughly researched narrative of the social history of travel, shining a light on the role of transportation in shaping the country and on the people who helped build it.

Released on Oct. 1, the hardback book costs $40. A ebook edition is available from the publisher for $39.88.The ISBN is 978-0-253-04330-6

Grant is the Kathryn and Calhoun Lemon Professor of History at Clemson University.

His other books include Visionary Railroader, John W. Barriger III; Railroaders without Borders; and Railroads and the American People.

Grant’s Latest Book Studies Henry Posner III’s Intertional International Railroad Network

H. Roger Grant recently published a look at the railroad empire of Henry Posner III.

Grant’s book, Railroaders without Borders: A History of the Railroad Development Corporation, was published on Oct. 19 by Indiana University Press.

A promotion for the book on the publisher’s website describes RDC as an investment and management company that has demonstrated that it is possible to have a conscience as well as earn a profit in today’s railroad industry.

With ventures on four continents, RDC has created a record of long-term commitments, respect for local cultures and protection of the public interest.

Grant’s study of RDC looks at its business operation and its triumphs and disappointments.

The book is 256 pages and comes with 64 black and white illustrations and nine maps.

The book can be ordered from IU Press and sells for $45. The ISBN number is 978-0-253-01798-7.

Grant is the Kathryn and Calhoun Lemon Professor of history at Clemson University where he has taught since 1996. He has written or edited 31 books, most of which examine railroad history.

He is a life member of the Akron Railroad Club and taught at the University of Akron between 1970 and 1996.

Smerk Receives Lifetime Achivement Award

George Smerk, the co-editor of the Railroads Past and Present series of books published by Indiana University Press has received a lifetime achievement award by the American Public Transportation Association.

Smerk, a retired Indiana University professor of transportation, is well known for his expertise in public transportation, which he discussed in a monthly column published in Railfan & Railroad magazine.

He is co-editor of the railroad book series with H. Roger Grant, a history professor at Clemson University and Akron Railroad Club member.

“You don’t just teach it, you do it,” said association President and CEO Michael Melaniphy, a former student of Smerk who presented Smerk with the  award during the Indiana Transportation Association’s 80th annual meeting in  Bloomington. “I think that’s what brought so many of us to respect the hard work that you’ve done. You were active in it, you were passionate about it and you shared these things.”

Smerk’s passion for mass transit began when he was growing up in Philadelphia. “Philly had an enormous public transportation system,” Smerk said. “We had streetcar lines, three subways, a commuter rail network. I was turned on by that.”

When he wasn’t fascinated by the suburban trolley line that ran near the back of his home, Smerk was reading about transportation in books his father would bring home after his regular trips to New York as a buyer for a department store.

“One in particular was called Trains and I read it about 20 times,” Smerk said.

After receiving a bachelor’s degree and MBA from Bradley University in Peoria, Ill., Smerk came to IU Bloomington to obtain his doctoral degree.

After a short time teaching at the University of Maryland, Smerk returned to IU where he served as a professor of transportation at the Kelley School of Business for almost 40 years.

He also served as executive director of IU’s Transportation Services and founded the Institute for Urban Transportation at IU, which later was designated a Center for Transit Research and Management Development by the Federal Transit Administration.

Smerk helped create Bloomington Transit in 1972; helped save the South Shore Railroad, the last electric interurban line; helped form the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District; and served as the governor’s sole appointee on the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District for 30 years.

There is also a scholarship in his name — the American Public Transportation Foundation Scholarship — established in 2006 by his former students, known as “Smerkies.”

“Professor Smerk has taken many young college students who had no idea what they wanted to do and gave them purpose,” said former student Karl Gnadt, managing director of the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District. “I had never taken public transit before, or even given it a thought. But Dr. Smerk had such an engaging and enthusiastic style of teaching that within the first few weeks of my first class with him, I knew that I wanted to work in public transit as my career. He taught us that we needed to institutionalize transit into our communities — but what he really did was institutionalize it into his student’s lives.”

Smerk can easily recall the names former students and list their accomplishments in the transportation field. “I’m very happy to have had the role to encourage people,” he said.

“(Someone once told me) I was leading people astray. He said ‘There’s no future in public transportation because it’s not a moneymaker,’ which is true. But the guys and gals that go into it enjoy it, they are doing something good for the community and it’s interesting work.”

Grant Publishes Book on LC&C Railroad

ARRC member H. Roger Grant has announced the completion of his latest book project, The Louisville, Cincinnati & Charleston Rail Road: Dreams of Linking North and South. It is available from the Indiana University Press.

Grant also has completed a book manuscript on the Railroad Development Corporation, owner of the Iowa Insterstate and involved in various foreign rail activities. This book, too, will be published by the Indiana University Press.

Finally, he is working on social history of American Interurbans, a companion work to his 2012 book, Railroads and the American People.

 

Crossing Tulip Trestle on the Indiana Rail Road

The excursion train is about ready for boarding.

Last Friday I had the opportunity to ride a VIP train to the famed Tulip Trestle on the Indiana Rail Road. The bridge is 2,295 feet in length and 157 feet above the ground at its highest point, making it one of the largest such railroad structures in the United States.

INRD operated the train for Indiana University Press, which used the occasion to honor its authors, friends and the contributions of recent retirees from the Press.

The guest of honor was the founding series editor for the Railroads Past and Present series, George M. Smerk.

I was invited because IU Press has published two of my books and I’ve reviewed manuscripts and proposals for the Press.

Smerk is a retired professor at Indiana University who has been a tireless advocate of rail transportation. He continues to be a co-editor of the railroad book series and to write a column for Railfan and Railroad on mass transit topics.

H. Roger Grant, a history professor at Clemson University as well as a long-time Akron Railroad Club member, recently was named as co-editor of the railroad book series.

Grant, a former professor at the University of Akron, has published numerous railroad history books.

We boarded the four-car train in Bloomington at a crossing on the IU campus. All of the cars were of Santa Fe heritage and still look much the same as they did in their Santa Fe days.

Included in the consist was Santa Fe business car No. 56, which is now owned by Thomas G. Hoback and his wife. Hoback, the president and CEO of the INRD, was one of the railroad’s founders in 1986.

Also in the consist was ex-Santa Fe lounge car 1389 and coach 2820. Both had their original interiors although No. 2820 now has former Amtrak coach seats.

The train traveled 20 miles west to Tulip Trestle, located in Greene County near Solsberry. It was built in 1905-1906 by the Indianapolis Southern with funding from the Illinois Central Railroad. The IC took over the Indianapolis Southern in 1911.

The route, which linked Indianapolis and Effingham, Ill., was known as the “hi and dry” because of its many bridges and fills.

Hoback, a former coal marketing executive at the IC, was part of an investor group that purchased 110 miles of the line in 1986 from the Illinois Central Gulf.

The primary purpose of the line was to haul coal to a power plant in Indianapolis, but the route had and continues to have some merchandise freight.

The IU Press excursion ambled along at a leisurely pace as passengers feasted on cocktails and hors d’oeuvres.

I positioned myself on the observation platform of AT&SF No. 56. The train had a locomotive at each end, which kept me from getting the view and images I had hoped to get from the rear of No. 56 as the train crossed Tulip Trestle. Nonetheless, the view still was spectacular and the hospitality was first rate.

Soon we were crossing the Tulip Trestle, a structure that I had seen once from the ground and it located in a remote location. It spans a broad valley that includes Richland Creek.

There has been at least one public excursion over the trestle during INRD ownership. That trip was pulled by Nickel Plate Road steam locomotive No. 587. Some have ridden across the trestle on the annual Santa Claus trains operated by INRD.

After crossing the trestle, the train halted, the head-end crew changed ends and it was back across again. On the second crossing of the trestle, I stood at an open Dutch door.

All too soon we were back in Bloomington. It had been an impressive trip that I was fortunate to have been invited to ride.

Article and Photographs by Craig Sanders

George Smerk (center to the right of the man with the white striped shirt) enjoys the excursion to Tulip Trestle aboard Santa Fe lounge car 1389.

Rolling along through the Southern Indiana countryside, which can be rugged in these parts.

Approaching Tulip Trestle from the east end. At the time of its construction, it was the third largest bridge of its type in the world.

The panoramic view. Tulip trestle cost $246,504 to build in the early 20th century. The laborers were paid 30 cents an hour. A number of them were killed during construction, but no definitive number has been identified.

Yes, it’s a long ways down, 157 feet at one point. The view was taken from the observation platform of Santa Fe No. 56.

You can see through the ties in this image of the ditch lights of GP38 No. 3803 and Santa Fe No. 56.

Crossing Richland Creek. Look carefully and you’ll see a reflection of the footing and tower on the side of Santa Fe 56, which gives the illusion of seeing a complete support tower.

The west end of the trestle is in sight. The bridge does not have a walkway at track level, but that hasn’t stopped some from walking out onto it.

Looking out onto the trestle from the west side from the observation platform of Santa Fe No. 56. Some sources say the bridge is 2,307 feet in length.

A ground-level view at the west end on the fireman’s side out toward the trestle.

Late afternoon lighting casts shadows on the north side of the trestle. The structure has 38 upright steel structures, most of which are in pairs.

Aside from the installation of two 45-sections in 1916, Tulip Trestle is “as built” in 1906.

High-level eats on the trestle.

A passenger views the valley from the lounge car as the excursion train crosses back over Tulip Trestle en route back to Bloomington.

 

Grant Publishes 25th Transportation History Book

Akron Railroad Club member H. Roger Grant has published his 25^th book on transportation history. His latest work is Railroads and the American People, which was released in October by Indiana University press.

 In this social history of the impact of railroads American life, Grant concentrates on the railroad’s “golden age,” 1830-1930.

To capture the essence of the nation’s railroad experience, Grant explores four fundamental topics—trains and travel, train stations, railroads and community life, and the legacy of railroading in America—illustrating each topic with carefully chosen period illustrations.

Grant recalls the lasting memories left by train travel, both of luxurious Pullman cars and the grit and grind of coal-powered locals.

He discusses the important role railroads played for towns and cities across America, not only for the access they provided to distant places and distant markets but also for the depots that were a focus of community life.

Finally, Grant reviews the lasting heritage of the railroads as it has been preserved in word, stone, paint, and memory.

Grant is the Kathryn and Calhoun Lemon Professor of History at Clemson University. He previously taught at the University of Akron.