All About the Development of American Railroads in 20 minutes

- In this video, Railways Explained team discusses the rich history of American railways! As always, we tried to it as simple as possible, but in a comprehensive way. 

We tried to give you an overview of the development of the American railways from their beginnings until modern days, with a special focus on important dates - all in a 23-min video (the history that lasts almost 200 years!). 

Our main source was The complete book of North American Railroading written by Kevin EuDaly, Mike Schafer, Steve Jessup, Jim Boyd, Steve Glischinski and Andrew McBride. Again, special thanks to each of these gentlemen. In any case, the video is structured according to three characteristic periods, as follows: 

1. The beginning and the peak of the American railroads (1828-1916), 

2. The period of competition and decline (1916-1976) and, 

3. Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform (1976-today).