Book Nuts

[MP173]

A couple of books I have read which were historical and informative:

Merging Lines by Richard Saunders. This is a two volume book about the mergers in the railroad industry. Volume one covers from 1900 to the Penn Central (1970) and then Volume two covers from 1970 to today. It is well written and gives a great overview of where we are today in the industry. I never purchased either...read both thru the library, but the more I think about it, I should add them to my collection for these deep historical discussions on the Milwaukee Road, CNW, and others.

Fred Frailey (the best current railroad reporter?) wrote an excellent book on the Blue Streak Merchandise, the Southern Pacific train between East St. Louis and LA (with variations running from Memphis and also to other markets). This book traces the beginnings of the train (I believe as a East St. Louis to Dallas LCL train) and covers the growth of the train, including other sections.

Two very interesting trends are followed...the shifting of the freight carried by the train over the years and the obsession SP had for running this train, to the point one could argue that it became counterproductive to the overall financial picture.

This is a great historical look at the changes railroads have made over the past 50 years on a micro basis (one train). One also looks at new proposals by UPS to run hot trains with a wary eye after reading this book. The damage done to other schedules is something that must be considered.

ed

[tree68]

Most of my limited RR book collection is "coffee table" books picked up on sale at the bookstore. The exceptions are a couple of local interest books, related to RRs in my immediate area.

[Anonymous]

Here is a cut and paste of what I asked Murph:

What I am trying to find, new or used, is some books that cover the diesel locomotives used between 1950-1970.
It is the fifties locos that probably were written about once but not for quite some time.
There is a Encyclopedia of Railroad Locomotive 1960 edition, or something like that, that the library has here, and I was too stupid to pickup at a antique store fifteen years ago, that gives a good rundown of the era of the end of steam and the beginning of Diesel, but I have never seen one for sale again.
Books such as that, would be my preference, as to buy singular locals books will add up to, I have already done some checking, to hundreds of dollars, so a general, but era specific book, is what I prefer.

It is hard to describe as there are books out now, some I have, but they all cover the well known locomotives both steam and diesel ,from that era, and really ignore many of the import-export locomotives that were specific to a region or country, or anglo builders.

I have found, out-of-print, books, usually on steam, at antique shop and some neighborhood hobby shop, but the best usually seem to go out of business.
Where do some of you gents, find the hard get, or locate books, especially at not-scalping prices.

Has anyone ever done a all EE, Vickers Armstrong, or all Alsthom locomotive book, such a work would have all the early info available, I would imagine.
Bob

[Murphy Siding]

Answer to a question that hasn't been asked (here) yet: RPRiebe asked where to find some books about first generation diesel locomotives, other than American,British,French and German units; which are covered in most books. Of particular interest were foreign built hood units. He also asked about good places to look for information and books on the subject.

My answer:

Books- I found 3 books in my collection that may be of interest.

Ultimate Train, by Peter Herning,ISBN # 0 7894 4610 3 This 10-12 pages about foreign diesels.

The New Illustrated Encyclopedia Railways, edited by Robert Tufnell, ISBN #0 7858 1105 2. This is a book about locomoties from around the world, having entries and pictures of loco's from about 15 different countries.

The Complete Book of Locomotives, by Colin Garratt, ISBN #84038 487 5. This book has a chapter about diesel locomotives from around the world.

Where to find books:

Online: Barnes&Noble and Amazon both have sections for used books. Alibris is another good one. Poke around, and you'll find that most small bookstores are online.

Interlibrary loan: Take the ISBN # of any book you might have interest in to your local library. They will search for the book-probably nationwide,if neccessary. Librarians live for that kind of challenge. Browse the card catalog at teh Minnesota Library, and most Minesota Colleges-lots of good stuff there!

Ask on a message board![:)]

Good luck!


note that I didn't proofread for typo's-[|)]

[Murphy Siding]

Over on the British Railways thread, a new member-RPRiebe, posted a few questions about finding books on a particular railroad subject. I happen to be a book nut, having about 120 railroad books, and perhaps 650 books overall. I'm always looking for good railroad books to read and purchase. An earlier thread about railroading reading resulted in me purchasing another dozen or so books.Would some of you be willing to expound on some of the railroad books you own or have read? Everybody's different, but what I like is to have someone give a rough idea what a book is about-that gives me an idea of whether it's worth trying to find. Any other book nuts out there?

Thanks