I don’t have high hopes, but I was planning on heading to the public library today. I’ve been searching on line and at Amazon and I have been drawing a blank.
I need to educate myself on two subjects: Trains in the late 19th century and the PRR mid 20th Century. (Hard to think that the 20th centruy is gone.)
Any good books out there?
Chip,
It’s too bad you don’t live closer to Cleveland. There’s a great LHS that I go to that has, literally, one ENTIRE side of the store devoted to reference material - i.e. magazines, books, etc. You would lose your mind! I was able to locate a book there (by Morning Sun) that contained several color pics of the old NYC dark green/light green color scheme I was looking for. I actually thought about getting it until I saw the $60 price tag. (Ouch!)
(I can see them in the LHS book rack, in my mind.) There is a series of books out on the PRR that would probably fit the bill but I can’t remember who the publisher is. PRR is pretty popular so I would imagine that someone is going to chime in soon and give you a good lead.
Tom
SpaceMouse, try Historical Rail. Their website is http:\www.historicalrail.com
Thanks. Added it to my favorites.
Try as hard as you can to find a copy of Pennsy Power, 1900-1957 by Al Staufer, copyright 1962, Lib of Cong. 62-20878. It is one of the definitive volumes on the PRR of that time, covering steam and electric. I’m sure you’ll use it over and over.
http://search.ebay.com/pennsy-power_W0QQfkrZ1QQfromZR8
There’s a couple on e-bay.
Best of Luck,
smyers
Ask the reference librarian. They love this sort of challenge and can find you almost anything in print through inter-library-loan - that is, if you just want to read it and not own it.
A good read is “Last Train to Paradise” About FEC and Henry Flagler, an astonishing feat of Florida Keys Railroad, enjoy.
“Logging the Redwoods” by Lynwood Carranco and John T Labbe: invaluable for Northcoast logging information, with lots of photos.
“Workin’ on the Railroad” by Richard Reinhart is a classic–it is a collection of true stories of various railroad employees–brakemen, conductors, station agents, track gangs, maintenance crewmen, engineers, firemen, shop foremen, and every other conceivable 19th Century railroad employment. There are a few illustrations but mostly it is a great way to learn about what working on the railroad was really like.
If you are interested in Passenger trains from the 1880s until early Amtrak, “Some Classic Trains” and “More Classic Trains” by Arthur D Dubin, both originally published by Kalmbach are not to be overlooked. These have the best collection of photos of trains and individual cars covering the whole of the USA that can be imagined in books of reasonable size. These should be on E-bay or Amazon.
(My copies are within reach right now!)
Peter