Customer Reviews

The Electric Interurban Railways in America

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Hilton and Due have written the definitive book on an obscure but important industry: electric interurban railroads, which provided rural and small town America with mobility from the late 19th century until the automobile became common in the 1930s.

The book is exhaustively researched and documented, and yet very readable. It brings alive an industry that has almost vanished from the collective memory of America.

If you are interested in understanding the history of the electric interurban railway in North America, this book will tell you info you would be hard pressed to find elsewhere, especially on obscure lines that failed early in the century. While significant data is on the corporate financial life, it covers all aspects of the line. When I travel on business, I look to see what lines ran in the area I'm headed to, and when there, ask about these lines in area antique stores and libraries. I've found that the knowledge in this book will prompt people to point out remains of the lines that I would have missed. I have the original 1960 version and still use it frequently.

This is a thorough and scholarly treatment. Hilton and Due's backgrounds are in economics, and their analysis of the interurbans' development and demise is first and foremost an economics, business-oriented one. This is a welcome change to the average railfan-written book that addresses the business aspects of a railroad as an afterthought if at all.

This book allows the reader to understand the interurban railways in the context of their times, in the context of the forces that created and ultimately destroyed them.

This is not to say the authors don't enjoy their subject. There's a lot about the way the railroads operated, from signalling to staffing to equipment to operations. Obviously, in a general book, there's a limit to how comprehensive this can be, but there's a huge amount of information here.

The potted histories of pretty much all interurban lines are necessarily short, and don't replace reference works on the individual lines, but they give an excellent overview.

Strongly recommended for anyone interested in railroad history, anyone interested in interurbans and electric traction, and indeed anyone with an interest in social and economic history of early 20th century America.

George W. Hilton has written a comprehensive analysis of the rise and fall of the interurban railways. The book gives the history of the interurban railways from their birth in the early 1900's to the very fast decline of the 1930's and 1940's. The book is loaded with maps, statistics, graphs, and charts. If one wants to know how many passengers were carried in a given year, the total mileage, the tons of freight carried, the profit or loss--it's all here in Mr. Hilton's book. Mr. Hilton also discusses the technology of the interurban and how they differed from the steam railroads. Part II of the book is organized by state and gives brief histories for hundreds of lines throughout the United States and Canada. An important reference book for the rail historian or railfan.

There is so much detailed information in this book, it must have taken 3 lifetimes at least to get it done. Thank You so very much. T.J.