skorochid / MfsLine - Welcome to trains.com! [C):-)]
There are a fair number of used copies of “This Fascinating Railroad Business” currently available on Amazon. Some cheap, some not so.
Excellent book on the history of intermodal:
“The Box: How the shipping container made the world smaller and the world economy bigger” Marc Levinson.
$9.98 new or $6.40 used posted on Amazon
While visiting today in Bethlehem, Pa, I picked up a couple of books in a used bookstore…Vance’s book for $15.00 (i thought that was a great price) and a book on Mail and Express trains (dont have the author or title with me) for $40.00. Thought the second book was overpriced, but it covered an area of railroading that I dont know much about and it seemed well written and documented.
Ed
The other book purchased is “Moving Mail and Express by Rail” by Edward M. DeRouin.
Ed
Set Up Running: The Life of a Pennsylvania Railroad Engineman, 1904–1949 , by John W. Orr
Very interesting read. I tried twice to get through The Men Who Love Trains, but I keep stalling in the 3rd or 4th chapter. I’ll give it another go sometime in the future.
I enjoyed Charles Francis Adams’ “Chapters of Erie.” It is actually an essay that focuses on the Erie Railroad when controlled by Jay Gould and, to a lesser extent, Daniel Drew. It is in the public domain so you can get the whole thing on the internet if you surf around a little.
His brother, historian Henry Adams, also contributed some chapters in this highly critical work written in 1871.
Ed,
As far as wanting to find a book on the CSX consolidation, a possibility might be “They Call me Hayes”. I have not personally read the book about Hayes T Watkins but it might offer insight in to the subject. ACL/SAL Historical Society have them for sale at clearance pricing now.
Anyone out there read this book?
Jay
From the bottom of the first page - numbered as page 3 - at this website:
http://www.aclsal.org/store/catalog2012-2.pdf
See also: http://www.aclsal.org/index.htm
"BK-42
Just Call Me Hays, by Hays Watkins with Richard Bussard, 2001. 328 pp., 6x9”. Detailed memoir by former C&O/B&O, Chessie, CSX exec. Inventory clearance sale price:10.00"
For a “niche” subject (interurban railroads), the seminal work is “The Electric Interurban Railways in America:” by George Hilton and John Due. It’s not a picture book, but a serious (and very readable) economic history of the industry. It also has histories of all of the known properties.