Frog war

A frog war occurs when one private railroad company attempts to cross the tracks of another, and this results in hostilities between the two railroads. It is named after the frog, the piece of track that allows the two tracks to join or cross and is usually part of a level junction or railroad switch.

The frog, a component of a railway switch, lent its name to a series of battles for railroad dominance in the 19th century.

A frog war usually begins with legal actions, such as filing lawsuits and appealing to civic transportation authorities. But often the situation escalates into physical actions, with companies pitting their workers against one another with construction projects and train movements intended to frustrate or challenge the opposing railroad.

Division of costs

It is generally the case that the second railway to arrive at an intended crossing has to bear the cost of the special trackwork needed to cross the first. This includes the cost of any interlocking tower or signal box. The latter is not necessarily to the disadvantage of the second railway, since it can signal its trains through the junction ahead of those belonging to the first railway, depending on who employs the signalman.

"Frog Wars" with oil pipelines

In the early days of the oil industry, most oil traveled by rail. As oil pipelines became more common, railway companies often saw them as threats to their business and refused to grant permission for pipelines to cross their tracks.

Bridges and riverboats

Abraham Lincoln participated in a celebrated court case that decided that railroads had as much right to bridge rivers as the riverboat had the right to navigate those rivers.[1] Nova Scotia's Shubenacadie Canal was rendered useless by a railway bridge built across it in 1870.

List of frog wars

Netherlands
  • 1845: A disgruntled property developer purchased Van der Gaag Lane, a short road south of Delft, with the intention of sabotaging the construction of the Haarlem-Hague Railway. After a deal to acquire the property on the owner's own terms fell through, he vehemently refused to sell it or allow a crossing to be built, necessitating the circumvention of the property using a tight bend in the track.

United States

Note: The first railroad line built is the first one named.

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

United Kingdom

Bibliography
  • Derrick, Samuel M. (1933). Centennial History of South Carolina Railroad. State Publishing Company, Columbia, SC.
  • Fetters, Thomas (2008). The Charleston & Hamburg. The History Press, Charleston, SC. ISBN 978-1-59629-420-2.

References
  1. Archived January 11, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  2. "Stories". Hopewellvalleyhistory.org. Archived from the original on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2015-03-28.
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