My interview with Charles Moore was one of my favorites because I honestly went into the interview blind. I had never spoken at length with Mr. Moore and I knew nothing about the railroad industry; less than nothing if that's possible. I wanted to try an interview that was truly like meeting someone in an airport and chatting spontaneously.
I asked Charles lots about the history of railroads because he spent most of his working life in that industry: starting out in an entry level position and eventually winding up as a high level executive. By the end of the interview I was genuinely intrigued by the stories of advances in technology and I learned a lot about leadership.
You will notice right away that Charles is an engaging out going guy. This allowed me to be more in the flow interview. The more Mr. Moore spoke, the more questions came to mind.
By the end of the interview, Mr. Moore and I were good friends, and I could tell he became someone in my life who I could go to in the future for advice!
BONUS INFORMATION:
After my interview with Charlie I was inspired to dive deeper into the history of the railroad. It’s one of those topics you think you know enough about and yet on closer inspection, I realized my generation probably has very little contact with railroads. Charlie sparked my curiosity and here some interesting highlights from my research.
Image source: http://railroad.historyproject.ucdavis.edu/
First, I had always heard the Railroads were responsible for the opening of the western United States, but never realized how much railroads were responsible for the expansion and unification of the United States during the early and mid 1800's when our collection of diverse territories and states were coming together.
Image source: http://texaslastfrontier.com/railroad/railroad-galleries/trains-of-the-old-west/
Did you know that 26 states were admitted to the union from 1830 to 1920? It may have been the railroads that formed the first ties between states like Iowa (1837), Michigan (1846), Wisconsin (1848), Texas (1845), Montana (1889), North Dakota (1889), Utah (1896), nd New Mexico (1912) to name only a few.
Image Source: http://www.mrvanduyne.com/west/railroads10.htm
In 1827, one of the first railroads was built to compete with the Erie Canal for carrying goods. By 1840 there were 2300 miles of track east of the Mississippi and a decade later 9000 miles of track. Unfortunately, there was no standardization of track sizes (some laid 4'8" apart and others 6 feet apart) and greed made rates and working conditions very unfair.
The transcontinental railroad became a reality in 1860 thanks to Abraham Lincoln, but the "Golden Age" of the railroads were the years between 1880 and 1920, when goods and people began moving all over our continent and before other modes of transportation (automobiles and airplanes) were invented.
Image Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcontinental_railroad
By the 1890's the smaller track size became the standard for 163,000 miles of track.
The most fascinating innovations to the untrained eye would have to be the design of trains through the decades.
In the beginning, railroad locomotive and car design was borrowing heavily from the horse and buggy design. We humans tend to do that with everything new, don't we? Rarely do we come up with something completely new, with no resemblance to the thing it is replacing.
(If you'd like to see another example of this, take a look at my conversation with a 93 year old friend who told me everything she'd experienced with the history of telephones, and at the end of my interview, she pulled out her iPad and showed me her close connections to everyone she knows through that totally unique invention!)
But I digress!.. Just look at this passenger train design - a horse and buggy hybrid - from 1830:
Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Framingham_Railroad_Station
By the 1880s the locomotives and passenger cars had found their own grand style and people using the system felt like modern space travelers. The journey between Cincinnati and St. Louis once took 3 hard days and nights of bumpy travel, but with railroads, it could be done in 16 hours!
Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Framingham_Railroad_Station
The height of railroad popularity in the 1920's inspired the fastest coal powered designs of the 1930's, 40's and 50's. These locomotives were practically streamlined piece of art deco. Here are three from the dozens I saw:
Image Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Framingham_Railroad_Station
Image Source: http://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/topic/the-5-best-looking-streamlined-steam-locomotives?reply=13960184939808860
Image Source: http://donsdepot.donrossgroup.net/dr2821.htm
In fact the longer I looked at locomotive design the more I wondered how many manufacturers there must have been, and how important design must have been. It was like looking at all the makes and models of cars through the 20th Century. Some were all style and others clearly workhorses.
Most of us realize the railroad industry reached an all time low in the 1950's, 60's and 70's with the rise of the interstate highway system in the U.S. Did you notice a moment in the interview when Mr. Moore called the interstates "Freeways." I think that's a point that we shouldn't miss here.
The interstate system made trucking goods all over the continent essentially "free" for the trucking companies. They do not have to pay very much extra for their part in maintaining, or fixing the wear and tear their industry put on our roads. But the railroads had to foot the bill for 100% of the upkeep and maintenance of their infrastructure.
Image Source: http://www.lightrailnow.org/
Many of the most well known railroad companies went out of business about that time, and passenger rail became dilapidated and forgotten, and freight movement hung on by it's fingertips.
But as is the case in so many aspects of life, the pendulum did swing back in the favor of the Railroads in the 1980's with de-regulation. And just about that same time, grid-lock on American highways became a major problem for the movement of goods. Both these changes gave the railroad industry some relief since the 80's their have been gains. Now high-speed rail seems to be a promising possibility.
Image Source: http://www.wired.com/2010/04/the-trouble-with-high-speed-rail/
I suspect my generation will support and may even demand the same high speed rail that is so important already in other countries around the world. Many of us like urban lifestyles without the burdens of owning an automobile. We hate the new gridlock we face at airports, and we can happily spend our time on the web while moving briskly along between cities.
I can see promise here, but we are going to have to play catch-up! Here's a graph of how far behind the curve we are in our investment in this advancement:
Image Source: http://www.ushsr.com/
Maybe we will see another upswing, but for the time being, every time I cross a railroad track, I'm going to appreciate the history those rails have witnessed.
Thanks so much to Charlie Moore for taking us all on a little journey we would not have gone on without him. He's inspired us to appreciate the past, present and future!