What role did railroads play in changing southern society

The railroads were, of course, a huge economic plus for the South. In the period after the civil war, the railroads brought the foundations of an industrial society to the post civil war South, an area which for centuries had run on a primarily agrarian economy. Railroads breathed a breath of fresh air into the exhausted southern economy mainly because it allowed for the diffusion of industrialization, urbanization, and population growth. An excellent example of the railroad's economic effects is the city of Atlanta, which was brought from a devastated city to a major economic and cultural hub in the South.