One man's long love affair with trains

Just did.  Thanks for the heads-up.

Having read "The Men Who Loved Trains" by Rush Loving, Jr., I was impressed (and envious!) of Jim McClellan's adventurous life in railroading. Thanks for letting us know about his new book, which I look forward to reading.

Mr. McClennan sounds like living proof of Sir Winston Churchill's advice to his children on choosing a career:  "Do what you like, but LIKE what you do!" Sound advice indeed!

A received my copy a few days ago and thoroughly enjoyed the story.  Serious train watchers who are old enough to have been around at the time may find that it brings back memories of their own travels.  Younger fans should appreciate the great varaiety of paint schemes found on the locomotives and passenger trains of the era. The index list about 44 railroads seen and photographed by Jim during the time covered in this volume.  The great variety of colors is just not found on today's railroads.

I ordered a copy of Volume One today. The website shows covers for Volumes Two and Three, but no ordering link. Are these still pending?

Carl Fowler

Since reading The Men Who Loved Trains, I have hoped that Mr. McClennan would pen a book of his rail tales.  He was at the Sandhouse Gang last year...and I found out about it too late.  Is there another person who is the "most interesting man in railroading?"

Ed

From the author comes this reply to Railvt:

Carl: Volumes 2 and 3 are still in production. I expect they will be done in a couple of months, but frankly this simply started as a project to get some of my observations about the industry out to a broader audience and it is now beginning to be a commercial enterprise.

I will be working on finalizing V2 and V3, so stay tuned.  Feel free to contact me in say, a month or so, and see where we are (jimcclellan@att.net).

Again, thanks for your purchase,  I really hope you enjoy the book, it s real labor of love.  In fact, as proof that what goes around, comes around, I ma here in Dallas as the keynote speaker of the Southwestern Rail Advocates annual meeting and am looking out on the Dallas Union Station. So I am back where those pictures from the fifties were taken.  And while there is only one long haul train there are commuter trains and streetcars (or, to be pc, light rail).

Jim McClellan

Just ordered - looking forward to reading!

I got my copy a few days ago and Fred, you nailed it perfectly. Like you, I've known Jim for about 20 years and even did some consulting work for him while he was at NS. We're about a year apart in age and so covered many of the same spots in our younger days. In fact, I'm sitting in my 19th Century Phila row house about a mile from the PRR main he shot while at Penn. Jim, like you, is truly one of the many Men Who Loved Trains, to use Rush Loving's phrase. And you've captured the spirit of Volume I perfectly. Thanks.

And for those who focus on the business of railroading, Jim was, and still is, the finest strategic thinker in the industry.  When it came to dividing Conrail, CSX never had a chance.

Fred, thank you for alerting your readers and fans to this opportunity.  I have ordered a copy of Mr. McClellan's first volume.  He would be considered a great executive in any industry.

Jim is a gifted story teller and knows when a picture truly delivers a 1000 words. Our industry was lucky to have him "telling stories" at our critical junctures and his legacy is seen every day. The fact that Jim can appreciate the past and yet lead us into the future is what makes him such a gifted gentlemen. I cannot wait to get my copy

Well done Fred for raising this up for all of us to see.

Well, I have finished my copy of Volume 1 and it is well worth the price.  I do not actually remember much about the late 1950s--it came just before my time--but I love looking at it.  And the McClellan insights into the strategic problems facing the rail industry of that time make the captions pretty lively.  As Kevin Keefe said in Trains, some of the photos could be larger.  But they're fascinating just the same.

In future volumes I would hope for more treatment of the also-rans of the Eastern trunkline competition.  It is all fine and well to say that the NYC and PRR ruled but they themselves promoted that viewpoint in order to discount the competition, concealing their frustration that the Erie and DL&W/NKP somehow stole a lot of their fast freight business.  McClellan and his CSX counterparts acted as if the Erie and others could never compete with the NYC and PRR, and they were right due to the sheer extent of their networks, but it too easily dismisses what they did do extremely well.

That said, if the mark of a leader is to let smart people do their thing, then David Goode deserves some credit for allowing Jim McClellan to influence history.

Great Book - it was shipped promptly, and I am enjoying it.  Will look forward to the next volumes.

This sounds fascinating, and I probably should buy it... but I have no time to read. I haven't read the last three railroad books I bought, and that includes yours, Fred, from over a year ago. I'm currently two months behind reading Trains and four (or more) months with Railfan. Gotta cut back on Facebook, I guess, but it has good intelligence on current operations that I can go out and chase.