This dissertation explores a history of prosperity in Egypt from the vantage point of engineering works. It examines an Ottoman-Egyptian conception and organisation of prosperity and shows how it was unmade by practices of profit-making implemented by British civil engineers and colonial officials. The dissertation explores the case of one engineering project, namely the Egyptian railways, which were built over the course of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. In disputes over routes, connections, construction methods, costs and accounts, Ottoman-Egyptian engineers and officials attempted to organise the country's possibilities through “entanglements” with agrarian forms of life and particular configurations of debt, money and commodities. Ending with the decades of the Anglo-French financial control and British occupation of Egypt, the dissertation shows how “interest” and “development” emerged to reflect the priorities of European bondholders to whom the railways were pledged. In considering “interest” and “development,” the dissertation provides a colonial history of two of the most persistent economic categories.

Railroads entered American life during the second quarter of the nineteenth century through the efforts of rural residents who embraced this new technology. In an era of expanding economic opportunities, men and women throughout Massachusetts related what they learned about railroads to their previous experience with mechanization and transportation improvements and took the lead in developing rail projects. By 1850, more than 1,000 miles of track crisscrossed the state, carrying millions of riders annually. Popular support was not only essential to the railroads’ success; rural habits determined the railroads’ final form. In the past, business and economic historians have made railroads the basis of organizational and network studies and measured their support by the allocation of public funds. They have overlooked rural capitalism and early rail technology. This project eschews economic and scientific determinism in favor of a humanistic approach influenced by Jan de Vries’s theory of the “Industrious Revolution” and Joyce Appleby’s definition of capitalism as a cultural system that challenges traditional norms. It identifies several models of railroad development in Massachusetts that break down the traditional binary between “rural” and “urban.” It also refines the investment model of Arthur M. Johnson and Barry E. Supple, which distinguishes “opportunistic” from “developmental” projects. This study recovers the lived experience of rural residents at the intersection of technology and culture. Among its sources, it uses the U.S. Census of Manufactures to show widespread industrialization and a long history of remaking the landscape in the countryside. Rather than trace the flow of investment capital, it examines corporate charters and petitions to measure rural residents’ support for rail technology and their engagement with the political process. It examines knowledge and technology transfer to demonstrate that rural residents were as equipped as urban investors to evaluate new technology and gauge its potential applications. Because Massachusetts was a national leader in industry, politics, the law, reform, the arts, and culture in this period, this more accurate understanding of how railroads emerged helps to reshape our understanding of key topics in the early republic. / 2027-11-30T00:00:00Z

In this virtual program, Dr. Steve Nash, Associate Professor of History at East Tennessee State University, talks about many of the dynamics that emerged in Western North Carolina during the Reconstruction Era, with newly freed people gaining the right to vote, and emergence of tobacco as a cash crop to bolster local economies.

This dissertation investigates William Henry Jackson’s photographs for an international scouting and fact-finding mission, the World’s Transportation Commission, and the multivalent meaning the images possessed for period patrons and audiences in four contexts. I argue that Jackson visually constructed a homogenous global frontier of economic imperialism that channeled and advanced burgeoning expansionist ideologies in American cultural and political realms during the 1890s. Organized under the auspices of the Field Columbian Museum, the World’s Transportation Commission consisted of five members, including Jackson, who traveled the world between October 1894 and March 1896 seeking information and artifacts regarding railroad history for display at the museum. The Commission also received funding from five major American railroad tycoons, as well as from Harper’s Weekly, which published forty-five articles between February 1895 and August 1897 that featured 372 Jackson photographs. After returning, Jackson presented these pictures as colored lantern slides in a stereopticon lecture series in Colorado throughout spring 1897. Each chapter of this dissertation focuses on one of the four patrons and contexts for which Jackson intended his images and in which they were seen. Chapter One investigates the intended function of these images as didactic objects within a public context for the Field Columbian Museum. The second chapter positions Jackson’s work for five industrialist patrons as an imperial scouting report that studied existing colonial railway systems as models for possible future deployment of corporate interventions throughout Latin America. Chapter Three analyzes the popular cultural dissemination of Jackson’s photographs in Harpers Weekly and the complicated intersections between photographer and editors working to captivate armchair tourists while forwarding notions of ostensible American moral superiority and global hegemony. Chapter Four examines Jackson’s stereopticon lecture tour and his presentation of a hand-colored spectacle within the context of personal entrepreneurial gain. In this final, unmediated venue, Jackson shifted his photographic focus towards a seemingly candid, snapshot approach. My analysis of these four contexts and applications demonstrate how Jackson pictorially destroyed existing worlds of indigenous customs and perspectives, and replaced them with a new, unified vision of an international commercial frontier ripe for exploitation.

The production of beef cattle on pasture in Virginia has long been an important industry. The leading cattle producing sections in the state are Southwest Virginia, the Shenandoah Valley, and northern Virginia. In Southwest Virginia, due to the abundant growth of excellent quality bluegrass, most of the butcher cattle are grass-fattened and sold in the fall at two to three years of age. In the Shenandoah Valley and northern Virginia the common practice is to follow the feed lot and grain supplement methods of production. The movement to market is less seasonal than in Southwest Virginia. Virginia cattle that are not used for local consumption now find their chief outlets north of the Potomac River. The principal markets to which they are shipped are Lancaster, Jersey City, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. A limited number are sent to Richmond. Cattle going to Lancaster are comparatively light in weight and are purchased mostly for further feeding in Pennsylvania and Maryland feed lots. Those going to Jersey City, Baltimore and Philadelphia are usually bought for immediate slaughter. Cattle shipments to these markets from Virginia are shipped during a comparatively short period each year. There were only 71.84 per cent as many cattle shipped from the area in Virginia served by the Norfolk and Western Railroad in 1931 as in 1930. This decline was probably due to economic conditions and to the shortage of grass and feed following the dry seasons in 1930 and 1931. The local and incoming Virginia cattle shipments are few compared to outgoing shipments. Most of the local shipments in Virginia are from the extreme southwestern counties to the grass-fattening areas in the same section of the state. These shipments occur chiefly in the fall and spring. Cattle shipments received into this state over the Norfolk and Western Railroad come from Tennessee, Texas and North Carolina, and go to southwestern Virginia counties for stocker and feeder purposes. Sheep production in Virginia has been increasing since 1921. Sheep raising offers many advantages due to their ability to utilize profitably many products that would be of little value for other feeding purposes. A double cash return is secured from the wool and lamps. Southwest Virginia is the chief lamp producing section. The principal markets to which Virginia lamps are shipped are Jersey City and Baltimore. These lambs are usually bought for immediate slaughter. The marketing of Virginia lambs is highly seasonal. Most of them are marketed between May 15 and July 30. Shipments of sheep and lamps locally and into Virginia is of little significance since the demand for feeders is not great, due to the method of production of spring lambs followed in this state. Hog production in Virginia is confined mostly to certain areas. The leading producing sections are the Shenandoah Valley, northern Virginia, and eastern Virginia. Hogging down the peanut crop is the method of production most common in eastern Virginia. The eastern part of the state is the leading hog producing section. The bulk of the hogs marketed from Virginia go to the markets at Baltimore or Richmond. Incoming hog shipments into Virginia over the Norfolk and Western Railroad are of little importance compared to outgoing shipments. Most of them go to the eastern part of Virginia. Livestock production in Virginia during 1927, 1928 and 1929 was increasing. Prices were also advancing during this period. / M.S.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Michael W. Babcock / Today’s rail industry is the outcome of years of regulatory and technological change. Since the passage of the Staggers Rail Act of 1980 the industry has seen consolidation through mergers and acquisitions. The rail industry in Montana has a rich rail history that includes the completion of a northern east-west route over 100 years ago that provided a commerce route from the interior of the US heartland to the ocean ports in the Pacific Northwest. In those hundred years the rail traffic across Montana has seen dramatic change. In the past, those routes have provided access for Montana freight; today those routes primarily serve the needs of consumers and industries far beyond Montana. While the state’s economy is primarily agricultural, the largest user of rail transportation is the energy industry. This leaves the agriculture industry with a lower priority for access, providing a quandary for rail service for the grain industry in the state. In a state where more than eight national and regional rail carriers once operated, Montana is now only serviced by a small handful, one of which operates over 80% of the rail miles within its borders. Furthermore that carrier provides service through those regions that are almost strictly agricultural, needing the greatest access to the most cost effective means of transportation for the bulk movement of grain. The objectives of this thesis are to develop a model to measure railroad costs and competition; determine the principal cost determinants and measure intramodal competition by comparing the rates in a captive market (Montana) to one with more intramodal competition (Kansas).

Thesis (MComm)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Global rail reform is an important topic, especially seen against a backdrop of a worldwide requirement to facilitate modal shift back to rail. This modal shift is required because of growing environmental issues and rising freight cost concerns. Appropriate rail reform is also required to create an environment for South Africa’s freight railway to sustainably achieve modal shift to reverse this trend. This research is based on an idealised design approach that postulates an ideal virtual railway for South Africa, based on Transport Economic and market segmentation principles. It is accepted that major investment will be required to realise this ideal railway, but the exact role, positioning, institutional and organisational structures of the railway system require clarification. The established approach to provide this clarification in a typical business is, first and foremost, to understand the market that needs to be served through appropriate market segmentation. In this regard, the research presents: • an overview of South Africa’s surface freight transport industry, including the specific challenges faced by the industry and the historical evolution of the industry; • a benchmarking exercise of South Africa’s rail system against global rail systems; • a summary of global rail reform case references; • the need for transport economic regulation; • an analysis of current total surface freight flows (road and rail) across the geography of the country’s transport corridors, culminating in a freight flow market segmentation for South Africa informed by rail’s economic fundamentals; • the resultant effect of this analysis on the framing of an idealised network design; and • a rail reform proposal based on the idealised design. The research ‘imagines’ that the country has no existing railway system and analyse the manner in which specific freight (commodities and cargo types) actually flows from origin to destination by all modes of transport within the country’s freight logistics industry. The result of the freight market segmentation exercise informs the crafting of an ideal network. Using this ideal network as a starting point, the most appropriate rail reform option is considered against the background of benchmarking the current system. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die wêreldwye beweging vir ‘n modale verskuiwing terug na spoor is ‘n belangrike faktor wanneer spoorhervorming ter sake kom. Dit word as gevolg van die toenemende klem wat op omgewingskwessies gelê word en stygende vervoerkostes, vereis. Toepaslike spoorhervorming is ook in Suid-Afrika belangrik sodat‘n omgewing waarin Suid – Afrika se vragvervoer volhoubaar modale verskuiwing kan bereik, geskep kan word om sodoende ‘n modale verskuiwing te bewerkstellig. Die navorsing in hierdie tesis word op ‘n geïdealiseerde ontwerp benadering gegrond wat die ideale spoorweg vir Suid – Afrika postuleer. Vervoerekonomiese en marksegmenteringsbeginsels vorm die grondslag van die ontwerp. Beduidende investering sal benodig word om hierdie ideale spoorweg te laat realiseer, maar die presiese rol, posisionering, en institusionele en organisatoriese strukture van die spoorwegsisteem is nog onduidelik. Die gevestigde navorsingsgefundeerde benadering om hierdie vraagstuk te benader is om eerstens markvraag deur middel van marksegmentering, te bepaal. In hierdie opsig bied die navorsing: • ‘n oorsig van Suid–Afrika se landvragvervoerbedryf, insluitend die spesifieke uitdagings en historiese evolusie van die bedryf; • ‘n nomrstellingsoefening van Suid–Afrika se spoorsisteem teen globale spoorsisteme; • ‘n opsomming van globale spoorhervorminggevallestudies; • die behoefte aan vervoerekonomiese regulering; • ‘n analise van die huidige landvragvloeivolumes (pad en spoor) regoor die land se vervoerkorridors wat in ‘n vragvloeimarksegmentering vir Suid–Afrika uitloop, • die gevolglike effek van die analise op die ontwerp van ‘n geïdealiseerde network; en • ‘n spoorhervormingvoorstel gegrond op die geïdealiseerde ontwerp. Hierdie navorsing gebruik ‘n virtuele benadering naamlik dat die land geen bestaande spoorwegsisteem het nie en analiseer die vraag na vervoer op die fynste moontlike vlak. Die resultaat van die vragsegmenteringoefening word gebruik om die ideale netwerk te bou. Deur die gebruik van die ideale netwerk as ‘n uitgangspunt word die mees geskikte spoorhervormingopsie oorweeg met normstelling van die huidige sisteem as ‘n vergelykende agtergrond.

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Real Estate and Construction / Master / Master of Science in Real Estate and Construction

published_or_final_version / abstract / Transport Policy and Planning / Master / Master of Arts in Transport Policy and Planning

Mini-Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the degree Master of Science (Environmental Sciences) School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences University of Witwatersrand School: Mining Engineering (Centre For Sustainability In Mining And Industry) 26 January 2017 / The Gautrain Rapid Rail Link project is one of the biggest transport projects undertaken in South Africa. One of the unique features of this project was the manner in which public participation was conducted. There were two stages of public participation, one for the EIA process and the other for the EMP process. The research undertaken sought to study the influence of public participation on the development of mitigation measures in an EMP following EIA. The aim of the research project was to assess how the mitigation of environmental impacts, developed for an EMP during the construction phase, were affected by public participation, using the Gautrain Rail Link as a case study. When the comments were classified according to how they related to the different mitigation management plans it was found that the issues most commented on were those pertaining to public consultation and disclosure, noise vibration, visual/aesthetics, working hours, surface water, traffic as well as construction sites. Approximately 7% of the comments made by IAPs could be linked to specific changes to DFEMPs. Approximately 4% of the changes suggested by IAPs were rejected by Bombela. Prior to changes being made the DFEMP 2 had 238 targets; by the end on DFEMP5 the number of targets was 217 which reflected an 8.8% reduction. Prior to changes being made the DFEMP 2 had 789 method statements; by the end on DFEMP5 the number of method statements was 845 which reflected a 7.1% increase. These changes were mostly due to some of the targets being replaced by a “No complaints from the public” target and then the shifting of the previous targets into method statements. There was a change in the overall approach of mitigation targets to what could be viewed as more ‘people-orientated’ as opposed to mitigation that aimed to prevent adverse impacts to the environment. This was evident in the change of targets focusing on having no complaints from the public as opposed to setting targets that related to standards and specific environmental conditions. It was also found that the public input at the EMP stage could not have altered the mitigation strategy significantly but could have likely assisted in improving and refining the mitigation measures that had been selected. Public preference on the mitigation strategies applied was observed in the research as was the “Not In My Back Yard” phenomenon where the IAPs were more concerned with the impacts that directly affected their everyday lives and not the natural environment as a whole. It was noted that the input from the public resulted in valuable information being added and improved decision-making. It was found that the Independent Auditor’s comments resulted in the most evident changes in the DFEMPs. The public input process was able to highlight the feasibility and practicality of the targets set in the DFEMPs. It also gave IAPs an opportunity to voice their opinion on socioeconomic issues that they would otherwise not have been able to raise. A drawback from the public participation process was that the comments made by the IAPs were often repetitive which led to generic responses being given and also increased the likelihood of both IAP and developer participation fatigue. There was an agreement by all the interview participants for the need to EMP to be developed as continuous documents through the different phases of the project. Overall, the case study could add valuable input to the environmental management body of knowledge in South Africa. / MT2017