Forging The Bee Line Railroad: The Rise And Fall Of The Hoosier Partisans And Cleveland Clique is a comprehensive history of the Bee Line Railroad by Arthur Andrew Olson III. The early American transportation policy had the goal of helping people move west and develop a national cohesiveness. Thus the federal government built the National Road connecting state capitols from Maryland to the Mississippi. Soon canals were developed. Railroads came with the rise of the industrial revolution. They were, however, built by individual developers and financiers rather than the federal government. Therefore, there was no guarantee that the railroads would go through Indianapolis. Hoosiers immediately sensed the importance of the railroads and several individuals worked to see that their capitol was well served. The Bee Line was built to connect Cleveland with Indianapolis. After the Civil War, the great financiers consolidated the railroads. This book tells that story.
The book’s first appendix lists the principal characters in the story with short biographical statements and many pictures. The second appendix displays images of many of the locomotives used on the Bee Line. The book has well over sixty illustrations. There is also an extensive list of footnotes and source materials. The book also features a time line of the Bee Line, many maps and other images.
The author will speak and sign copies of the book at 2 p.m. on Sat., April 1 at Bookmamas, 9 Johnson Ave. Visit www.bookmamas.com or call 317-375-3715 for more information. And while you’re at the event, check out the new book Train Stations Then and Now by Ken Fitzgerald which features Indianapolis’ own Union Station.
Every Hoosier railroad aficionado needs these two new books.
