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. 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.
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
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. Nova Scotia's Shubenacadie Canal was rendered useless by a railway bridge built across it in 1870.
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.
1867: The South Carolina Railroad vs. the Columbia and Augusta Railroad. A grade crossing in Columbia was protested in court, then blocked by a parked train, then physically torn up and finally threatened by a steamed-up locomotive ready to move forward to block at any moment.
December 1897: The Pennsylvania Railroad vs. the Newtown Electric Street Railway in Langhorne, Pennsylvania. This was not technically a frog war, but the PRR opposed attempts to build a line through a turnpike underpass running underneath the PRR tracks. Passengers had to disembark on each side of the PRR and walk through the underpass to meet connecting trolleys.
