The Pennsylvania Railroad at Bay

This 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. It is also the story of how the small-town entrepreneur held the mighty Pennsylvania Railroad at bay, refusing to sell out before he was ready to do so. The TH & I has been something of an enigma until now for historians of the Pennsylvania Railroad. They have often ignored or failed to understand the fact that the Terre Haute road remained independent for so long. Unlike similar relations with its other western lines - like the Indiana Central, and the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago, the Pennsylvania's early courtship of the TH & I did not lead to the usual "smothering embrace," as author Wallis puts it. Instead, there endured what Wallis has called an "arm's length's partnership" between the two vastly different organisations. 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.