Talk:United States Railroad Administration

Need to finish adding the sub-railroads of the National Systems.

Non-POV changes
The Conclusion section has lots of POV and may even be original research. --KJRehberg (talk) 15:01, 8 August 2008 (UTC)
 * See below -- text moved here. Caseyjonz (talk) 04:25, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

citations supporting $1.12B in investment
Looking for supporting references for $1.12 billion figure I am finding secondary source: http://logisticstoday.com/logistics_services/outlog_story_7485/ "As we observe the 25th anniversary of the Staggers Rail Act that provided economic deregulation of the railroads, does Staggers suggest a path for domestic marine transportation?...At the time, one sixth of U.S. trackage was owned by railroads in receivership. The government nationalized the railroads and poured $1.12 billion into the infrastructure ($15 billion in 2003 dollars). The rail system that was returned to private interests in 1920 was stronger,..."

secondary source: http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=31438 "The railroads were indeed nationalized at one time, under the USRA, who are actually credited with introducing a greater degree of standardization with both locomotives and railcars, and by extension were actually also credited with helping the railroads weather the economic ravages of World War I ... and possibly helped usher in the so-called "Golden Age" of railroading. The cost was about $1.12 billion ($15 billion in 2003 dollars) over a time frame of a little over two years."

secondary source: http://home.netcom.com/~whstlpnk/tteusra5.html "Estimated cost of the USRA is set at $1,123,500,000.00. [Daggett, p. 650]" who is daggett, what was his book? well, this page says: "DAGGETT, STUART Professor of Transportation, University of California. Office: Berkeley, California. Born: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, March 2, 1881. Son of: George and Marion Chapin (Stuart) Daggett. Married: Constance Dorothea De Ronden-Pos, May 19, 1910. Children: Carlos (Deceased), Stuart, Jr., and Marion. Education: Harvard University (A.B. 1903, A.M. 1904, Ph.D. 1906). Career: Instructor, Harvard University, 1906-09; Assistant Professor, University of California, 1909-14; Associate Professor, same school, 1914-17; Professor, 1917--. Dean, College of Commerce, 1920-27. Author: Railroad Reorganization West of the Mississippi, 1908; Chapters on the History of the Southern Pacific, 1922; Principles of Inland Transportation, 1928. Clubs and fraternities: American Economic Association; Sigma Alpha Epsilon. Unitarian. Independent politically. Home address: 1427 Hawthorne Terrace, Berkeley, California. p. 121" The webpage tteusra5.html is the fifth of tteusra[1-5].html

Can't find the book of daggett with the $1.12B figure, still looking. I think the figure is the total USRA spending while running RR for war, investment looks like $300M. Mulp (talk) 22:05, 1 September 2009 (UTC)


 * Encyclopedia of North American railroads By William D. Middleton, George M. Smerk, Roberta L. Diehl gives figure of $1.1B on page 15; http://books.google.com/books?id=_ogUAQAAIAAJ&q=subject:%22Railroads%22+usra+cost+1920&dq=subject:%22Railroads%22+usra+cost+1920&ei=ap-dStemD4KuzQSqtoX_Dg Mulp (talk) 22:31, 1 September 2009 (UTC)


 * I removed the Conclusion section, after more than 2 years with a POV tag and no references provided for it. I am posting it below, in case someone would like to investigate the topic further and perhaps repost this material with verifiable sources. Caseyjonz (talk) 04:25, 27 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Conclusions. It is estimated that the USRA and the nationalizing of the American railroads between December 28, 1918, and March 1, 1920, cost the United States government $1.12 billion dollars, which was a huge amount of money back then (approximately $15 billion, adjusted for inflation). The USRA is generally seen as having been effective in getting things moving for the war effort, but at a steep price.
 * The locomotives the USRA built, the USRA Standard designs, were immensely successful, and after the war were copied in great numbers, becoming the closest thing the United States locomotive builders came to standard designs. Indeed, the last steam locomotive built for a Class I railroad was a USRA copy, an 0-8-0 for the Norfolk & Western Railway. More controversy exists about their freight car designs, but they were certainly an improvement on many outdated cars in service before the USRA period. It can certainly be said, however, that the influx of new and modern locomotives and cars 'for free' assisted in the revival of the railroads' hitherto shaky fortunes and set up, in the years between the Great War and the Great Depression, a somewhat 'Golden Age' for railroading.
 * The experiment was not repeated. In World War II, the private railroads handled the war effort admirably, though one could argue that some major East Coast railroads impoverished themselves in so doing, setting up the later railroad collapses in the region.

Incredibly brief article for such as momentous period in our history ...
I have been researching for another article using the PRR chron materials from Chris Baer's site... In reading through the 1918 materials.. I was struck by the massive scale of disruption in the NY and New England area by the "coal famine" of 1918... the details in the chron are staggering... I am planning to come back and more to this article.. the impact of the USRA for its brief period was an incredible feat... the standardization and other areas are fascinating to read... many thanks to all...

Risk Engineer (talk) 15:11, 13 June 2013 (UTC)