The monthly business meeting of the Baltimore Chapter NRHS will be held on Monday, May 13th with a presentation from SUNY-Buffalo professor David Alff about his new book, The Northeast Corridor: The Trains, the People, the History, the Region (University of Chicago Press), a comprehensive history of the busiest and fastest passenger railroad in North America, and one of the most vital infrastructures in the world.
When: Monday, May 13, 2024 at 7:00 p.m.
Where: Visitors Center of the Baltimore Streetcar Museum, 1911 Falls Road, Baltimore (three blocks from the Amtrak Station and adjacent to the CSX Belt Line crossing of the Jones Falls Valley.
Who: Members and their invited guests. We also welcome new members to our Society.
Book Information: “Traversed by thousands of trains and millions of riders, the Northeast Corridor might be America’s most famous railway, but its influence goes far beyond the right-of-way. David Alff welcomes readers aboard to see how nineteenth-century train tracks did more than connect Boston to Washington, DC. They transformed hundreds of miles of Atlantic shoreline into a political capital, a global financial hub, and home to fifty million people.
The Northeast Corridor reveals how freight trains, commuter rail, and Amtrak influenced—and in turn were shaped by—centuries of American industrial expansion, metropolitan growth, downtown decline, and revitalization. Paying as much attention to Aberdeen, Trenton, New Rochelle, and Providence as to New York City, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, Alff provides narrative thrills for history buffs, train enthusiasts, and adventurers alike.
What’s more, he offers a glimpse into the future of the corridor. New infrastructural plans—supported by President Joe Biden, famously Amtrak’s biggest fan—envision ever-faster trains zipping along technologically advanced rails. Yet those tracks will literally sit atop a history that links the life of Frederick Douglass, who fled to freedom by boarding a train in Baltimore, to the Frederick Douglass Tunnel, which is expected to be the newest link in the corridor by 2032. Trains have long made the places that make America, and they still do.”
Anyone interested in purchasing the book from the UCP website can receive a 30% discount using the code UCPNEW at checkout.
Refreshments will be served at the meeting. We hope to see you there!
Please note that if you are not able to attend in person, you may watch the presentation via Zoom. Contact Cynthia Atwood for login details at hello@baltimorenrhs.org.
