Train Time: Railroads and the Imminent Reshaping of the United States Landscape

Trains have a nostalgic connotation for most Americans, but John Stilgoe argues
that we should be looking to rail lines as the path to our future, not just our past. Train Time
picks up where his acclaimed work Metropolitan Corridor left off, carrying Stilgoe’s ideas
about the spatial consequences of railways up to the present moment. With containers bringing
the production of a global economy to our ports, the price of oil skyrocketing, and congestion
and sprawl forcing many Americans to live far from work, trains offer an obvious alternative to
a culture dependent on cars and long-haul trucking. Arguing that the train is returning,
"an economic and cultural tsunami about to transform the United States," Stilgoe
posits a future for railways as powerful shapers of American life.

For anyone
looking for prescient analysis and compelling history of the American landscape and economy in
general and railroad and transit history in particular, Train Time is an engaging look at the
future of our railroads and of transportation and land development. For those familiar with John
Stilgoe’s talent for seeing things that elude the rest of us, and delivering those
observations in pithy asides about real estate, corporate culture, and other aspects of American
life, this book will not disappoint.