Rock Island Railroad in Arkansas

Rock Island Railroad in Arkansas

Author: Michael E. Hibblen

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 1

ISBN-13: 1467125385

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For nearly 80 years, the Rock Island was a major railroad in Arkansas providing passenger and freight services. A decline in rail travel after World War II and an increase in trucks hauling freight over government-subsidized interstates were among factors that left the railroad struggling. Efforts to merge with other railroads were stalled for years by federal regulators. The Rock Island filed for bankruptcy in 1975 and attempted a reorganization, but creditors wanted the assets liquidated, with a judge shutting it down in 1980. Most of the tracks that traversed the state were taken up, but a few relics, like the Little Rock passenger station and the Arkansas River bridge, remain as monuments to this once great railroad.


Abandoned Arkansas

Abandoned Arkansas

Author: Michael Schwarz

Publisher:

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781634990974

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Series statement from publisher's website.


Arkansas & Missouri Railroad

Arkansas & Missouri Railroad

Author: Barton Jennings

Publisher: Techscribes, Incorporated

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 136

ISBN-13: 9780984986651

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Whether you are a tourist riding the Arkansas & Missouri Railroad's passenger train for a fun afternoon or are a serious railfan, this book will answer all your questions about the railroad.


Rock Island Requiem

Rock Island Requiem

Author: Gregory L. Schneider

Publisher: University Press of Kansas

Published: 2020-02-05

Total Pages: 400

ISBN-13: 0700629629

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Celebrated in history and song, the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Company—the Rock Island Line—was a powerful Midwestern railroad that once traversed thirteen states with its fast freights and Rocket passenger trains but eventually succumbed to government regulation and a changing economy. Gregory Schneider chronicles the Rock Island’s painful decline and along the way reveals some of the key problems within the American railroad industry during the post–World War II era. Schneider takes readers back to a time when railroads still clung to a storied past to offer new insight into the devastating impact of economic policymaking during the 1960s and 1970s. Schneider recounts the largest railroad liquidation in American history—as well as one of the most successful reorganizations in American business—to depict the demise and ultimate collapse of Rock Island as part of a broader account of hard times in the railroad industry beginning in the 1970s. Schneider weaves a complex story of how business, politics, government bureaucracy, and individual greed helped to limit the economic possibilities of the railroad industry and catapult the Rock Island Railroad into oblivion. Weakened by a troubled economy, the Rock fell victim to inept management and labor union intransigence; but Schneider also reveals how government regulations and price controls prevented innovation, hindered capital acquisition, and favored other forms of transportation that lie beyond the scope of regulation. Railroads were even hurt by taxation of property and real estate while competitors were able to use government-subsidized highways and airports without having to pay taxes to fund them. Now that America has gone on to witness the collapse of such mammoth firms as Enron and Lehman Brothers, not to mention the bankruptcy and bailout of General Motors, the story of the Rock provides an instructive lesson in how a major American enterprise was allowed to fall victim to forces often beyond its control—while the bailout of the Penn Central, at the expense of smaller lines like Rock Island, helped initiate the era of “too big to fail.” For economic historians and railroad buffs alike, Rock Island Requiem is a well-researche


Cotton Belt Locomotives

Cotton Belt Locomotives

Author: Joseph A. Strapac

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 9780253336019

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The first and only complete study of the Southwest's most successful railway is back in print! This book documents a proud history with diagrams, maps, and over 300 photographs. Includes a roster of every steam and diesel locomotive owned by the Cotton Belt and its predecessors up to 1977. A must-have for any locomotive enthusiast.


Jonesboro and Arkansas' Historic Northeast Corner

Jonesboro and Arkansas' Historic Northeast Corner

Author: Ray Hanley

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 132

ISBN-13: 9780738519470

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When Union soldiers returned North after the Civil War, they brought home stories of a sparsely populated area with bountiful timber and potential for homes and farms. Over the next 50 years, first by wagon train and then by railroads, settlers came to build not only homes and farms but also thriving communities in the Clay, Greene, and Craighead counties of northeastern Arkansas. Today, visitors and residents of the area see the bustle of Jonesboro and the thriving Arkansas State University. Readers of Jonesboro and Arkansas' Historic Northeast Corner will discover Jonesboro as it lived a century ago, a promising town of 7,000 citizens. As the 20th Century opened, modern and attractive towns such as Corning, Piggott, Rector, and Paragould began to thrive. The evolution of these historic areas-from slow-paced villages with dirt roads and horse-drawn wagons to the bustling towns of the late 20th century-is chronicled in this Images of America edition.


Long Steel Rail

Long Steel Rail

Author: Norm Cohen

Publisher: University of Illinois Press

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 774

ISBN-13: 9780252068812

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Impeccable scholarship and lavish illustration mark this landmark study of American railroad folksong. Norm Cohen provides a sweeping discussion of the human aspects of railroad history, railroad folklore, and the evolution of the American folksong. The heart of the book is a detailed analysis of eighty-five songs, from "John Henry" and "The Wabash Cannonball" to "Hell-Bound Train" and "Casey Jones," with their music, sources, history, and variations, and discographies. A substantial new introduction updates this edition.


The Choctaw Route

The Choctaw Route

Author: Barton Jennings

Publisher:

Published: 2021-11-21

Total Pages: 768

ISBN-13: 9781732788862

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The Rock Island Railroad is one of those railroads that almost everyone has heard about, but few know the details. In particular, while numerous books and articles have been written about the northern routes across Illinois and Iowa, little information is available about the southern routes of this large granger system.One of these southern routes was the Choctaw Route, almost 900 miles of mainline from the Old South at Memphis, Tennessee, to the Wild Southwest at Tucumcari, New Mexico. The Choctaw Route started as an effort to make Memphis the rail destination for freight from the west. The route crossed swamps, mountains, high prairie, and even what many consider to be desert. Over the more than 100 years since the line's initial construction, the Choctaw Route served as a conduit for the movement of agricultural products, timber and lumber, livestock, oil, coal and minerals, machinery, and the ordinary products needed by the communities along its route. While much of the railroad is gone today, parts survive, operated by railroads large and small.This book is written for those who want to know more about the Rock Island Railroad's Choctaw Route, and the almost twenty companies involved with building and operating the line. It is written as if the reader has left Memphis and is riding the line westward, helping to answer the questions of "Where are we and what once happened here?"Information on the Choctaw Route's history and current status, as well as a mile-by-mile route guide, are included. Enjoy this review of the Choctaw Route, one of the Rock Island Railroad's mighty fine lines.