Before there were Ford Model T’s on the road or American Airways in the sky, railroads carried passengers from coast to coast. Cleveland Public Library has an amazing collection of resources on railroads, including but not limited to: books and periodicals on the history of railroad companies and unions, annual reports, trade magazines, and photographs.
Cleveland has some interesting railroad connections. In 1910, four of the seven large Ohio railroad systems had terminals in Cleveland. These four systems were: Baltimore and Ohio, Erie, Pennsylvania, and New York Central. According to an estimate based on the U.S. Census of 1910 (Table 1) there were approximately 788 conductors employed in Cleveland in 1915.
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In 1917, the Federal Trade Commission hosted a conference addressing how the high cost of food and fuel was affecting our nation’s citizenry. In fact, all throughout our history governments and policy institutes have sought out ways to combat rising energy costs and its impact on personal transportation.* On a macro level governments have had limited success in guiding energy costs. Fortunately, the choices we make as individuals can have an immediate effect on our pocketbooks.
With the current price of energy in mind we are forced to take a closer look at which form of transportation we choose for our daily travels. To make an informed decision regarding personal transportation we owe it to ourselves to consider three factors: cost, time, and convenience. The Cleveland Public Library has at its disposal a variety of resources that may make your decision easier, or at the very least easier to defend when arguing over household expenses with your loved ones.