Railroads, Economic HIstory, and Panics

 I have always been a railroad history buff, but only recently have thought about it in economic terms.  I have seen a number of articles on this site that have sought to rehabilitate the great entrepreneurs of railroading from their "robber baron" image.  However, I also know that railroading has been implicated in the Panics of 1873 and 1893--and maybe more.  My question is this--where is the best discussion of the relationship between government interference, railroad malinvestment, and the depressions of the nineteenth century?

Here are a few links to miscellaneous, libertarian-leaning articles which might serve as starting points on the general topic of railroads and government intervention. You might want to read some more of Thomas DiLorenzo, especially his book on the history of American capitalism, and Rothbard's book A History of Money and Banking in the United States, mentioned in the DiLorenzo essay whose link is below.

• http://www.libertarian.co.uk/lapubs/histn/histn045.htm
• http://www.lewrockwell.com/dilorenzo/dilorenzo73.html

I am very certain there's much more scholarship that exists on this subject, but I think what I've provided will give you some ideas as to where you might find it.

Also, I found a book that might be of some help, Jay Cooke's Gamble: The Northern Pacific Railroad, The Sioux, and the Panic of 1873 by M. John Lubetkin. I have not read it and do not know of its author's thesis, though I suspect that because he's a retired executive he is probably sympathetic to the railroads in the end.