Using previously unreleased archives, the author tells the compelling life of Cornelius Vanderbilt: who began by building ferry and cargo routes for sailing vessels, then moved into steamboats and railroads.

Gould was the undisputed master of the nation's railroads and telegraph systems at a time when these were the fastest-growing new technologies of the age. Chapters include coverage and his involvement of the Erie Railroad and the Transcontinental Railroad.

This is a biography of the builder of the original Grand Central Railroad, Cornelius "Commodore" Vanderbilt. At points he controlled in some fashion: New York and Harlem Railroad; Hudson River Railroad; New York Central Railroad; Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway; New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad; Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway; Lake Erie and Western Railroad; Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad; and others.

One part in a series titled "Masters of Capital in America," this article deals specifically with the development of the railway. The big names like Morgan, Harriman, Hill, Rockefeller, etc. are mentioned. It includes two nice charts one from data from 1906 about how interrelated the owners of the railroads were with mileage, stock, capitalization, and earnings information. The other chart illustrates how ownership by the public changed from stock to bonds from 1893 to 1906.

This is a biography of James J. Hill and the Great Northern and other railways companies that he controlled.

In 1869, Jay Cooke decided to finance the Northern Pacific, a transcontinental railroad, but the project was beset by mismanagement, questionable contracts, and construction problems. Financier J. P. Morgan undermined him, and the Crédit Mobilier scandal ended congressional support.

This is an in-depth biography in more than seventy-five years of this influential yet surprisingly understudied figure. This was originally published 2000 but this edition has new insights into the myths and controversies that surround Harriman's career.

Written in 1909, this article gives a brief history of railroad development with an emphasis on the personalities that drove it, with particular attention to J. P. Morgan, J. J. Hill, William Rockefeller, George Gould, E. H. Harriman, and W. K. Vanderbilt.

Daniel Drew is most associated with Erie Railroad and his struggles against Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jay Gould, and Jim Fisk.

Covers the United States and is good for tracking executives and some employees. Now online at https://www.pocketlist.com/.

Information is by rail and by state. This is mostly for the United States but does include international listings. Now online at https://www.pocketlist.com/.

Available online from Project Gutenberg External
This is an early very well known title that tracks the roughly 100 years (to that date), looking at the history of the railroads. Specific attention is paid to Erie Railroad and some of the bigger names like Harriman, Hill, and Vanderbilt but there is also attention to railroad lines in the south, crossing the Appalachian's, and railroads along the Sana Fe trail.

Part of Studies in Entrepreneurial History series, this title looks at the leaders and developers of the railroads and traces the history of one of America's first Big Business industries. While this title focuses on the people themselves, it does so in context of a few themes: labor, competition, innovation, customer, strategy, etc.

Attention is paid to the development of railroads in the South after the Civil War as well as the prominent men involved. Men mentioned: Edwin W Cole, John Screven, William Mahone, Robert R. Bridgers, John M. Robinson, William Wadley, James Guthrie, John P. King, etc. Klein has written many books relating to railroads including biographies of E.H. Harriman and Jay Gould and histories of the companies of Union Pacific and Louisville & Nashville.

Henry Villard was one of the most remarkable and important figures to shape the tumultuous history of nineteenth -century America. A preeminent Civil War journalist, an industrialist, and a financial maverick, his courage, perseverance, and farsightedness made him the equal of such titans of his day as J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Andrew Carnegie. Penniless and not speaking a word of English, Villard emigrated in 1853 from Germany at the age of eighteen, leaving behind the privileges and expectations of his affluent, stifling parentage. Within five years of arriving on American soil, he had mastered the language and was covering the events of the day for the nation's top newspapers. Villard reported firsthand on the Lincoln-Douglas debates and later, from the front lines of the Civil War, filed graphic, hard-hitting reports that earned him the admiration of the newspaper community. His circle of acquaintances included President Lincoln, General Grant, and the famed abolitionist, William Lloyd Garrison, whose daughter he married. When the Civil War ended, Villard's penchant for risk-taking and adventure and his uncanny business acumen led him to become a restless innovator, breaking new ground in many areas. In journalism, he launched the first news syndicate in the United States; in the world of finance, he was a pioneer of venture capitalism and one of the first to employ the leveraged buyout. He catapulted himself into presidency of the Northern Pacific Railroad and shared with Thomas Edison the vision of an electrified nation. His investment in Edison's electrical enterprises eventually paved the way for Villard to mastermind the consolidation of what is now known as the General Electric Company. In 1883, triumphantly driving the last spike himself, he completed the nation's second transcontinental railroad. Later that year a financial panic nearly ruined him, but within a few years he made a phenomenal comeback based on his faith in Edison and the future of electricity. Throughout his life, Villard's unfailing ability to impart his convictions to others, his talent for meeting the right people and gaining their confidence, enabled him to conquer adversity. Drawing on unpublished letters, Henry Villard's German and English memoirs, and many other sources, Alexandra Villard de Borchgrave's and John Cullen's fast-paced, absorbing biography vividly re-creates Villard's times and tells the rags-to-riches story of a German immigrant who made major contributions to his adopted homeland.- Description from publisher.