N Scale Kit FREIGHT SHED
With Pocket Track & Covered Loading Platform
(Does not include track, freight cars, figures or freight)
Kit is Injection Molded Plastic Kit Footprint is 10-7/8 x 3 inches No. 6205
$39.99
N.J. INTERNATIONAL, INC.
www.njinternational.com
www.njinternational.com P.O. Box 1029, HIGLEY, AZ 85236
Shipping $6, AZ Res. add Tax
Ph: (480) 219-4135 Fax: (480) 219-4185 E-mail:
signals@njinternational.com
NEW! Sparrows Point Division - HO Scale: New Haven Wood Baggage Car with Steel Underframe #3800-3946
and issue massive amounts of almost worthless stocks and bonds to investors (many of whom are in Europe). Eventu- ally, these financial obligations cannot be met and financial panic ensues. It seems that Bernie Madoff, Ken Lay and some of today’s most notorious bankers and hedge fund managers would have nothing on Jay Gould, Col- lis Huntington and Henry Villard. In examining the building of the transcontinental lines in the late nine- teenth century White explains how these important undertakings were at best, flawed endeavors. In the period fol- lowing the Civil War, railroads ushered in the era of the modern corporations. Building and operating thousands of miles of rail line required a large amount of cash and the railroads soon discovered that politicians in Washing- ton held the purse strings. White credits the railroads with inventing the modern lobby to loosen those purse strings and see that favorable legislation and fi- nancing flowed their way. The men who ran the corporations that
Built and photographed by Blake Tater
Kits are laser cut wood with plastic and white metal detail parts. Item #SP61 - Price $59.95 each less trucks and couplers
NEW CATALOG: KitBits Catalog #109. Send $3.00 for catalog which will be deducted from your first order.
The Bethlehem Car Works, PO Box 325, Telford, PA 18969
www.bethlehemcarworks.com
Mississippi $5.00; West of the
Shipping per kit: East of the
Mississippi $8.00
PA res. add 6% sales tax.
built these lines were not experienced in operating railroads, rather they were out to profit from constructing the lines, fi- nancing them and speculating on the lands adjacent to them. Competent rail- road men knew that there was not a pop- ulation base sufficient to maintain the traffic needed for profitability, and they were right. Bankruptcy and bailouts from the Federal government awaited the early transcontinentals. As our re- cent banking scandal has shown us once again, however, it was possible for the heads of these companies to reap large fi- nancial rewards, even as their companies prove to be financial failures. The financial success these men
gained came at the expense of a great many others. It was not only the in- vestors in their railroad schemes that got hurt, it was also Native Americans who lost out time and again as their land was taken; the businessmen, farmers and settlers who lived along the routes who objected to the control the corporations had over their lives; and the workers whose jobs were among the most danger- ous in the country. Out of this a backlash developed. Anti-monopoly groups were formed in response to the railroads’ poli- cies and unions sprung up to protect workers from the large corporations. Running well over 600 pages, Rail-
26
roaded is a hefty volume that tells a cap- tivating story. Included in the book are a number of maps and charts, showing such things as land grants and a variety of freight shipments, as well as a copious list of footnotes. Anyone who enjoys American history should find this book of interest and White’s conclusions–that the transcontinental lines were not so much successes as failures and that they should not have been built when they were, and some of them should not have APRIL 2012
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