Recomended Reading

Trains Magazine General Discussion
1

I thought that it would be great to have a thread where everyone could give a brief description/review of train books that they like. So give the title and author of the book( and the publisher if you know it ) and write a short review of the book.
Here is a book that I would recomend.

Under Milwuakee Wires
By Bill Marvel
Morning Sun Books Inc.

This is a great photographic overview of the Rocky Mountain and Coast divisions of the Milwaukee Road. It has maps of both divisions and pictures from all the towns along the routes in each division.Includes pictures of multiple different types of electric locomotives. All pictures are in color. It does not include pictures from the Idaho division.

Happy Reading

2

I really enjoyed “The Milwaukee Road” by Fred Hyde and “The Milwaukee Electrics” by Noel Holley, both published by Hundman. I am looking forward to their BC Rail book. I would like to read “Merging Lines” by Richard Saunders.

3

I don’t know if you can even still get it, but I must have looked through Don Ball Jr.'s “America’s Railroad” 100 times when I was a kid. I use to imagine what it would be like getting to see all those different places in person. It’s odd, but as you get older, sometimes you realize the imagining was more fun then the real thing. Not that getting to see it in person is bad, but lots of times it’s not the same as you imagined as a kid.

Dave
-DPD Productions - Featuring the NEW TrainTenna LP Gain RR Scanner Antenna-
http://eje.railfan.net/dpdp/

4

Dave,

I agree about Don Ball, Jr. I absolutely enjoy every book I’ve ever read of his, and the pictures are absolutely amazing, both for their technical prowess, as well as the HUGE variety of stuff they represent. If you’ve never sat down and read a Don Ball, Jr. book, you owe it to yourself to do so.

5

“The History of North American Rail” by Christopher Chant is really good. The book talks about the beginnings of railroads in North America all the way to the current railroads. It also talks a lot about steam engines and more modern diesels and has good photos. I really enjoyed it a lot.

6

I liked “The History of North American Rail” also. It is a big book and there is a lot of info packed into it. Also it has info on a variety of different types of railroading instead of just one narrow topic like most train books.

7

I, too, really enjoy all of Don Ball’s books - bought all of 'em. A great loss when he died, and much too young, too.

One of my all-time favorite books is Dave Styffe and Ted Benson’s masterpiece published in 1979:

“Wheels Rolling West: A Photographic Salon of Western Railroading”

Ted’s prose about the SP 4449 - yes, she is well-represented in that great book - is amazing. You can find it here (and other places):

http://altamontpress.com/catalog/wheelsrollingwest.html

I ancountered a fascinating, well-written book, published back in 1954:

“Locomotives in Our Lives: Railroad Experiences of Three Brothers for More Than Sixty Years, 1890-1951”

by A Sheldon Pennoyer.

He and his two brothers were what we would call railfans, although they never called themselves that. They were born to a well-to-do family in Oakland, CA, so they had the means to indulge their hobby. Pennoyer is very humorous in places (he and his brothers constructed several small-gauge “gravity railroads” on their property - read about that!). This book may be obscure, but gives a picture of life gone by. Really a very fascinating book. You can find it - used - on a number of places on the web

For rosters, and other important info, I used to use all of Joseph Strapac’s “Southern Pacific Review” books. Great info - for people who need all that fascinating technical info.

And there are countless “coffee-table” books, with excellent photos, and good articles. I love all of 'em, and do not have any particular favorites.

To find copies of out-of-print books, go to:

http://www.abebooks.com

http://www.alibris.com

http://www.amazon.com

http://www.ebay.com

Margaret (SP fan)
a real bibliophile! [:)]

8

For anybody who wants to be an engineer or conductor, I would suggest reading anything by Doug Riddell. He has written numerous magazine colums and one book; From the Cab. His book tells it like it is.

CC

9

Here are a few more

Vanishing Markers (Boston and Maine)
Run of the Twentieth Century (Written back in the day but a wonderfully evocative piece of work).
High Green and the Bark Peelers (Another B&M book)
In the Traces (Ted Rose watercolor paintings - excellent)
Decade of the Trains - 1940s
The Iron Horse at War - Outstanding photography
Steam, Steel and Limiteds - Glory days of the passenger train
The Late, Great, Pennsylvania Station - Enough to make you weep!
Baldwin Locomtoive Works
Lima - A History

I’m interested in seeing what others can add to the thread.

work safe

10

If you are interested in fiction about coming of age as a railfan/model railroader suggest you take a look at Stations: An Imagined Journey by Michael Flanagan (ISBN 0-679-43547-6)

11

I agree that Dan Ball’s Decade of the Trains - 1940s is wonderful, both text and pictures.

I’ve always loved Lucius Beebe’s The Trains We Rode (Vols. 1 & 2), published in 1965 (or so) by Howell North books. Wonderful interior and exterior shots of just about every named train, mostly pre-streamliner, from about 1920 to 1950. And Beebe’s eccentric writing. After a while, you notice that a photo of a guy drinking a highball in the exact same lounge car shows up as variously representing the Rock Island’s Golden State, the Southern Pacific’s Shasta, the Northern Pacific’s North Coast Limited and I forget what else. Beebe wasn’t careful, but it was fun. I still pull them out and thumb through them, even though I can recite it pretty much by heart.

12

DPD1 : You need to find a copy of Don Ball Jr.'s “America’s Colorful Railroads” . It is just like “America’s Railroad”, but published a couple years earlier. One of my favorite railroad writers is Brian Solomon. Find copies on the internet ( rather inexpencively , I might add), of all 3 volumes of Classic American Railroads and you’ll be in railfan heaven.

13

I was lucky enough to find a copy of "America’s Colorful Railroads " at a local library book sale for $1. The people selling it obviusly didn’t know how rare of a book it was. It is a great book and I would definitly recomend it even if it costs you $20 or $30, it is well worth it.

14

Lucius Beebe also authored “HIghball,” a similarly potent and potable book about the luxe trains with great sepia-and-white photography and the Master’s prose, which is interesting though definitely “eccentric,” as the man said…

15

I actually have ACR too, which is indeed, just as good. I need to find the others though. That’s one of those “oh yeah, gotta do that” things. It’s true though, it’s a shame he’s gone. His books were usually carried in the general book type stores the most, so I can only imagine how many kids he turned onto the hobby.

Dave
-DPD Productions - Featuring the NEW TrainTenna LP Gain RR Scanner Antenna-
http://eje.railfan.net/dpdp/

16

Eccentric isn’t the word for Beebe’s prose. I learned long ago that the only thing of value in his books is the pictures (but they’re generally worth the price of the book by themselves). The all time classic “fictional caption” is one in Vol. II of “The Trains We Rode”. It shows an SP Mountain w/ skyline casing and “99” in the train indicator and, according to Beebe shows the pre-streamlined Daylight at some location in the Bay Area (I forget just where). The problem(s) is/are the first skyline casings were on the original Daylight engines, the cars all have AC bubbles on the roofs and are Pullmans (the Dalight was always a coach train), the baggage car mid-train identifies it as a troop, train, and the big “Southern Pacific” on the tender instead of a small “Southern Pacific Lines” dates it as post-June 1946 and it’s about to cross Devonshire Blvd in Chatsworth. It’s a Korean War troop train heading for Camp Cook north of San Luis Obispo running as second (or third or fourth) 99 and all of this is stuff that somebody as knowledgable as Beebe should have known… He just never let facts get in the way of his imaginative (or imaginary) prose.

17

I’m away from home rite now (in Phiilly, Pa.) so can’ tt give you
correct names & authors of my popular books, but I agree with
remarks about L.Beebe’s “The Trains We Rode” I have most of
his books ioncluding Lucius Beebe /Charles Clegg autographed
edition of “Cablecar Carnival” (San Francisco’s cablecars).

II also enjoy all of Brian Solomon’s books and will be buying
one of his latest books this week “Amtrak” He wrote a book
on RR Maintenance & I don’t know why he didn’t have a section
on Electrical lines Catenary & third rail maintenance eqpt…
Are there any books out there showing & describing such eqpt. ?

Getting back to Lucius Beebe - What ever happened to his
private rail car ?

18

It is available for rent/special trips. See http://www.vcrail.com/

19

My two favorites are:
George Hilton’s book, “The Ma & Pa - A History of the Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad” currently in softcover available from http://www.maparailroadhist.org/
This is about a shortline that ran from Baltimore MD to York Pa from 1901 until 1958 when the Maryland part was abandoned. It’s a very readable book and has quite a few pictures, some drawings.

“Interurban Interlude” by Cdr E.J.Quinby out of print. This book is about a short interurban line that ran through northern New Jersey. It’s part history and part the personal experiences of the author who worked on the line off and on for most of it’s short life. The book is also very readable.

I have read both of these books several tiimes.

Enjoy
Paul

20

One of my favorites is Fred Fraily’s book on the Blue Streak. It is a must have for any SP fan.

Another is the 2 volume book on the railroads of Nevada and eastern California by David Myrick.