N.D. | Photograph
This is a digital photograph of an image of the Union Pacific Railroad's Brigham Young Construction camp in Echo Canyon, Utah.
N.D. | Photograph
This is a photograph of the grading camp for the Union Pacific Railroad in the Rocky Mountains.
N.D. | Time Table
The Atlantic & Great Western Railroad stressed its safety record and comfortable, elegant, luxurious cars. The time table quotes former Illinois Congressman Elihu B. Washburn on the road's smooth ride and "clean, light, and airy" setting. The road also boasted that its passengers traveling in its beautifully appointed Pullman cars would "not have to leave the train between Chicago, Cincinnati, and St. Louis."
March 19, 1841 | Newspaper
Northern railways continued to discriminate against African American passengers and are rebuked in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.
April 2, 1841 | Newspaper
The maltreatment of African Americans by New England rail companies acting as "epidermis-aristocrats" draws an abolitionist's wrath as a Southerner weighs in on the merits of Southern rail travel.
November 6, 1841 | Newspaper
The plight of African Americans and their abolitionist supporters on New England railroads is addressed in depth in this passionate editorial.
1842 | Book
Dicken's American Notes came from his 1842 trip to the United States. The author visited prisons, politicians, and toured primarily in New England and the Great Lakes region. In this excerpt, he describes American train travel in its early period, segregated railcars, and the distinctions between gentlemen's and ladies' cars.
1850 | Photograph
Few original images remain of railroad workers in the 1850s, especially of construction crews, whether free labor or enslaved. Northern railroad companies employed thousands of men on their payrolls in a dizzying array of occupations.
1850 | Book
This pocket atlas listed over 700 railroads, steamship lines, and canals in the United States and their routes of service, state by state. Frederick Douglass probably consulted a rudimentary timetable in the Baltimore newspaper or one posted at the depot for the Baltimore to Philadelphia route, described here twelve years after Douglass made his escape from slavery on the Philadelphia, Wilmington, & Baltimore Railroad.
1852 | Book
An excerpt from Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin.
1854 | Book
An excerpt from Henry David Thoreau's Walden. The progress represented by the railroad presents a mixed legacy to the rural life Thoreau treasures.
1855 | Book
In this excerpt from My Bondage and My Freedom, Frederick Douglass recounts the segregation of Northern railcars and the attitudes of Northern passengers.
1858 | Photograph
Following its 1857 grand banquet, the B & O hosted an artists? excursion in 1858 to show off its dramatic vistas and massive tunnels. The men and women took turns riding precariously on the cowcatcher, Harper?s Weekly reported, to get a "better view of the grand scenes which were opening before and around them . . . such was the confidence felt in the steadiness and docility of the mighty steed."
1858 | Book
Works like The Book of The Great Railway Celebrations were published with multiple purposes - they served great publicity for railroad companies and town boosters, as well as celebrations of technological advancements and ingenuity. The detailed illustrations and descriptions of the celebrations also made them prized souvenirs for event attendees.
1859 | Illustration
Noteworthy for its marvelous illlustrations, this feature article portrays the joys of railroad travel.
1859 | Illustration
"Except for us" - sun coming out after a cloudy journey.
1859 | Illustration
1859 | Illustration
The artist envisions the lasting legacy of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
1859 | Illustration
A visual representation of the relationship between photographers and painters.
1859 | Illustration
Chivalry is part and parcel of the conductor's work.