Main Lines: Rebirth of the North American Railroads, 1970-2002. By Richard Saunders, Jr. (DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 2003. Pp. xxi, 436. Acknowledgments, abbreviations, maps, tables, notes, works cited, index. $49.95.) This book is a sequel to Professor Saunders' Merging Lines, which covered consolidations in the railroad industry up to 1970 (see my review in AHQ [Summer 2002]). Coverage begins with the ill-fated merger that formed the Penn Central Railroad and then carries the reader to 2002, when there existed only four major railroad systems in the country: Union Pacific, Burlington Northern Santa Fe, CSX, and Norfolk Southern. On a North American basis, the Canadian National (which absorbed the Illinois Central) and Canadian Pacific had significant holdings in the United States, and the Mexican railroads had been privatized, with the super four acquiring significant holdings in that country. On the way to this pared-down situation, there were many intermediate mergers, sales of short lines, changes in work rules, and even the demise of the Interstate Commerce Commission. Main Lines deals with all aspects of the history leading to this present situation. And it is a fascinating history. It is no secret even to the casual observer that things have changed in the railroad business. Private passenger trains are gone, the caboose at the end of the freight train is no more, and utilitarian boxcars have largely given way to monstrous hopper cars, automobile rack cars, flat cars upon which truck trailers are transported, and special cars containing single and double stacks of freight containers. And the number of people manning each freight train has decreased from five or six to only two. Professor Saunders carefully details how all this has come about. The book begins with some overlapping material from the previous book concerning the Penn Central merger and what went wrong with it. Then he moves regionally around the country, addressing basic problems of shipping business decline and the resistance to conglomeration as it affects competition. In the East, the consolidation that resulted in the quasi-governmental Conrail System is of particular interest. Excellent management of the system plus declining regulation eventually led to a very profitable railroad. The final blow to oppressive regulation was the October 1980 passage of the Staggers Act, which gave railroads the freedom to offer tariffs competitive with other means of transportation as well as to unload unprofitable lines by sale or abandonment. …