Small towns and railroads

[NW Mailing List]

Fascinating read by Bob Cohen on the impact the railroads had on towns as the rails were laid down. 
I have been heavily going through the archives for maps and drawings for the Cincinnati district, the Peavine.
It is amazing the amount of work that was done on the line very early on. Surveys, line changes, seems like almost every inch was moved back then. 
Then the impact of the railroad had on all these little towns either directly having a business with rail service, or just the ability to get products to and fro much quicker the before the railroad came to town.
Then there is the opposite effect. Highways, trucks and cars slowly began chewing away at the people and companies that had depended on the railroad were moving towards other modes of transportation.  
If you really did deep into the archives, it is a sad fascinating world that has gone by the wayside for the loss of industry America as a whole has lost.
I had no idea how vast the history of the Peavine was until the archives beckoned me to explore, and now I am lost in history as are the small towns and railroads I am exploring. 

Jeff Wood