Honestly I had a real tough time putting down, "The Wreck Of The Penn Central". I read it at work, at the coffee house, at home, between innings at baseball games, etc., etc. A fantastic book and written so a person without an MBA can understand it.
I just finished Zephyr, Tracking a Dream Across America by Henry Kisor. It is an account of a trip westbound on the California Zephyr in the mid-1990's, when it was a much more substantial train than it is now. Mr. Kisor is a close observer of his fellow travelers and the Amtrak crew as well as including some of the history of the places along the line and its construction. I found it fascinating; you want to rush to the computer and book a trip on this train.
It's been awhile since I posted in this thread. While I was on my WNY trip, though, I thought I'd bring along something related to the area I was traveling to. I brought Commodore: The Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by Edward Renehan.
It ended up being a bit of a letdown from a railfan's point of view. A very large portion of the book was devoted to Vanderbilts efforts on the water. Only a couple of chapters towards the end of the book were dedicated to his rail activities. Additionally, the book suggests that much of the rail accomplishments that are associated with Vanderbilt were actually accomplished by his son, Billy, with the Commodore merely serving as a figurehead. Because of that, they almost seem like a footnote in the book.
So from a strictly railfan's point of view, I really wouldn't recommend it. However, if you're looking for a read on colorful life (although, one that I wouldn't really say deserves a lot of admiration), it might be an interesting read.
-ChrisWest Chicago, ILChristopher May Fine Art Photography"In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration." ~Ansel Adams
Not to intentionally continue on a negative streak - but even negative reviews can be worthwhile, too - so I'll follow up on Chris' post with this commentary on:
Historical Atlas of North American Railroads, by John Westwood and Ian Wood
This book was given to me as a gift. Sadly, although an interesting concept - and with some rarely seen illustrations of, say, defense facilities during World War II - it is pretty much just a ''potboiler'' as former Smithsonian Curator of Land Transportation John H. White, Jr. referred to such books. Worse, it is filled with factual errors and goofs - the most egregious for me was labeling a full-page photo of the 4449 clearly at the Portland, Oregon station with its iconic ''TAKE THE TRAIN'' sign on the clock tower - as being in Toronto ! There are others that are almost as bad, and most of the photos we've seen before. Buy something else and better - unless you want to maybe use it as the subject of a trivia game at a party of railfans to see who can find the most errors, or something else of the sort.
If you want confirmation, just read the customer reviews at the Amazon webpage for it -
http://www.amazon.com/Historical-Atlas-North-American-Railroads/dp/0785823018#noop
Actually, the first review by ''Karsten Engelmann'' was pretty informative and suims it up pretty well, as this excerpt will demonstrate: [emphasis added - PDN]
"Now, I am not an expert at railroads or anything, but the obvious errors in this book are disturbing. If I can find so many so easily on stuff I know about, goodness, how many are there are things I DONT know about? Now, I studied geography as an udergraduate, and for my masters degree. I studied at Brigham Young University under Dr. Alan Grey - an expert on US historical geography, specifically on rail history (his dissertation was on the analysis of the route the Union Pacific took on the transcontinental route). So I did learn a thing or two both about railroads and maps."
- Paul North.
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