The development of railroads was one of the most important results of the Industrial Revolution in the mid-1800s.

Although the railroads grew until several crossed the country, all the railroad projects in the beginning were small and simple lines. There were a few men, however, who saw a much greater and larger potential for railroads overall but a handful of railroads in particular.

This book is about five of these railroads, each of which went on to become a remarkable, dominant early railroad in the United States:

 ♦ The Baltimore & Ohio (B&O)

 ♦ The Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR)

 ♦ The New York Central (NYC)

 ♦ The Erie Railroad (ERIE)

 ♦ The Great Northern Railway (GN)

The stories of these dominant railroads wasn’t only about laying down track, building bridges and blasting tunnels in their moves across the country but their stories were also complete with political corruption, financial schemes and a few getting rich from the hard work of thousands of nameless laborers. Sounds a bit familiar, doesn’t it?

The five dominant railroads went through many economic cycles of good times and bad times, some of which they themselves created with their questionable financing and bad business decisions. Both state and federal legislatures were strongly critical of the dominant railroads but at the same time they were very supportive of the railroads. It was an interesting time for the railroads in the United States, to say the least.

Regardless of what the railroads did to themselves with their scandals and dubious financial schemes, they would continue helping make the United States become a world economic power.