Rail roads and their tracks.

[MoKelly]

I agree. Some bean counter figured out there's profit in it. Kinda like watching those gold mining shows. The amount of material they have to move and process for each ounce of gold is staggering. Yet there's profit in it.

Many railroads got land grants from the Federal Government. So, no cost of land.

Many railroads were “public” and had stock investors. Way before the SEC. Several would declare bankruptcy, the money disappear, and the owner start a new railroad with lots of cash.

Labor was very very cheap. No OSHA, minimum wages or fringe benefits. Labor was more than plentiful. Most of the wages paid to workers was spent in Railroad owned stores.

The payoff was HUGE. A few railroad owners built wealth that in their day was more than the tech billionaires of today. Vanderbilt’s wealth alone is estimated at $225 billion in today’s dollars.

JP Morgan was founded based on financing the railroad magnets.

Many smaller railroad owners made much money selling to the bigger guys.

Much of the Industrial Revolution was based on railroads.

It cannot be overstated how massively profitable and powerful railroads were back in the day. They could basically do what they wanted.

It’s almost impossible for us to understand. At its peak, railroads (concentrated among a small group of men) were 25% of GDP. In today’s terms, it’s like a few men controlling all health care! That is equal to about $5 trillion!!!

Those folks weren’t called “robber barons” as a term of endearment.

MoKelly

 

[Hay Dude]

Yeah, but THAT railroad was built in late 50's-early 60's, the peak of union labor and probably pretty expensive back then?

 

[bcp]

The railroads that got land grants also had to carry Gov't freight and passengers at reduced rates, which made up the difference, at the value of the land at that time.

Bruce

 

[MoKelly]

This is Nebraska. It’s just an example. But - 16% of Nebraska land was given to the railroads.

After the rail was constructed, the railroads sold off the land for lots of profits.

MoKelly

 

[MossRoad]

Yes, but we're talking about one rail line specifically in the 50s and 60s.

 

[BravoXray]

Just realized, somebody corrected the spelling in the title of this thread!!

I didn't notice it either until I read your post, even thought it bugged me whenever I saw the thread title.

 

[ArlyA]

60 minutes program about a iron mine in Australia.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Nothing is built to last today. It's the 'throw away' society we live in.

I was thinking of a nice school building built in 1890s and torn down in 1954, then the school built to replace it was stopped being used in early 2000s and now torn down. Both were stone/ block/ brick buildings and looked nice.

Throw away isn’t a new thing, but lifespans seem shorter when taxpayer money is involved.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

you pretty close the C&O canal?

Now, but not growing up. I have biked the entire c&o towpath.
Some of the locks on the Ohio and Erie dwarf the locks on the C&O.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Lock on Ohio and Erie at coshocton