Category: Railroads

Guest post by Zachary M. Schrag Measure twice, cut once, is good advice for carpenters and tailors. It’s even better advice for transportation planners, whose decisions can shape metropolitan regions for generations. This Saturday, July 26, officials will inaugurate the first stations on the Silver Line, an addition to the Washington Metro rapid transit system.…

Guest post by Richard C. Carpenter.  Continued from Part One, posted Monday, February 24. Locomotive expert Richard C. Carpenter picks up his discussion of mile posts. When we drive along the interstate highway system, we measure our progress by mile markers, which are placed just off the right shoulder of the roadway. Interstate standards require that…

Guest post by Richard C. Carpenter. When we drive along the interstate highway system, we measure our progress by mile markers, which are placed just off the right shoulder of the roadway. Interstate standards require that they be measured from zero at the state line and run to the next state line—west to east and south…

Guest post by Richard C. Carpenter The sweeping view from the interstate includes traces of many abandoned railroad lines. During the last 30 years, nearly half of the 165,000 Class I railroad route miles remaining in 1980 in the United States were reduced, falling to 94,000 route miles by 2009. Traveling on the Ohio Turnpike (Interstate…

Guest post by Theodore Kornweibel, Jr. Pop quiz: Who are Pamela Beckham and Lisa Harris, and why should you know them? Second question: What industry has been, historically, the most male dominated? Admittedly, that’s a hard one: there are so many candidates. But I’m a historian, so I’ll venture an answer: the railroad industry. May…

Guest post by Theodore Kornweibel, Jr. Pop quiz: Who are Pamela Beckham and Lisa Harris, and why should you know them? Second question: What industry has been, historically, the most male dominated? Admittedly, that’s a hard one: there are so many candidates. But I’m a historian, so I’ll venture an answer: the railroad industry. May…