The Pennsylvania Railroad at Bay

"The Pennsylvania Railroad at Bay is the story of an independent and creative nineteenth-century Indiana businessman, William Riley McKeen, and the railroad that he built based in Terre Haute - the Terre Haute & Indianapolis Railroad. It is also the story of how this small-town entrepreneur held the mighty Pennsylvania Railroad at bay, refusing to sell out before he was ready to do so. Until now, the TH & I has been something of an enigma for historians of the Pennsylvania Railroad. They have often ignored or failed to understand that the Terre Haute road remained independent for so long. Unlike similar relations with its other western lines - such as the Indiana Central and the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago - the Pennsy's early courtship of the TH & I did not lead to the usual "smothering embrace," as author Wallis puts it. Instead, what he calls an "arm's length partnership" endured between the two vastly different organizations. This volume is a long-overdue look at that partnership and the man who, against all odds, kept it in balance. Wallis has made a fascinating contribution to the railroad history of Indiana, to the story of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and to the history of Terre Haute and one of its most interesting businessmen."--Jacket.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.