Timeline of United States railway history

2025-09-05T01:31:30Z

2600:6C4A:1F00:FE7:F4C6:2D69:DEEE:117C: /* 1795–1829 */

{{short description|None}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}

[[File:Locomotives-Roundhouse2.jpg|thumb|right|220px|Steam locomotives of the [[Chicago and North Western Railway]] in the [[Railway roundhouse|roundhouse]] at the Chicago, Illinois rail yards, 1942]]
The '''Timeline of U.S. Railway History''' depends upon the definition of a [[railway]], as follows: A means of conveyance of passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, also known as tracks.

==1795–1829==
* 1795–99 & 1799–1804 or '05 — In 1795, [[Charles Bulfinch]], the architect of Boston's famed [[Massachusetts State House|State House]] first employed a temporary [[funicular railway]] with specially designed dumper cars to decapitate'' 'the Tremont's' ''[[Beacon Hill, Boston|Beacon Hill]] summit and begin the decades long [[land reclamation]] projects which created most of the real estate in Boston's lower elevations of today from broad mud flats, such as South Boston, Eastern parts of Dorchester, much of the shorelines of the entire Charles River basin on both the left and right banks and Brighton from mud flats, and most famously and tellingly especially the [[Back Bay]].<ref
name=BackBay>William A. Newman, Wilfred E. Holton, {{plain link|1=
https://books.google.com/books?id=oy6nK0ZdqksC&pg=PA113&lpg=PA113&dq=Railway%2BBoston%2BBack_Bay%2BStatehouse&source=bl&ots=0LFyIoepy-&sig=LHBT6-0zhg4ZaK_Kl5YVEfTX8pA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj219DRp97RAhVHzoMKHeGGAOU4ChDoAQgeMAE#v=onepage&q=Railway%2BBoston%2BBack_Bay%2BStatehouse&f=false
|2=
'''Boston's Back Bay:''' The Story of America's Greatest Nineteenth-century Landfill Project}}, Northeastern University Press, Boston,</ref>
* 1815-1820s One interpretation of historical documents indicates the same equipment was used for a longer, more ambitious period to level and effectively remove 'The Tremont', Copely, Cope's, and Beacon Hills again into what became [[Boston]]'s [[Back Bay, Boston|Back Bay]].[http://bostongeology.com/boston/casestudies/fillingbackbay/fillingbackbay.htm] These moves were far from completing the project, photos in the 1850s and recent scholarship show the majority of the Back Bay was still tidewater.

===1810s–1830s===
*1800–1825 Various inventors and entrepreneurs make suggestions about building model railways in the United States. Around [[Coalbrookdale]] in the [[United Kingdom]], mining railways become increasingly common. An early steam locomotive is given a test run in 1804, but is then wrecked carelessly. For unknown reasons, the inventor does not rebuild it for nearly two decades.<ref>[[James Burke (science historian)|Burke, James]], [[Connections (book)]], 1978 edition book, Chapter "Fuel to the Flame" (episode title: "Thunder in the Skies").</ref>
* 1809 Scottsman quarry owner [[Thomas Leiper]], in 1809 when denied a charter to build a canal along the [[Crum Creek]] from his quarry to the docks in the tidewater, commissions a short temporary {{convert|60|yd}} railroad test track in the yard of the Bull's Head Tavern in [[Philadelphia]]. The track had a grade of one inch and a half to the yard,<ref>Gradient calculation: (1.5 X 100) / 36 = 4.16667%. This is steep by mountainous country standards.</ref> with a 4% grade to test whether a horse could successfully pull {{convert|10,000|lbs}} against the slope.
* 1810–1829 The [[Leiper Railroad]] was a short horse drawn [[railroad]] of three quarters of a mile opens in 1810 after the quarry owner, [[Thomas Leiper]], failed to obtain a charter with legal [[rights-of-way]] to instead build his desired canal along [[Crum Creek]]. The quarry man's 'make-do' railroad solution was the continent's ''<u>first chartered railway</u>, <u>first operational non-temporary railway</u>, first well documented railroad, ''and'' first constructed railroad'' also ''meant to be permanent''. It was perhaps the only railroad replaced by a canal, and also one of the first to close, and of those, perhaps is alone in reopening again in 1858.

==1825–1832==
Inspired by the speedy success of the [[Stockton and Darlington Railway]] (1825) in [[History of rail transport in Great Britain to 1830|England's railway]] historical record, capitalists in the United States — already embarking upon [[Main Line of Public Works|great public works infrastructure projects]] to connect the new territories of the United States with the older seaboard cities industries by the canals of [[America's Canal Age]], almost overnight began dreaming up projects using railroads — a technology in its infancy, but one employing steam engines which were rapidly becoming widely known from their successful use on steamboats. American steam engine pioneers were willing to experiment with [[Heat Engine]]s using higher pressures than the mainly [[Atmospheric engine]]s still fashionable in Great Britain. The rest of the world lagged the two English speaking nations. Railroads began to be proposed where canals wouldn't do, or would be too costly and with an increase in rolling stock tonnage capacity, locomotive power, and a growing confidence born of experience and [[anthracite pig iron|new materials]] in less than three decades, the United States generally would discard canals as the principal design choice in favor of far more capable freight haulage technologies.

* 1825 American [[John Stevens (inventor, born 1749)|John Stevens (inventor)]], builds a test track and runs a locomotive around it in his summer home estate, [[Hoboken, New Jersey]]. This partially settles the tractive power questions, showing that on level track, metal on metal wheels can provide tractive effort and pull a load. The ability for any engine to do so on a grade is still widely doubted in the press and minds of potential investors (pubs, clubs, boardrooms, etc.), while the minds of many potential investors were well aware that most railroads in the capital poor United States would have to surmount significant grades to be useful technology. And while news from Europe was delayed 4–8 weeks, well connected Americans were aware in general of United Kingdom news coverage's and to a lesser extent, that of continental European developments. In consequence, the 1825 success of the [[Stockton and Darlington Railway]] only gradually eroded the three-way nay-sayer beliefs that the careful expensive gentle engineered grades extant in the early British railways was impracticable in most cases in America and that such grades were necessary since steel on iron rails would not provide traction on hills, were it possible to build a locomotive engine powerful enough to surmount such grades. In each case, it would take experience and success against such over at least several months before the misconceptions fell into disdain.
* 1826: The {{convert|3|mi}} industrial [[animal power]]ed [[Granite Railroad]] opens in [[Quincy, Massachusetts]], to convey quarried granite for the Bunker Hill monument. It later becomes a common carrier railroad. 
:* 1827: Taking advantage of seasonal freezing of the [[Lehigh Canal]], and with materials prepared in advance, the [[Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company]] (LC&N) converts their 1818–19 built uniformly graded [[wagon road]]<ref
name=DEL&LHcanals>{{cite book
|last1= Bartholomew|first1= Ann M. |last2= Metz|first2= Lance E. |last3= Kneis|first3= Michael |date= 1989
|title= '''DELAWARE and LEHIGH CANALS''', 158 pages
|language= en |edition= First |location=Oak Printing Company, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
|publisher= Center for Canal History and Technology, Hugh Moore Historical Park and Museum, Inc., [[Easton, Pennsylvania]]
|publication-date= 1989 |isbn= 0930973097
|lccn= 89-25150
|pages= 4–5
}}
</ref> into a [[gravity railroad]] in just four months of construction.<ref
name=Hazard>{{cite book
| title=HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY PENNSYLVANIA | date= 1884
| author = Fred Brenckman, Official Commonwealth Historian|edition=2nd (1913)
| url=https://archive.org/details/historyofcarbonc00inbren
| pages=627
}}
</ref>
{{blockquote|During the summer of 1827,{{efn
|Summer of 1827 is in conflict with highly detailed account by Brenckman and other more local (and more contemporary) historians.<ref name=Hazard/> Brenckman's detailed account details preparations stockpiling wood, iron, tools and materials over the entire preceding winter and fall with work parties defined and told off with work commencing as soon as soil melts allowed work to lay sleepers in March and April with the aim of not affecting coal deliveries to the canal head, so it could resume operations as soon as ice and flooding permitted. Further, framework, couplings, tires and other iron castings were carried out in the LC&N Co.'s own foundries in Mauch Chunk, the company having financed at least 12 of the first 14 blast furnaces North of Easton — so triggered the iron and steel industries of [[Bethlehem, Pennsylvania|Bethlehem]] and [[Allentown, Pennsylvania|Allentown]] south of the Blue Ridge escarpment. }} a railroad was built from the mines at Summit Hill to Mauch Chunk. With one or two unimportant exceptions, this was the first railroad in the United States.
|author= James E. Held
|publication=Archaeology<ref>{{cite journal
|title=The Canal Age |issue=July 1, 1998
|journal =Archaeology (Online)|access-date=2016-06-12
|institution= A publication of the Archaeological Institute of America
|author = James E. Held | date= July 1, 1998
| url=http://archive.archaeology.org/online/features/canal/
| quote = During the summer of 1827, a railroad was built from the mines at Summit Hill to Mauch Chunk. With one or two unimportant exceptions, this was the first railroad in the United States. 
}}
</ref>}} The resultant [[Summit Hill & Mauch Chunk Railroad]], where mules rode special cars down as well, after the coal hoppers, then returned empties up the nine mile return trip, became the first U.S. railway to carry passengers in the same year of 1827. In less than two years the railway was attracting so many visitors, it began charging fares, and then added and operated special tourism excursions on Sunday as a tourist road — which role it carried into 1932 as the world's acknowledged first roller coaster. In 1847 the cable railway return track was constructed with planes climbing two [[prominence]]s along [[Pisgah Ridge]], shortening the up trip to twenty minutes from nearly four hours by mule. 
; 1830s
:*The [[Baltimore and Ohio Railroad|Baltimore and Ohio]] is incorporated in 1827 and officially opens in 1830.<ref name="Harwood">{{cite book |title= Impossible Challenge: The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in Maryland |last= Harwood, Jr. |first= Herbert H. |year=1979 |publisher= Barnard, Roberts |location= Baltimore, MD |isbn=0-934118-17-5 }}</ref>{{rp|21}} Other railroads soon follow, including the [[Camden and Amboy]] by 1832.
*August 8, 1829: The ''[[Stourbridge Lion]]'', first [[steam locomotive]] imported into the US, is tested along tracks built by the [[Delaware and Hudson]] company. Deemed too heavy for the company's rails, it and its three brethren are converted to stationary engines for cable railway parts of the transportation system.
*'''1830''' ushers in a flurry of railroad incorporations, charter applications, grants and beginnings of construction. The B&O opens its first {{convert|13|mi}} stretch to [[Ellicott's Mills Historic District|Ellicott's Mills]] and begins regular scheduled passenger services on schedule, May 24, 1830.
* 1830 the {{convert|26|mi}} [[Beaver Meadows Railroad]] from [[Beaver Meadows, Pennsylvania]], is incorporated and constructed to open a second major coal field to the [[Lehigh Canal]] at [[Parryville, PA|Parryville]] beyond the Lehigh Gap. This would form the seed company of the first class [[Lehigh Valley Railroad]] after the 1870s.
[[File:DeWitt Clinton (locomotive).jpg|thumb|right|The ''DeWitt Clinton'' as it would have appeared on its inaugural run in 1831.]]
* 1831 The [[DeWitt Clinton (locomotive)|DeWitt Clinton]] locomotive, built by the [[West Point Foundry]] in New York for the [[Mohawk and Hudson Railroad]], made its first test run on July 2, 1831.
*1830s–1860s: Enormous railway building booms in the United States. The mill owners of [[Lowell, Massachusetts|Lowell]] and [[New Hampshire]] launch the [[Boston and Lowell Railroad]] to parallel the historic [[Middlesex Canal]], which had enabled their mills success; this is the first direct attack rail companies mounted against canal interests.

Railroads gradually replace [[canal]]s as the first-choice mode of transportation infrastructure to champion and build, while canals hold a whip hand on economy for decades more, but falter on flexible destinations, speed, and where they suffer seasonal stoppages yet service year round needs. By the 1860s, in any case, where all the important older canals were to be found any canal with functions satisfiable by parallel railways (excepting by definition, ship canals) is eyed by investors to be supplanted by a competing railroad. The idea of a rail network in the US, which is by then showing early signs some areas have overbuilt in the Eastern United States is still not a common business model. Cut throat competitive capitalism, not co-operation are the rule, and the decade kicks off the forty years or so of the robber barons and excesses in capitalism.

==1850–1900==
*1854 [[Indianapolis]]' Union Station, the first "[[union station]]" in the world, opened by the Terre Haute & Richmond, Madison & Indianapolis, and Bellefontaine railroads.
*1862 [[Chattanooga]] The [[Great Locomotive Chase]], in which Union raiders led by [[James J. Andrews]] commandeered a [[4-4-0|4-4-0 American locomotive]], "The General" and attempted to sabotage Confederate tracks, telegraph lines, and bridges to prevent Confederate troops from moving by rail to Chattanooga.
*1865: [[George Pullman]] becomes well known for luxury sleeping cars, called [[Pullman car]]s in his honor, after he loaned one of his cars to be in the funeral train of [[Abraham Lincoln]] from [[Chicago]] to [[Springfield, Illinois|Springfield, IL]].
*1869: [[Union Pacific]] and [[Central Pacific Railroad|Central Pacific]] complete first [[transcontinental railway]] link at [[Promontory Summit]].<ref name="WDL">{{cite web |url = http://www.wdl.org/en/item/11371/ |title = Ceremony at "Wedding of the Rails," May 10, 1869 at Promontory Point, Utah |website = [[World Digital Library]] |date = 1869-05-10 |access-date = 2013-07-20 }}</ref>
*1869: [[George Westinghouse]] establishes the [[Westinghouse Air Brake Company]].
*1870s: Railroads begin to install [[automatic block signal]]s which improve safety, allow faster train speeds, and allow more efficient utilization of trackage.
*1870s and 1880s: Strikes break out against railroads and the [[Pullman Palace Car Company]]. Corporations hire [[Pinkerton National Detective Agency|Pinkerton]] guards to break up the strikes. Nonetheless, much violence occurs in the strikes. Many people were killed, buildings and rolling stock were burned, and reports of rioting shocked middle-class Americans.
*1883: Standard [[Time zone#Railroad time|time zones]] adopted by railroads.<ref>{{cite book |title=Time Lord: Sir Sandford Fleming and the Creation of Standard Time |last=Blaise |first=Clark |year=2000 |publisher=Random House Digital |isbn=978-0-375-72752-8 |page=103 }}</ref>
*1886: Many southern states convert from broad gauges such as {{Track gauge|1524mm|lk=on}} to [[standard gauge]] {{Track gauge|standard}}. (See also [[Broad gauge#United States]].)
*1887: [[United States Congress|Congress]] creates the [[Interstate Commerce Commission]] (ICC) to regulate railroads and ensure fair prices.<ref>[http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?doc=49&page=pdf Interstate Commerce Act of 1887], ch. 104, 24 Stat. 379, approved 1887-02-04.</ref>
*1891: [[Webb C. Ball]] establishes first Railway Watch official guidelines for [[railroad chronometers]].
*1893: [[Railroad Safety Appliance Act]] requires [[Railway air brake|air brakes]] and automatic [[Railway coupling|couplers]] on all trains, which greatly reduces railroad worker injuries and deaths.<ref>Act of Mar. 2, 1893, {{usstat|27|531}}, recodified, as amended, {{USC|49|20302}}.</ref>
*1896: [[United States Supreme Court|Supreme Court]] rules in ''[[United States v. Gettysburg Electric Ry. Co.]]'' that the [[Takings Clause]] under [[eminent domain]] could be applied for [[historic preservation]]

==1900–1970==
[[File:Grand Central Terminal Main Concourse May 2014.jpg|thumb|Main Concourse of [[Grand Central Terminal]], which first opened in 1913.]]
*1901: Nine locomotive manufacturing companies are combined in a merger to form the [[American Locomotive Company]] (ALCO).
*1902: ''[[20th Century Limited]]'' inaugurated by the [[New York Central Railroad]].
*1910s: [[Pennsylvania Railroad]] builds [[Pennsylvania Station (New York City)|Pennsylvania Station]] in [[New York City]]; New York Central builds current version of [[Grand Central Terminal]].
*1911: The [[Delaware Lackawanna and Western Railroad]] completes the [[Lackawanna Cut-Off]] in Northwestern [[New Jersey]] and [[Northeastern Pennsylvania]].
*1916: US railroad trackage was {{Convert|230468.32|mi|km|abbr=on}},<ref>{{Cite web |work=N.P. Ry. Tell Tale Extra |title=The USRA Era, 1900–1916, Part I |url=http://pw2.netcom.com/~whstlpnk/tteusra1.html |publisher=PW2.Netcom.com |access-date=2011-05-25 |archive-date=2011-07-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724171311/http://pw2.netcom.com/~whstlpnk/tteusra1.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> the highest in history.{{Citation needed|date=May 2011}} The trackage would increase to over 300,000 mi by the next decade.
*1917: President [[Woodrow Wilson]] orders [[nationalization]] of the railroads shortly after the US enters [[World War I]].<ref>Presidential Proclamation 1419, December 26, 1917, under authority of the [[Army Appropriations Act of 1916|Army Appropriation Act]], {{USStat|39|45}}, August 29, 1916.</ref> The [[United States Railroad Administration]] manages the system until 1920, when Congress returns control to the railroad companies.<ref>Esch–Cummins Act, Pub.L. 66-152, {{USStat|41|456}}. Approved 1920-02-28.</ref>
*1920s and 1930s: [[Automobile]]s, [[airplane]]s and the [[Great Depression]] contribute to a decline in railroad ridership and mileage.
*1926: Congress passes the [[Railway Labor Act]] to settle disputes and avoid strikes (law amended in 1934 and 1936).<ref>Railway Labor Act, May 20, 1926, ch. 347, {{USStat|44|577}}. {{USC|45|151}} et seq.</ref>
*1934: [[Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad|Burlington]] railroad's ''[[Pioneer Zephyr]]'' completes its inaugural run from [[Denver, Colorado]], to [[Chicago, Illinois]], first diesel-powered [[streamliner]] in America.
* May 12, 1936: The [[Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway|Santa Fe]] railroad inaugurates the all-Pullman ''[[Super Chief]]'' between Chicago and [[Los Angeles]].
*1940s: [[World War II]] brings railroads the highest [[ridership]] in American history, as soldiers are being sent to fight overseas in the [[Asiatic-Pacific Theater|Pacific Theater]] and the [[European Theater]]. However, automobile travel causes ridership to decline after the war ends.
* March 20, 1949: The [[Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad]], [[Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad]] and [[Western Pacific Railroad]] jointly launch the ''[[California Zephyr (1949–1970)|California Zephyr]]'' between Chicago and [[San Francisco]] as the first [[passenger train]] to include [[dome car|Vista Dome cars]] in regular service.
*1950s and 1960s: Drastic decline in passenger travel in the United States, due to automobiles and also airplanes, as first [[jetliners]] take to the air. Railroads respond through [[Mergers and acquisitions|merger]]s and attempts to shed unprofitable trains and rail routes. The speed of these efforts is reduced through the difficulties of [[Interstate Commerce Commission]] hearings.
*1957: The [[Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway]] is absorbed into its parent road the [[Louisville & Nashville Railroad]].
*December 1, 1959: ICC approved [[Virginian Railway]] merger into [[Norfolk & Western]] begins modern-day period of railroad mergers and consolidation.
*July 1, 1967: Rivals [[Atlantic Coast Line Railroad|Atlantic Coast Line]] and [[Seaboard Air Line Railroad|Seaboard Air Line]] merge to form [[Seaboard Coast Line Railroad|Seaboard Coast Line]] after 9 years of negotiations and ICC hearings.
* August 1, 1967: [[UAC TurboTrain]] maiden voyage.
*December 3, 1967: [[20th Century Limited]] makes last run.
*February 1968: Pennsylvania Railroad and New York Central merge to form [[Penn Central]]. The [[New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad|New Haven]] was added in 1969.

==1970–present==
* 1970s: Era of [[Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976|deregulation]].<ref>William E. Thoms, "Clear Track for Deregulation American Railroads, 1970-1980." ''Transportation Law Journal'' 12 (1981): 183+.</ref>
*March 1, 1970 [[Burlington Northern Railroad|Burlington Northern]] is created with the consolidation of the *[[Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad|Chicago Burlington & Quincy]], [[Great Northern Railway (U.S.)|Great Northern]], [[Northern Pacific Railway|Northern Pacific]] and [[Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway|Spokane Portland & Seattle]] railroads.
* March 22, 1970: The ''[[California Zephyr]],'' on its last run, arrives in [[Oakland, California]], from Chicago; the train name will soon be resurrected by [[Amtrak]] on a train travelling almost the same route as the original train.
* June 21, 1970 the Penn Central files for [[Chapter 7 bankruptcy]], becoming the largest corporate failure up to that time in US history.<ref>Joseph R. Daughen, and Peter Binzen, ''The wreck of the Penn Central'' (1999).</ref>
*May 1, 1971: Amtrak created by act of Congress to assume and operate a national network of passenger trains from private railroads after years of dropping ridership and massive deficits force railroads to drop passenger service and ask for government help.
*March 1972: the [[Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad|Gulf Mobile & Ohio]] is merged into the [[Illinois Central Railroad|Illinois Central]], forming the [[Illinois Central Gulf]].
*1970s: [[Conrail]] is created from the remains of the bankrupt Penn Central, Erie Lackawanna, Central of New Jersey, Reading and Lehigh Valley Railroads in the Northeast, beginning operations April 1, 1976.
*1970s and 1980s: Amtrak introduces [[bilevel rail car|double-deck]] [[Superliner (railcar)|Superliner]] rolling stock. [[Auto-Train Corporation]] begins running as independent line (1971), but fails in 1981; In 1983, Amtrak revives service and runs slightly renamed "[[Auto Train]]" as one of its more-heavily promoted lines.
* 1977: Amtrak carried 19.2 million passengers an average of 226 miles.<ref>Steven A. Morrison, "The Value of Amtrak." ''Journal of Law and economics'' 33 (1990): 361+</ref>
* 1980: Railroads deregulated by Congress by [[Staggers Rail Act]] of 1980.<ref>Clifford Winston, "The Success of the Staggers Rail Act of 1980" (AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies, 2005) [http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2005/10/railact%20winston/10_railact_winston.pdf online].</ref>
*March 1, 1980, the Rock Island ceases operations after bankruptcy liquidation.
* September 15, 1981: The ''[[John Bull (locomotive)|John Bull]]'' becomes the oldest operable steam locomotive in the world when it runs under its own power inside [[Washington, DC]].
* 1981: [[Union Pacific 3985]] is restored to operating condition, making it the largest operable steam locomotive in the world.
*July 1, 1982, [[Norfolk and Western Railway|Norfolk & Western]] and [[Southern Railway (U.S.)|Southern Railway]] merge to form [[Norfolk Southern Railway|Norfolk Southern]].
* January 1, 1986: The [[Milwaukee Road]] is merged into the [[Soo Line Railroad]] in the largest railroad bankruptcy proceedings to date.
*July 1, 1986, [[Seaboard System Railroad|Seaboard System]] and [[Chessie System]] merge to form [[CSX Transportation]] corp.<ref>Brian Solomon, ''CSX'' (Voyageur Press, 2005).</ref>
*1990s: Amtrak funding comes under heavier scrutiny by Congress, while Amtrak plans new routes such as the [[Acela]].
*1995: ICC abolished; Congress creates [[Surface Transportation Board]] to assume the remaining regulatory functions.<ref>Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act, {{USPL|104|88}}, {{USStat|109|803}}; 1995-12-29.</ref>
*1997–99: Conrail assets sold to Norfolk Southern Railway and CSX Transportation.
*December 11, 2000: Amtrak's [[Acela|Acela Express]] makes its first revenue run. It is the first high-speed passenger service in the United States.
*September 11, 2001: Terrorists destroy [[World Trade Center (1973–2001)|World Trade Center]] in New York and destroy part of the [[Port Authority Trans-Hudson|PATH]] system in the process. Full PATH service resumed November 23, 2003.
* 2008: [[Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008]] enacted by Congress
* 2015: Total rail traffic declined 2.5 percent to 28 million carloads. Coal remains the largest volume, at 5.1 million carloads. Coal volume fell 12 percent in 2015, as natural gas replaces coal and electricity plants. The lower volume allowed better service and faster speed, but low fuel prices are giving an advantage to trucking.<ref>Laura Stevens, "Railroads face more tough track, ''Wall Street Journal'' 11 January 2016</ref>
* January 13, 2018: [[Brightline]] begins passenger service between [[Fort Lauderdale, Florida|Fort Lauderdale]] and [[West Palm Beach, Florida]].
* March 2020: Most passenger rail operators reduce or completely suspend service in response to the [[COVID-19 pandemic]].
* January 1, 2021: [[Moynihan Train Hall]] opens in New York City, partially replacing [[New York Penn Station]].
* December 2021: [[Kansas City Southern Railway]] is purchased by [[Canadian Pacific Railway]]. The combined systems operate as [[Canadian Pacific Kansas City]].

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==See also==
* [[History of rail transport in the United States]]
* [[Oldest railroads in North America]]
* [[Timeline of railway history]]
* [[Timeline of transportation technology]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Chandler, Alfred D., ed. (1987). ''The Railroads: The Nation's First Big Business – Sources and Readings.'' Arno Press. {{ISBN|9780405137686}}.
* {{Churella-PRR-1}}
* Deverell, William (1994). ''Railroad Crossing: Californians and the Railroad, 1850–1910.'' (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press). {{ISBN|9780520205055}}.
* Ducker, James H. (1982). ''Men of the steel rails: Workers on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, 1869–1900.''
* Fish, Carl Russell (1917). "The Northern Railroads, April, 1861," ''The American Historical Review,'' Vol. 22, No. 4 (Jul., 1917), pp. 778–793 {{JSTOR|1836240}}; old but still valuable
* Frey, Robert J. (1988). ''Railroads of the Nineteenth Century.'' Volume 2 of "Encyclopedia of American Business History and Biography." (New York: Facts on File). 490pp. {{ISBN|9780816020126}}.
*{{cite book|last1=Gallamore|first1=Robert E.|last2=Meyer|first2=John R.|title=American Railroads: Decline and Renaissance in the Twentieth Century|date=2014|publisher=Harvard University Press|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|isbn=9780674725645}}
* Grant, H. Roger. ''Railroads and the American People'' (2012) [https://www.amazon.com/Railroads-American-People-Past-Present/dp/0253006333/ excerpt and text search]
* Hayes, Derek. ''Historical atlas of the North American railroad'' (2010); 400 historical maps
* Hubbard, Freeman H. (1981). ''Encyclopedia of North American railroading: 150 years of railroading in the United States and Canada.'' (New York: McGraw-Hill). {{ISBN|9780070308282}}.
* [[Jenks, Leland H.]] (1944). "Railroads as an Economic Force in American Development," ''The Journal of Economic History'', Vol. 4, No. 1 (May, 1944), 1-20. {{JSTOR|2113700}}.
* Kirkland, Edward Chase (1948). ''Men, Cities and Transportation, A Study of New England History 1820–1900.'' (2 vol.) Harvard University Press.
* Klein, Maury (1997). ''The Life and Legend of Jay Gould'' Johns Hopkins University Press. {{ISBN|9780801857713}}.
* Klein, Maury (2000). ''The Life & Legend of E. H. Harriman'' (2000) University of North Carolina Press. {{ISBN|0-8078-2517-4}}. [https://www.questia.com/library/book/the-life-and-legend-of-eh-harriman-by-maury-klein.jsp Online edition.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604125236/http://www.questia.com/library/book/the-life-and-legend-of-eh-harriman-by-maury-klein.jsp |date=2011-06-04 }}
* Marrs, Aaron W. ''Railroads in the Old South: Pursuing Progress in a Slave Society'' (2009) [https://www.amazon.com/Railroads-Old-South-Pursuing-Progress/dp/0801891302/ excerpt and text search]
* Martin, Albro. ''James J. Hill and the Opening of the Northwest'' (1990) [https://www.amazon.com/James-Opening-Northwest-Borealis-Books/dp/0873512618/ excerpt and text search]
* Martin, Albro. ''Railroads Triumphant: The Growth, Rejection, and Rebirth of a Vital American Force'' (1992) [https://www.amazon.com/Railroads-Triumphant-Rejection-Rebirth-American/dp/0195038533/ excerpt and text search]; wide-ranging overview
* Meyer, Balthasar H. ''History of Transportation in the United States before 1860'' (1917) [https://books.google.com/books?id=RM0DAAAAIAAJ&q=editions:UOM39015020910439 online]
* Middleton, William D. ed. (2007). ''Encyclopedia of North American Railroads.'' Indiana University Press. {{ISBN|9780253349163}}.
* Miner, Craig. ''A Most Magnificent Machine: America Adopts the Railroad, 1825–1862'' (University Press of Kansas; 2010) 325 pages; Documents the enthusiasm that accompanied the advent of the railroad system
* Nice, David C. ''Amtrak: The History and Politics of a National Railroad'' (1998) [https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=94774253 online edition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604125258/http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=94774253 |date=2011-06-04 }}
* Nock, O.S., ed. ''Encyclopedia of Railways'' (London, 1977), worldwide coverage, heavily illustrated
* Riegel, Robert Edgar. ''The Story of the Western Railroads'' 1926 [https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=3929734 online edition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604125334/http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=3929734 |date=2011-06-04 }}
* Riley, C. J. ''The Encyclopedia of Trains & Locomotives'' (2002)
* Saunders, Richard. ''Main lines: Rebirth of the North American railroads, 1970–2002'' (Northern Illinois University Press, 2003).
* Stover, John. ''The Routledge Historical Atlas of the American Railroads'' (2001)
* Stover, John. ''History of the Illinois Central Railroad'' (1975)
* Stover, John. ''Iron Road to the West: American Railroads in the 1850s'' (1978)
* Turner, George E. ''Victory rode the rails: the strategic place of the railroads in the Civil War'' (1953)
* Ward, James Arthur. ''J. Edgar Thomson: master of the Pennsylvania'' (1980) 265 pages
* Ward, James A. "Power and Accountability on the Pennsylvania Railroad, 1846–1878." ''Business History Review'' 1975 49(1): 37–59. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3112961 in JSTOR]
* White, Richard. ''Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America'' (2011) [https://www.amazon.com/Railroaded-Transcontinentals-Making-Modern-America/dp/0393061264/ excerpt and text search]
* Wolmar, Christian. ''The Great Railroad Revolution: The History of Trains in America'' (2012), survey to 2012; emphasis on 19th century; 448pp [https://www.amazon.com/Great-Railroad-Revolution-History-America/dp/1610391799/ excerpt and text search]

===Video===
* ''Railroads in U.S. History (1830–2010)'' (2010), set of 4 DVDs, directed by Ron Meyer; #1, "Railroads come to America (1830 - 1840);" #2, "The First Great Railroad Boom (1841- 1860)"; #3, "A New Era in American Railroading (1861 - 1870)," #4, "The Second Great Railroad Boom (1871 - 2010)" [https://www.amazon.com/Railroads-History-1830-2010-Gregory-Wagrowski/dp/B003XW49FY/ link]

==External links==
* [http://www.americanhistoryprojects.com/downloads/railroad.htm "Railroad History"] Bibliography by Richard Jensen, Montana State University-Billings

{{DEFAULTSORT:Timeline Of United States Railway History}}
[[Category:United States history timelines|Railway]]
[[Category:History of rail transportation in the United States]]
[[Category:Rail transport timelines|United States]]
[[Category:United States economic history-related lists]]

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Timeline of United States railway history