New York Westchester & Boston Railway J P Morgans Magnificent Mistake

When the New York, Westchester and Boston Railway opened in 1912, it was one of the engineering wonders of the American railroad world. Built to the highest level of engineering standards and operated with strict punctuality, the ""Westchester"" was a high-speed, high-capacity electric line designed to develop and serve upper-income communities in one of New York City's most rapidly growing suburban areas. Unbeknownst to most, reigning financial power J. Pierpont Morgan was behind the funding of the line.

Unrecorded millions, paid out for unknown reasons, raised the Westchester's construction total to a breathtaking $2 million a mile, almost $40 million a mile in 2005 dollars. Yet this railroad, designed to carry more than 100,000 people a day efficiently and comfortably, ran through virtually undeveloped territory and duplicated the line of the parent company that built it. Due to woeful financial performances and failure to show a profit, the Westchester trains stopped running within 25 years of their christening.

""This book is an absolute gem. A wonderful, not to say definitive, account of a strange and unusual chapter in the overall story of electric railways in America."" --Brian J. Cudahy, author of A Century of Subways--Brian J. Cudahy, author of A Century of Subways

Herbert H. Harwood, Jr., spent 30 years in various management positions at the Chesapeake and Ohio and the Baltimore and Ohio as well as their successor, CSX Transportation. He has written 12 books on railroad and electric railway history. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland.