American Railroad Journal was the premier railroad industry journal of the 19th Century. It was the railroad internet of its day and allowed professional railroaders to learn about new developments in the industry and a forum for publishing news of their own improvements or ideas about railroading. As such, many individuals who became prominent civil engineers wrote articles for this publication.
Today, American Railroad Journal is a window to the early days of American Railroading. The nation did not yet have sufficient domestic industrial capacity to produce the steel and iron needed to construct railroad track and in the 1830.s had only a nascent locomotive industry. A great deal of practical knowledge was imported from England and the railroads that had been established there, but because of the unique problems of America.s geography, much practical knowledge had to be gained from experience.
The John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library, a unit of the Mercantile Library at the University of Missouri, St. Louis is pleased to make this searchable collection of American Railroad Journal available. Through the generous financial support of the Canadian National Railway, Norfolk Southern Corporation and the Florida East Coast Railway, we have been able to digitize and index our holdings of this important publication. We sincerely thank them for their support in helping us to provide improved access to this wonderful chronicle of the early days of railroading in America.
