By the 1890's, the railroad had reached its peak in popularity, and new forms of transportation were emerging.

Question

True or False?

Answer 1

True.  Developing gas engines.

Answer 2

FALSE

The railroads were still growing in the 1890s and, if you wish to gauge their growth by miles of track laid and numbers of railroads in operation, 1916 was the peak  year. In 1916, there were over 1,500  railroads operating in the U.S.  running on over  254,000 miles of track.  At this time, the railroads employed 1.8 million people making it the largest U.S. employer, a title it held for many, many years both before and after 1916.

The new forms of transportation would have been automobiles and electrified trolleys and interurbans but they were not even common until the early 1900s.  In addition, the earliest cars were not affordable to the average person as they often cost thousands on dollars which, in today's dollars, would be somewhere between $40-$60 thousand dollars. Henry Ford made the first car that was affordable to the masses, the Model T.  Even when the Model T was introduced in 1908 in cost $825.  However, with Ford's improvement of the assembly line and mass production, the cost for the car was less than $300 by the time production ceased in 1927 and replaced by the more, modern Model A.

Beginning in the late 1930s  and AFTER WWII (the revenues flowed like water into the railroads coffers during WWII) , trucks and cars began to erode the railroads' business that resulted in many railroads consolidating/merging  in the 1960s.

Answer 3

False!

There were new forms emerging but the railroad reached it's popularity in the 1930s.

Remember, the Lincoln Highway was just being built, and air travel was in it's infancy. The motor vehicle didn't become the primary mode of cross-country transport until the late '40s. Then with the building of the Interstate system, the railroads started to decline.

Answer 4

Maybe in some of the BIGGER cities..San Fran, NY, Chicago.. but 95% the rest of the county walked..rode a horse.. or took the train.

False