I love mountain railroading and the two books that Christmas added to my collection has just feed that... I now have four books all by John Signor and about the SPs many mountain passes, I'm wanting to learn about some of the other mountain passes of North American railroads specifically those of the West and the Pacific, if you know of a pass in the east that you like feel free to post it too...
Steve
If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough!
Cajon Pass, Tehachapi, Rogers Pass, Kicking Horse Pass, Crows Nest Pass, Yellowhead Pass, Cumbres Pass, Cumberland Gap, Marias Pass, Donner Pass, Moffat Tunnel, Raton, and the famous White Pass in AK. All in the west.
I'm familiar with Tehachapi, Donner, and the Siskiyou passes of the SP because I have books on them... any books about the others???
Would Steven's Pass be a mountain route?
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.
LeMassena book colorado's mountain railroads .
j. c. LeMassena book colorado's mountain railroads .
Yep, that's a classic. Just about anything Rio Grande would fit here. After all, the slogan "Mainline thru the Rockies" appliesto it all, except the branch lines and even they were still in the Rockies. Tennessee Pass and the Royal Gorge, the Moffat Route (look for books on the Denver & Salt Lake that built much of the original route), and Soldier Summit in Utah all have their charms.
And that's just the standard gauge. Go narrowgauge and a whole 'nother world opens up. John B. Norwood was an official on the NG and wrote a whole series of books (check Heimburger House for these IIRC) with tales of his adventures there.
If you need a good place to browse what's available with a focus on Western RRs, try the Colorado Railroad Museum's book store (https://shop.coloradorailroadmuseum.org/NavPage.aspx?navid=1000029 )
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
"Narrow Gauge in the Rockies," by Beebe and Clegg. When you get good suggestions for titles, I suggest you try railpub.com. Paul has all kinds of railroad books and magazines, online catalog.
Deano
OT Dean"Narrow Gauge in the Rockies," by Beebe and Clegg
Good one, Deano. That was the very first hardback RR book I ever bought. Paid full price for it, too, from Walthers' old Terminal Hobby Shop - $9.95.
It was, after all, 1972.
If you go into detail about shortlines, you will find many western railroads which ran "up the canyon" somewhere. Like the Nevada Northern's Ruth Branch where they run their excursion trains now. In Utah nearly every canyon on the Wasatch front had some shortline railroad going up it at one point.
Other mainlines too while not in a mountain pass had to cross mountain ranges on occasion. Take the Western Pacific mainline in Nevada, mostly flat salt flats and deserts; but near the Utah border the line curves around the base of a mountain on Arnold Loop. Or another brief mountain segment for example, on the old OSL north of Ogden were the tracks went above the Bear River's canyon at Wheelon on tunnels and large bridges. You can find a lot of these smaller passes all over the place.
The "White Cascade" by Gary Krist, is a true story about an avalanche on the Great Northern in 1910, in Stevens Pass at Wellington, WA. It is a very enjoyable book.
Doug
May your flanges always stay BETWEEN the rails
How about Soldier Summit on the D&RGW mainline in Utah? I don't know if there are any books specifically about it but there are photo's in the nice Morning Sun Books Rio Grande in Color series, such as Vol 2 : Utah.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983