Decline
The H&S was built across the hilly terrain of southern Iowa and the line suffered operationally from steep ruling grades, numerous curves and many trestles had to be built and maintained. Loss of timber trestles due to fire led to many of the line segments being put up for abandonment. The southern Iowa economy has generally lagged behind much of the remainder of Iowa and the Midwest, and the H&S suffered from a lack of industrial development along its line. The line's revenue base relied too much on coal, products of agriculture, and passenger operations for it to remain profitable once autos and trucks came to the area of southern Iowa.
Read more about this topic: Humeston And Shenandoah Railway
Famous quotes containing the word decline:
“Considered physiologically, everything ugly weakens and saddens man. It reminds him of decay, danger, impotence; it actually reduces his strength. The effect of ugliness can be measured with a dynamometer. Whenever anyone feels depressed, he senses the proximity of something “ugly.” His feeling of power, his will to power, his courage, his pride—they decline with ugliness, they rise with beauty.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“Or else I thought her supernatural;
As though a sterner eye looked through her eye
On this foul world in its decline and fall,
On gangling stocks grown great, great stocks run dry,
Ancestral pearls all pitched into a sty,
Heroic reverie mocked by clown and knave....”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“Reckoned physiologically, everything ugly weakens and afflicts man. It recalls decay, danger, impotence; he actually suffers a loss of energy in its presence. The effect of the ugly can be measured with a dynamometer. Whenever man feels in any way depressed, he senses the proximity of something “ugly.” His feeling of power, his will to power, his courage, his pride—they decline with the ugly, they increase with the beautiful.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)