A comment in an earlier thread by I believe John Moore referenced the book White Cascade. It got me thinking about other good reading for train guys. (FYI, I agreed that White Cascade was a very interesting story.) So here are a couple of my suggestions: Nothing Like it In The World, Stephen Ambrose; Playing With Trains, Sam Posey; Once Upon a Town, Bob Greene; and Common Carriers, John McPhee. We do not spend all out time at the workbench/layout. Any other good reads you would recommend? Dave G Cache Valley & Northern RR
The Life and Times of a Locomotive Engineer by Charles Steffes while is about the Southern Pacific Railroad, it is about being an engineer of a locomotive. South Pacific Coast by Bruce MacGregor (the first book, not the other books from the series) is a hard to find book about a narrow gauge railroad in the SF bay area, but it tells the STORIES of the railroad, not the nuts and bolts data. A very pleasurable and funny read (IMHO).
Trains in Transition - by, um, I'll have to check. It is a hard cover book handed down by my grandfather written during and about the transition era. 101 Track Plans by Lynn Wescott
Trains In Transition was authored by Lucius Beebe. I'm glad I checked, I would have been wrong with my guess... Beebe also wrote other books on railroading. According to his Wikipedia page he had many interests, not just railroads. I'm a fan of Merging Lines and Main Lines, two scholarly books by Richard Saunders Jr. about the prototype in the 20th Century. They are fascinating reading. Available at some larger libraries and probably through interlibrary loan. And the usual places for purchase. They're from Northern Illinois University Press.
Call the Big Hook - Samuel A. Dougherty A collection of actual events the author witnessed, and/or helped pick up after, during his 38 years on the DRGW.
To add to the list are the series of books by Charles B. Abdill that can have some interesting narratives in them as well as a collection of the early steam era photos.
The Modoc: Southern Pacific's Backdoor to Oregon, by Jack Bowden. My future SP layout will be on the Modoc.
Thanks! Now, why didn't I think of that. I Googled it. Trains in Transition - was published in 1941. My grandfather likely bought it new. I had a large blue book about trains from that era but I fear I lost it in one of my moves. sigh. Anyone have a guess as to the name and availability?
Here's my bookshelf: - Alco Locomotives (Solomon) - Canadian National Facilities In Color Vol 1 (Holland) - Canadian National Facilities In Color Vol 2 (Holland) - Canadian National Railways Diesel Locomotives Vol 1 (Holland-Goslett) - Canadian National Railways Diesel Locomotives Vol 2 (Holland-Goslett-Courtney) - Canadian Trackside Guide (Bytown Railway Society) - Classic Locomotives (Solomon) - Colorado's Mountain Railroads Vol 1 (Lemassena) - Colorado's Mountain Railroads Vol 2 (Lemassena) - Contemporary Diesel Spotter's Guide (Marre) - Diesel Locomotive Rosters 1986 (McDonald) - Diesel Spotter's Guide (Pinkepank) - Second Diesel Spotter's Guide (Pinkepank) - Electro-Motive E-Units and F-Units (Solomon) - Encyclopedia of North American Railroads (¤¤¤¤¤) - Fairbanks-Morse Locomotives In Color (Boyd) - Illustrated Encyclopedia of North American Locomotives (Hollingsworth) - Illustrated Treasury of the American Locomotive Company (Kerr) - Illustrated Treasury of the Montreal Locomotive Works (Kerr) - Locomotives - The Modern Diesel and Electric Reference (McDonnell) - Model Railroader Cyclopedia Volume 2 (Hayden) - Portrait of the Rails (Ball) - Rail Power (Barry) - Rails Across Canada (Murray) - Railway Equipment Register - January 1930 - Railways Then And Now (Nock) - The Canadian National Railways Story (Dorin) - The Collector's Book of the Locomotive (Alexander) - The Concise Encyclopedia of World Railway Locomotives (Ransome-Wallis) - The History of the Canadian National (MacKenzie) - The Locomotives That Baldwin Built (Werting) - Trains - The Early Years (Konemann) - Vintage Diesel Power (Solomon) I may have missed a couple...
Recently finished "Boomer:Railroad Memoirs" by Linda Grant, an insight of a woman brakeman on the SP, her life & loves, addictions, and adventures working as a boomer employee from El Paso to California. I just ordered "When Oklahoma Took the Trolley" from Amazon, which should arrive in a week or two. Got it am my favorite price (cheap), and it's a used book in very good condition. Not many folks know that there were trolley and interurban systems in Oklahoma (at least two in the Tulsa area, the Sand Springs and Tulsa-Sapulpa Union, still exist as diesel-powered shortlines), so it should be good reading. Plus, it has info on the Northeast Oklahoma Railway, which served the lead & zinc mines in the Tri_State era, picked up Russian decapods from Frisco, had a small fleet of Alco switchers, and later became part of the Frisco. I own a copy of Posey's book, and have read Steffe's as well. I also have a few books downloaded on my Kindle that cost me nothing, and they're all pretty interesting reads.
My newest book is "The Ann Arbor Railroad In color" by Morning Sun Books. The majority of my books deal with East Coast and Mid West railroads and the majority of them are from Morning Sun Books, but I have books from other publishers as well. I even have two paper back books on the L&HR from Carstens Publishing.
Here are the ones I own. I wish I would have kept a list of books I have gotten at the library and online. Hans
