The Railroad That Never Was: Vanderbilt, Morgan, and the South Pennsylvania Railroad [Paperback]

This 200-mile line through Pennsylvania's most challenging mountain terrain was intended to form the heart of a new trunk line from the East Coast to Pittsburgh and the Midwest. Conceived in 1881 by William H. Vanderbilt, Andrew Carnegie, and a group of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia industrialists, the South Pennsylvania Railroad was intended to break the Pennsylvania Railroad's near-monopoly in the region. The line was within a year of opening when J. P. Morgan brokered a peace treaty that aborted the project and helped bolster his position in the world of finance. The railroad right of way and its tunnels sat idle for 60 years before coming to life in the late 1930s as the original section of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Based on original letters, documents, diaries, and newspaper reports,The Railroad That Never Wasuncovers the truth behind this mysterious railway.

[This] book is factual, well referenced, and well illustrated with vintage photos. It is an excellent acquisition for academic libraries with programs in history and business administration, and will also be valuable for public libraries.

A battle of titans over the building of a railroad

Herbert H. Harwood, Jr., has carried on concurrent careers as a railroad historian, writer, photographer, and working railroader. He is author ofThe New York, Westchester & Boston Railway: J. P. Morgan's Magnificent Mistake(IUP, 2008),Invisible Giants: The Empires of Cleveland's Van Sweringen Brothers(IUP, 2003), andThe Lake Shore Electric Railway Story(IUP, 2000).

Based on original letters, documents, diaries, and newspaper reports, The Railroad That Never Was uncovers the truth behind this now phantom railway.September 2011

This book is an important contribution to both rail and road history, as well as to business history and business strategy; it is therefore highly recommended.

[This] book is factual, well referenced, and well illustrated with vintagl³8