Railroads: A History in Photographs

My husband is a model railroader and he loved all of the historical pictures and information in this book. We bought another copy for a train friend.

RAILROADS: A HISTORY IN PHOTOGRAPHS is roughly eight inches wide, six tall and one deep (ca. 400 pages, 500 photos). With its format and soft cover, it is highly "flippable" and fans of all kinds will enjoy seeing some "rare birds" among train photos like an overhead shot of the 1955-56 Aerotrain in Rock Island livery. It is not this book's duty to set up a chronological flow of history; there is some history to be gleaned on the fly but it is not particularly systematic. RAILROADS: A HISTORY does, however, use broad chapters as eras that highlight the trains' locomotives and what they're pulling, as well as contemporary infrastructure: "Steam Freight Trains," "Steam Passenger Trains," "Stations," "Diesel Freight Trains" and "Diesel Passenger Trains" are at the core of the volume. RAILROADS almost never uses black-and-white photographs but there were a few times I wish it had -- this is especially evident in the chapter "Diesel Passenger Trains," in which many of the diesel-electric locomotives of the 1940s and 1950s are shown re-painted in their "heritage" colors but relieved of their mainline duties and passenger loads, operating as today's business specials or on tourist runs. But this volume treats the dining-car and employee collectable "railroadiana" in a useful and interesting way, not as piecemeal equipment but as two-page spreads displaying, for example, such themes as old timetables, a steam locomotive engineer's tools and clothes, and from the more recent past, a specific passenger train's dining-car paraphernalia. Yet another fun feature are the two-page spreads for particularly heralded and influential locomotives: a color painting portrait of the loco (such as Union Pacific's "Centennial" diesel or Amtrak's "AEM-7" high-speeed electrics) and a few bare specs such as builder, tractive effort in foot-pounds, years manufactured and wheel arrangement. There are better books of history and more solid collections of photos out there. I for one particularly like the hardbound books of history and photos that deal with one railroad company such as PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD or CSX at a time (and by the same publisher as this one,"MBI"). But if you treat RAILROADS: A HISTORY IN PHOTOGRAPHS for what it is, you'll enjoy it. Bargains are out there in the used market for those who don't require pristine copies. - al smalling, train buff

This easy to read and view book is part of the 500 Photograph series and is worth it's value.Although the book delves into the classes of locomotives that ran in North America, we are also treated to the Passenger trains they hauled and the stations they once patronised.Set out with Pioneer Steam first, we move through the eras that were importaint in the history of railways ending with the most up to date trains we have today. A great book for all