Railroads have played a large role in the development of the United States of America, from the industrial revolution in the North-east to the colonization of the West. The American railway mania began with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad? in 1828 and flourished until the Panic of 1873 bankrupted many companies and temporarily ended all growth.

Although the South started early to build railways, it concentrated on short lines linking cotton regions to oceanic or river ports, and the absence of an interconnected network was a major handicap during the Civil War. The North and Midwest constructed networks that linked every city by 1860. In the heavily-settled Corn Belt (from Ohio to Iowa), over 80 percent of farms were within 5 miles of a railway, facilitating the shipment of grain, hogs and cattle to national and international markets. A large number of short lines were built, but thanks to a fast developing financial system based on Wall Street and oriented to railway securities, the majority were consolidated into 20 trunk lines by 1890.

We have collected together on a Gift Quality DVD, railroad images and photographs depicting early railroading history, steam locomotives, railroad structures, maps, posters and advertising memorabilia - over 8,500 images in all.

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