Hello,


I'd really like to learn more about the the business side of railroads whether class 1s or short lines.

What books would you recommend that really go into detail about the railroading industry more from a business perspective?


I have tons of railroad books but most are more focused on motive power, rolling stock, etc.


Thank you in advance!

You might find bibliographies of railroad executives of interest. And then there are studies of contemporary railroads.

Indiana University Press has a series of wonderful books about Railroads and Transportation.

Simmons-Boardman, the publisher of Railway Age Magazine, Railway Track & Structures Magazine, and International Railway Journal, has on-line book sales of railroad subjects. Some of these books are published by Simmons-Boardman and others from other sources.

Maury Klein has written a number of books about railroads and their executives that explore more than locomotives and cars: three volumes on the history of the Union Pacific, The Life and Legend of Jay Gould, The Life and Legend of E. H. Harriman and a number of interesting non-railroad subjects.

Other books out there are:
Harriman vs. Hill: Wall Street’s Great Railroad War by Larry Haeg.

James J. Hill and the Opening of the Northwest by Albro Martin.

Rival Rails: The Race to Build America's Greatest Transcontinental Railroad by Walter R. Borneman
Iron Horses: America's Race to Bring the Railroads West by Walter R. Borneman.
[Iron Horses may be the softcover version of Rival Rails]

An older book is The Great Persuader [Collis P. Huntington] by David Lavender. It is interesting to compare the executive style of C. P. Huntington to Jay Gould -- Huntington would note a problem and then give detail instructions on how to solve it; Gould would note a problem and say fix it (and let me know what you've done).

Two authors worthwhile checking out that have had their books published by several publishers, including university presses, are H. Rogers Grant and Don L. Hofsommer.