Kudos to the University of Minnesota Press which has re-published books of interest to railfans like The Duluth Mssabe and Iron Range Railway by Frank A.King and the Hiawatha Story by Jim Scribbins in soft cover among others.
The Nickel Plate Story by John Rehor was one of the best Christmas presents I ever received. Fantastic reading on Christmas morning. It is a minimum essential to any railfan library.
I feel that many books about railroads were labors of love. They were not written to make money; they were written to share the author's love of a particular railroad with others.
MP173 [snipped - PDN] . . . On my wish list would be a detailed look at the relationship between truckers and railroads, particularly JBH, UPS, and the LTL carriers such as YRC. One can wish. Ed
One can wish.
Ed
Piggyback and Containers: A History of Rail Intermodal on America's Steel Highway by David J. Deboer (circa 1992) - see:
http://www.goldenwestbooks.com/railcars/piggyback-and-containers/
Also Marc Levinson's The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger (2006):
http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9383.html
Brian Solomon has a similar book - Intermodal Railroading (2007):
http://www.amazon.com/Intermodal-Railroading-Brian-Solomon/dp/0760325286
There used to be a guy (5+ years ago) named Ernest Roble (sp ?) in the Southeast US who did a lot of professional photgraphy and had a decent rail-oriented website with photos. He also self-published a couple of books - one was about intermodal - but I can't find any quick info on him or them.
Finally, lets not overlook John Kneiling's Integral Train Systems (Kalmbach, 1969): http://www.abebooks.com/book-search/title/integral-train-systems/
- Paul North.
This thread lists a lot of excellent reading.
I would only add Steam to Diesel by Albert J. Churella. If you've ever seriously wondered why the Big Three of steam locomotives all eventually faltered and disappeared from the scene after diesel technology took over, look no further.
The book's out of print and a bit hard to acquire, but worth the trouble. Enjoy.
The fact that this conversation is all over the map (with dozens of excellent books, each of which the fledgling railroader should read at some point in their career) speaks volumes to the fact that there is no real ready course of study that is easy to embrace out there for the newcomer to our industry. There are great railroad courses at the University of Wisconsin Madison (I've taken one: I was already decades in the business, and it was fantastic). But how do you get started?
The day I turned 18 I went into the local Post Office to the Army recruiting office to register for the draft, and I tried to enlist. It was 1972, and they jumped hungrily out of their seats. "Great! What do you want to do?" I told them I wanted the US Army Transportation Corps Railway Operating Battallion at Ft. Eustis. I told them I wanted to learn how to run railroads, and I knew the Army knew how to do that. They had done it in the Civil War, WW I, WW II, and in Korea.
After searching, and even making a phone call, the soldier came back and sheepishly told me that he was sorry, but that the ROB had recently been deactivated. The Army no longer felt that it had to train its people to be able to take over and run railroads as part of its mission. It was a world of aircraft and trucks for the military now. "So: what else do you want to do?" he asked. "Quartermaster Corp? Become a loadmaster?" He figured he had his quota for the day if he got me.
I shook my head. "If there's no more Railway Operating Batallion, I'm not interested." I left him standing there, and got a job just days later (upon graduation from high school) on a Colorado & Southern extra tie gang, where I learned the basics about track.
My youthful theory was that actual experience was worth as much as books when it came to operations. But as I got older, the written experiences of others in the field become required reading. You finally learn as you go along how much you don't know, and you try to learn as much as you can from the other guy.
Having said that, the one book I would add to the list is "The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, a Industry, and Invention" by William Rosen Random House, 2010). If you gave not read it, find it, and begin the adventure. It will change the way you look at locomotives - at inventions - forever. It builds to a climax at the Springhill Trials. You'll be cheering For the "Rocket".
The other book list of course is the list that you should always have for your little grandson. Mine is 15 months old. Evan just took his first steam train ride, a "Santa Train" on the Mt. Rainier Scenic Railway. He was fascinated, and the ground is fertile in the toddler's mind, so here goes:
The Little Engine That Could
The Little Red Caboose
Anything about Thomas the a Tank Engine
When he gets a little older: The Great Locomotive Chase
The Phantom Brakeman and Other Stories
The Railway Children
And remember all of the wonderful children's picture books that there used to be out there in the 50s and 60s about railroads and trains?
Anyone want to share their favorite books for the rest of us?
Merry Christmas, everybody. Keep it on the rails.
Steve Hites
A Treasury of Railroad Folklore: The Stories, Tall Tales, Traditions, Ballads and Songs of the American Railroad Man. by Botkin and Harlow (1953):
http://www.amazon.com/Treasury-Railroad-Folklore-B-Botkin/dp/1199398802
The Story of American Railroads, by Stuart H. Holbrook:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1051831.The_Story_of_American_Railroads
Open Throttle: Stories of Railroads and Railroad Men (1966), Phyllis R. Fenner, Editor - a great collection of 10 fiction stories, including one of the best by the dean of railroad fiction writers, Harry C. Bedwell - "Smart Boomer", featuring his legendary character, telegrapher/ station operator Eddie Sand. My personal favorite is the one about a runaway on a mountain railroad [EDITED TO ADD:] - "Imperial Pass" by Bedwell, which does not include Eddie Sand - see:
https://openlibrary.org/works/OL9338299W/Open_Throttle [END EDIT]
http://www.abebooks.com/Open-Throttle-Stories-Railroads-Railroad-Men/5425906490/bd
I still have two of the original landscape format Awdry "Railway Series" books, including "Thomas the Tank Engine" which was number 3 in the series.
These original books are correct representations of then current railway operation in the UK, written in a manner that a child could understand. Written by an Anglican minister the stories always have a moral message, although a bit dated today.
I'm a university trained mechanical engineer and a locomotive enthusiast and one book that stands out is the tiny pocket sized "The Observer's Book of Locomotives of Great Britain" by H.C. Casserley. Unlike the earlier Ian Allan "locospotter's" books, this illustrated each class and gave a brief historical description of each type.
For anyone interested in USA steam locomotives, "Iron Horses of the Santa Fe Trail" by E.D. Worley is one of the best, describing locomotives from the earliest 4-4-0s to the GP35. It has some errors but is an amazing job.
Stauffer's series on the locomotives of the big Eastern roads are really good. "Pennsy Power" was the first, I think.
During the 1930s, the Victorian Railways (in Australia) were progressively rebuilding their passenger 4-6-0 locomotives. These locomotives which had been class A2 were reclassified as class A1 (a class not previously used) to indicate a "saturated" (non-superheater) locomotive. However somebody in authority felt that the saturated locomotives should be always numbered below the superheated locomotives, within the limits of the allocated number block of 800 to 940. Fortunately the numbers were on cast iron plates held by two bolts but even so, locomotive numbers were shuffled like playing cards. I think five different identical locomotives carried the number 805 in about a five year period.
So Chris Banger's "Locomotive Numbers of the Victorian Railways" is a really valuable book.
As an author of four books myself, I think they are all really good. However, the most significant was "Locomotives in China" published in 1984. this was a remarkable book for the period and had relatively few errors given the information at the time.
My current book "An Australian Locomotive Guide" has sold out its second printing but a revised edition should be out in mid 2015.
Peter Clark
See also these lists of railroad stories/ books:
http://home.mindspring.com/~railroadstories/scrapbook/anthologies.htm
http://home.mindspring.com/~railroadstories/scrapbook/rrblist/index.htm
For all railroaders: "Train Wrecks" by Robert Reed. Enough said.
Locomotives in Profile, Vols 1 and 2, by Brian Reed, circa 1970 - mostly English, but some American* and other nation's railway equipment (Darjeeling Tanks in Vol. 2 !):
http://www.abebooks.com/Locomotives-Profile-Volume-1-REED-BRIAN/1298934297/bd
http://www.amazon.com/Locomotives-Profile-Vols-books-Brian/dp/B000LA12LA
*Vol. 1: NYC Hudsons, American Type 4-4-0, The Mallets, Camels and Camelbacks, and Norris Locomotives;
Vol. 2: Pennsylvania Pacifics, Union Pacific 4-12-2s, The American 4-8-4, and Pennsylvania Duplexii (!).
As I'm sure I mentioned on the other thread, my interests are the personal accounts of working on the railroad. At a minimum I'd add the following:
Brownie the Boomer - Charles Brown - First person account of working as a boomeer between 1900 and 1913. Book has been annotated by Roger Grant - Northern Illinois Press
30 Years Over Donner - Bill Fisher - account of working as an SP signal maintainer
Little Engines and Big Men - Gilbert Lathrop - first person accounts of working on the Colorado narrow gauge railroads.
Railroadman - Chauncy Del French - biography of his fathers working as a boomer in the early part of the 20th Century.
Working on the Western Maryland Railroad - Wes Morgenstern - a collection of employee interviews.
We Took the Train - Roger Grant - first person accounts from the passenger point of view.
"Men of Erie" a story of Human Effort.
http://www.worldcat.org/title/men-of-erie-a-story-of-human-effort/oclc/500324
Anything by Jim Shaugnessy The Rutland Road
'The Great Road' by James D. Dilts
Exhaustive details on the first 25 years of building the B&O from Baltimore to Wheeling on the Ohio River. Highlights how railroads and politics can never be separated from each other.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Thee are any number of interesting books in this Thread for lots of reading on long cold nights and anytime.
One think that I have learned about, and have used with some frequency. Ed (MP173) has mentioned his local library and using their" Interlibrary Loan Program"
It is an often overlookd resource and great way to get books at your local library. Ask your Librarians how to access didtant books in other loations. Even if your own library has a small collection, they can order, and have books that can be checked out available on a timely basis. Here in Kansas a trip to the Kansas Historical Society Library and Museum can allow access to all kinds of information. My search was done in conjunction withinterest in the history of the Katy RR (nee: Union Parcific-Southern Branch) and the Leavenworth,Lawrence, and Gulf, and the Border Tier RR.
Some of these are of regional interest and would not appeal to everybody. I suspect there is no one list that would universally be accepted. In that spirit, I offer the following:
Lucius Beebe and Charles Clegg, the choices are all subjective. My personal favorite is Mixed Train Daily Others may have a different preference; but every railfan library needs at least a couple Beebe books.
Mike Bezilla and Jack Rudnicki, Rails to Penn State, Stackpole Books, 2007. History of the Bellefonte Central Railroad in Pennsylvania.
Walter Casler, Benjamin F. G. Kline, and Thomas T. Taber III, The Logging Railroad Era of Lumbering in Pennsylvania, (13 softbound books plus addenda/errata, sometimes available as a hardbound 3-volume set), self-published ca. 1970-78.
Mallory Hope Ferrell, Silver San Juan, the Rio Grande Southern, Pruett Press, 1973. All of Ferrell's books are worthy of consideration.
Thomas H. Garver, photos by O. Winston Link, The Last Steam Railroad in America, Harry N. Abrams Inc., 1995. Every collection needs at least one coffee table book of O. Winston Link photos.
John G. Hartzler, The Ol' Hook & Eye, A History of the Kishacoquillas Valley Railroad, self-published, 1988. An excellent explanation of the social & economic factors that affected the fate of a rural shortline.
Herbert H. Harwood, Jr., Impossible Challenge, Barnard Roberts & Company, 1979 (and subsequent revised editions). The building of the B&O.
George W. Hilton, American Narrow Gauge Railroads, Stanford University Press, 1990.
George W. Hilton, The Ma & Pa, Howell-North Books, 1966.
Eric Hirsimaki, Black Gold - Black Diamonds, Vol. I and II, Mileposts Publishing 1997 and 2000. Conversion of the PRR from steam to diesel power.
Michael Koch, Shay, Titan of the Timber, World Press, 1971. History of the Shay locomotive.
Michael Koch, Steam & Thunder in the Timber, World Press, 1979. Forest railroads.
David Morgan and Philip Hastings, The Mohawk That Refused To Abdicate, and Other Tales, 1975, Kalmbach.
David Morgan, Confessons of a Train Watcher, 1997, Kalmbach.
John W. Orr, Set Up Running, The Life of a Pennsylvania Railroad Engineman 1904 - 1949, The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2001.
Richard E. Prince, any of his self-published books on various railroads of the Southeastern U. S.
Portrait of a Silver Lady (author & publisher unknown to me. I don't have the book but wish I did) --- Story of the California Zephyr.
There are many additional fine works that I have not included.
Tom
Paul_D_North_Jr A Treasury of Railroad Folklore: The Stories, Tall Tales, Traditions, Ballads and Songs of the American Railroad Man. by Botkin and Harlow (1953): http://www.amazon.com/Treasury-Railroad-Folklore-B-Botkin/dp/1199398802 The Story of American Railroads, by Stuart H. Holbrook: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1051831.The_Story_of_American_Railroads Open Throttle: Stories of Railroads and Railroad Men (1966), Phyllis R. Fenner, Editor - a great collection of 10 fiction stories, including one of the best by the dean of railroad fiction writers, Harry C. Bedwell - "Smart Boomer", featuring his legendary character, telegrapher/ station operator Eddie Sand. My personal favorite is the one about a runaway on a mountain railroad [EDITED TO ADD:] - "Imperial Pass" by Bedwell, which does not include Eddie Sand - see: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL9338299W/Open_Throttle [END EDIT] http://www.abebooks.com/Open-Throttle-Stories-Railroads-Railroad-Men/5425906490/bd - Paul North.
My introduction to railroad reading came when an uncle gave me The Modern Wonder Book of Trains and Railroading, by Norman Carlisle, published by John C. Winston in 1946, as a Christmas present in either 1946 or 1947. Among other things, it tells of the development of the automatic coupler and the air brake. There have been improvement in both since the book was published, but the basics remain the same. There is an error on page 89; there is a picture of a GN train emerging the old Cascades tunnel, with the two-wire catenary--and the caption tells us that the train is finishing "...the eight-mile run through Cascade Tunnel." I certainly did not catch the error the for several years.
Johnny
tree68Along the line of general/historical knowledge, though was a popular thread from a few years ago. A young lady named Nora started it. It ran for quite a while and was quite popular.
I was going to dispute the "young lady" part of your quote. But I guess I kind of was, back then! That thread would be, I think, eleven or more years old now. And I'm turning 40 this year...
I'm 61 Nora, so to me you're a young lady.
40 is the new 20, or so they say...
Turning 40 isn't that bad, but I would advise against doing it again.
"Keeping the Railroad Running, Fifty Years on the New York Central" by Karl A. Borntrager. This was written in 1974. I picked it up yesterday at the library thru the Interlibrary Loan program.
I havent started it yet, but the author's career covered quite a era, from the 20's thru the Penn Central merger (he ended up Sr. VP with NYC). It should be a great read.
As I mentioned earlier, the ILL program thru your library opens up the world of books, many out of print, as long as the books are on a library shelf. This came from the Indiana University Library and there was no charge.
Nora tree68 Along the line of general/historical knowledge, though was a popular thread from a few years ago. A young lady named Nora started it. It ran for quite a while and was quite popular. I was going to dispute the "young lady" part of your quote. But I guess I kind of was, back then! That thread would be, I think, eleven or more years old now. And I'm turning 40 this year...
tree68 Along the line of general/historical knowledge, though was a popular thread from a few years ago. A young lady named Nora started it. It ran for quite a while and was quite popular.
Nora:
It is good to see you sill around here...always enjoyed your posts. Too many other 'regulars' seem to have gone elsewhere.
As to the '40' ... It just gets better and better ! My b'day is the day the Allies invaded Sicily....
CSSHEGEWISCH Turning 40 isn't that bad, but I would advise against doing it again.
"+1" to Sam's welcome back to Nora.
I would recommend books by George Abdill ("This was Railroading" is one example). They are primarily illustrations with detailed, inciteful captions, written by a man with a great deal of firsthand steam railroading knowledge. Also, Linwood Moody's " The Maine Two Footers" is a wonderful book, written in a very readable style. Both authors managed to engage my short attention span and kept me on board with pretty pictures!
Another classic is Railroads in the Woods by Goe. Its a comprehensive look at logging in the Pacific northwest.
I recommend the following:
Noel T. Holley, The Milwaukee Electrics - a great history of technology case study of the Milwaukee Road's electric locomotives and electrification
Janet Greenstein Potter, Great American Railroad Stations - Although not complete, this book lists historic railroad stations in every state in the country with briedf descriptions including the architects, railroad, nearby related structures and use as of 1996. Anyone interested in railroad stations should have this book as a reference. I hope Ms. Greenstein Potter updates the book.
John R. Stilgoe, Metropolitan Corridor, Railroads and the American Scene - Discsusses the relationship of railroads to cities, suburbs and rural communities.
Bruce MacGregor & Red Benson, Portrait of a Silver Lady, The Train They Called the California Zephyr - Excellent history of the California Zephyr illustrated with many fine black-and-white photos with good coverage of the men and women who worked on this train.
Jim Scribbins, The Hiawatha Story - One of the best books on any American passenger train.
Robert W. Richardson's Narrow Gauge News (Colorado Rail Annual #21) - Compilation of the Narrow Gauge Newsletter produced by Robert Richardson chronicling the final years of Colorado's extensive network of narrow gauge lines.
John Signor's books about the various Southern Pacific divisions. In particular, I like his books on the Coast Line, Western Division and Donner Pass route.
I saw someone mention Rails to Penn State, but I'd like to recommend it again. Its title makes it sound like its a little local history thing. In a sense it is, but it also does a great job of painting a great picture of a shortline doing battle with the mighty PRR and all the trials of being at the mercy of a titan, pulled and strung along with rumored mergers, and being the lifeline for a town.
Anyone looking for out-of-print railbooks, or new ones for that matter, should give this young man a try...
www.Rails-N-Shafts.com
I see him at the train shows and have gotten some good stuff from him. Stuff I didn't KNOW I needed until I saw it, but you know how that goes.
Glad to see that Rails-N-Shafts is back in some form. We lost a great resource when the former proprietor, Paul Kuehner, died a few years back.
A couple more books:
Integral Train Systems by John G. Kneiling, Kalmbach Publishing Co., 1969: http://www.abebooks.com/book-search/title/integral-train-systems/
A really good one, written around the PRR's stumbling adoption of electric locomotive technology that finally led to the GG1:
Electric Traction on the Pennsylvania Railroad - 1895–1968, by Michael Bezilla, Penn State University Press, copyright 1980:
http://www.psupress.org/books/titles/0-271-00241-7.html
Went to a train show in Fredericksburg Virginia today and managed to score two on the list, "The Mohawk Refused To Abdicate" and Hungerford's "Men Of Erie."
Got 'em from that nice young man from "Rails n' Shafts", by the way.
He had a lot more goodies as well, but I can't be greedy now, can I?
The stuff IS out there!
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