Railroad Wars of New York State

by Timothy Starr

New York's railroads were born of the cutthroat conflict of rate wars, bloody strikes and even federal graft. The railroad wars began as soon as the first line was chartered between Albany and Schenectady when supporters of the Erie Canal tried to block the new technology that would render their waterway obsolete. After the first primitive railroads overcame that hurdle, they began battling with one another in a series of rate wars to gain market share. Attracted by the success of the rails, the most powerful and cunning capitalists in the country--Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jay Gould, Daniel Drew and other robber barons--joined the fray. Timothy Starr's account of New York's railroad wars steams through the nineteenth century with stories of rate pools, labor strikes, stock corners, legislative bribery and treasury plundering the likes of which the world had never seen.

Genres: History

160 pages, Paperback

First published July 24, 2012

Reviews

[Jim Swike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Did not know about all of the Railroads and the Wars detailed in this book. Great resource for research and / or term paper. Enjoy!

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad, interesting topic with far reaching implications. Still, it seemed a bit stuffy.

[Bill Nestor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A relatively short book. Good read as well. It is a book that train buffs/ historians would be interested in. As the title states it deals with the railroads of New York state. I admit it was a little lost on me.....I picked it up while vacationing in the Adirondacks last year. It starts with a review of the railroad vs. Erie Canal issues, with what I think is a VERY good study of the rivalries between the canal and the various railroads operating in the Mohawk Valley. Then it proceeds to tell of how the great railroad magnates of the mid 1800's went about building the railroads & owning the majority of stock therein.
Then the balance of the book deals with rivalries and "Wars" between the owners of the railroads. Believe me they were first rate cutthroats.How did the Eire Railroad and the New York Central come to be the roads they were in the age of steam? This book explains it succinctly. The author Timothy Starr is a local historian in upstate New York with many books to his credit about local history there. He knows well of what he writes. The subject matter is a bit arcane in this day an age but if you do like railroads or the history of central/ upper New York state, I think this would be a fine book for you

[Jim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rigorously researched but drier than the chicken breasts my mom would bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 75 minutes.

“The Gilded Age” made stock manipulation, rich people machinations and trains much more exciting. Chapter on labor disputes was cool, albeit the ending of it and the book was abrupt.

[Nick Vantangoli · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some neat bits of info. Overall…a touch underwhelming.

[Eli]

Ticket to Ride brought me here. 100+ pages and I still don’t know what it means to short a stock. The chapter on “labor wars” was particularly disappointing.

[Diana St. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hate those long-winded histories that take a month to read. This book was just right - plenty of information about early railroad history, but not so much as to get boring. The Erie saga was my favorite, and how Vanderbilt, Gould and others battled it out. If you like New York and its railroads, this is the book to read. Good mix of photos too.