Photo of the Week: Steam in Indian Summer

Author: Kyle Montgomery
Category: Photo of the Week Railroads:

Steam in Indian Summer

Welcome to Ohio Valley Railroad’s newest feature, Photo of the Week. Each week I’m going to try and highlight an outstanding railroad photo from around the Ohio area.

For this inaugural week I would like to show off a photo by one of the regular contributors to our Flickr pool, Fan T. “Fabulous” T as he likes to be known takes photos mainly around Northeastern Ohio. As someone who has lived in Central and Southwestern Ohio, his photos provide a great perspective on railroads and industry I scarcely get to see.

The photo above shows under steam near Monroeville, Ohio earlier this year. There’s no better way to start off a new feature than classic steam.

If you have a photo of your own to show off, put it up on your Flickr account and add it to the Ohio Valley Railroads Flickr Pool. Include some details like the date, location, and subject matter. You might see it featured on the main site.

Staggers Act Reaches 30

Author: Kyle Montgomery
Category: History

Earlier this week an important date in the modern history of the rail industry passed by. Unnoticed by many, October 15 was the 30th anniversary of the Staggers Rail Act 1980. The act, which largely deregulated the rail industry, allowed American railways to build the most efficient freight system in the world.

The Staggers Act, like many piece of legislature since, was named after its primary sponsor Harley Staggers of West Virginia. This was actually the first time a sponsor’s name was ever incorporated into the title of a bill. The Staggers Act was the natural progression of the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976, or the “4R Act”, which outlined the basic goal of railroad deregulation and reform. The Act replaced the system of regulation propagated by the Interstate Commerce Commission since 1887.

Under the old system, the ICC set minimum and maximum rates the railroads could set for each type of cargo. Getting these rates changed was a long and complicated process that often required the cooperation of the entire industry. The regulation by the ICC was not a bad system for its time, but by the 1960′s the railroads no longer held a monopoly on transportation and the extensive regulation had a negative effect on growth. With the completion of the Interstate Highway System, trucks could provide competition on most route. The Staggers Act eliminated the mandatory regulation for all by the most “captive shippers”, those who had no other choice but to ship by rail.
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