In a recent ad campaign, Norfolk Southern railroad visually makes the point that increased reliance upon rail transportation is reducing America's dependency upon oil. It is a brilliant campaign.
Elaborating on entries from the Encyclopedia of North American Railroads, Don Phillips, George M. Smerk and Meredith Richards look at the history and the future of passenger train service.
This panel is brought to you by the VA Book! Festival, a program of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities.
William D. Middleton, co-author of the Encyclopedia of North American Railroads, spent more than 50 years as a U.S. Navy officer, university manager, and civil engineer. He has written more than 20 books and hundreds of articles on rail transportation. Mr. Middleton is a member of the Board of Directors of CvilleRail.
Don Phillips has spent more than 40 years as a transportation journalist, most recently with the International Herald Tribune and previously, for many years, as a staff reporter for the Washington Post. For almost 30 years he has written a widely-read monthly column on railroads for TRAINS Magazine.
Meredith Richards, one of Virginia's leading passenger rail advocates, is founder of CvilleRail and chairs the Piedmont Rail Coalition. She is President-elect of Virginians for High Speed Rail, and is a Fellow with the Virginia Rail Policy Institute.
George Smerk, co-author of The Encyclopedia of North American Railroads, founded the Institute for Urban Transportation at Indiana University in 1979 and was its director until 2003. He taught transportation courses there, as well as at the University of Maryland and Bradley University.
