Good Book for 1800's modelers

[Anonymous]

I have Iron Horses to Promontory by Gerald Best, and its a great book.

Here's my perennial question when this topic comes round:
Has anyone come across early track plans for Council Bluffs?

I've dug into this from time to time with no luck.

I think that would make a great model: three lines coming into town, the Cedar Rapids & Missouri RIver, the Burlington & Missouri River, and the Rock Island & Pacific. Each had their own car ferries going across the river to Omaha, and temporary bridges over the ice in the winter!

Cheers,
Maureen

[MidlandPacific]

John White's Books "The American Locomotive," "The American Railroad Passenger Car" and "The American Freight Car" are all essentials for the 1800s-era modeler....

[MidlandPacific]

David Haward Bain's Empire Express is pretty good, too.

[Jetrock]

I have heard that--that his most recent work is not as robust, but his older material featured good research that the current work lacks.

I'm about neck-deep in Transcontinental Railroad books right now, due to a class I am taking--they let us choose the subject for a historiography, and of course I chose a railroad-related subject!!

[Anonymous]

Anything but the late Ambrose is a good read, his WW2 stuff is some of the best on the subject.

[Jetrock]

It's still around, and not too hard to find--Moguls and Iron Men is considered very good on the facts but a bit of a ponderous read.

[randybc2003]

A good book I read more than a few years ago:
Moguls & Iron Men.
The lesson I came away with ?? - Chicanery in high places is nothing new!!
Saw it in the bookstore once, and regret I didn't get it. [sigh]

[Jetrock]

I have been told that Ambrose's book is an easy read but factually incorrect in several respects by folks whose opinions about the history of the Pacific railroad that I greatly respect (historians at the California State Railroad Museum.)

A couple of other good books on the subject are George Kraus' <i>High Road to Promontory</i> and <i>The First Transcontinental Railroad: Central Pacific, Union Pacific</i> by John Debo Galloway.

Kraus' book is pretty much the high point in terms of really good research combined with somewhat dated but very readable prose. Galloway's book is more technical, as he was an engineer and focused on many of the more prosaic aspects of how the route was decided upon and physically constructed. In some ways Galloway provides lots of interesting ideas for the model railroader.

I read the Galloway book while riding back from Chicago last summer on Amtrak--coincidentally, we were rerouted through Wyoming instead of Colorado, which allowed me to take a look at the territory where the UP ran their original line through Wyoming. It also allowed me to navigate where we were, since Galloway's book had a map and the regular California Zephyr schedule no longer applied...

[knewsom]

On my recent vacation I began reading Nothing Like It In The WorldThe Men Who Built The Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869 by Stephen Ambrose. Anyone who is interested in how they built railroads in the 1800's will find it very interesting. There may even be a few ideas for modelling industries in that timeframe. I have not finished but I have thoroughly enjoyed it so far and have learned quite a bit.

Knewsom