QUOTE: Originally posted by rick bonfiglio WWI in the US of A, the government took over the railroads, and thoroughly trashed them (as only the government can). starting around 1920, when the government finally gave them back, the entire system was rebuilt to the 20th century standards, and the glory of modern railroading took off. before this were the remnants of the developing railroad industry, and rules were observed or ignored depending on the bottom line.
Mechanical Department "No no that's fine shove that 20 pound set all around the yard... those shoes aren't hell and a half to change..."
The Missabe Road: Safety First
QUOTE: Originally posted by erikthered Following the Civil War, many of the other military establishments applied the lessons of the Civil War to their own planning. The Franco-Prussian war in the late 1890's was labeled as a "railroad war". The Prussian general staff had planned the numbers of trains and their schedules practically down to the minute. They could and did move activated reservists from their barracks to the front lines rapidly. They also discovered that railroad schedules, which look fine on paper, can and do sometimes go awry.
QUOTE: Originally posted by Kevin C. Smith My European history is escaping me now but I believe it was Von Moltke who told the German General staff, "build no more fortresses, build railways". The American Civil War showed those who were looking that supply and movement overland could (and the way the railways were expanding, soon would) no longer be the problem it had been for centuries. So, I'd have to rank our War Between the States (as it's pronounced in Dixie) the most important conflict in the developement of railroads but WWI as most important in their decline. It was in that conflict that air and motor transport showed that supply from the railhead could (and, at the rate things were developing, would) no longer be a problem. WWII was-in this as in much else-a replay that finished the trends that began in 1914-18.