I’m currently reading Rush Loving’s “The Men Who Loved Trains” and I’m really enjoying it. For my next read I would really like to find a similarly engaging book that focuses on railroad history in the mid-20th century. Anything in the 1930s - 1960s era, and preferably a book that covers more than just one railroad–I’d like something that focuses on the state of railroading in a region (preferably midwest or southeast) or all of the United States during that time period. I’ve done a search on Amazon but didn’t come up with much. Can anyone recommend something? Thanks!
Merging Lines, by Richard Saunders ISBN #0-87580-316-4. Also, check out this threadhttp://www.trains.com/TRC/CS/forums/591055/ShowPost.aspx
Thanks, I found that on Amazon and it looks interesting. Another book for the wishlist…
Murph makes an excellent suggestion for Saunder’s Merging Lines. He actually wrote 2 volumes which deal with the mergers of the 1900. The first volume deals with 1900 thru 1970 and the second is from 1971 to present.
I cannot think of any books that specifically deal with a region. Some suggested readings of specific railroads include:
The Rebirth of the Missouri Pacific, which covers from the 1930s thru 1980. Written by H Craig Minor, it details how one railroad became an extremely strong carrier during that era. It is worth reading. I didnt purchase the book but received it thru the local library’s interlibrary lending.
Leaders Count, The story of BNSF Railway by Lawrence Kaufman has been described by some on this forum as a puff piece which was endorsed by BNSF. I found that it was not a highly critical book, but was extremely informative. Well worth the purchase price of $15 at Borders last year (trade paperback).
I would also highly recommend Fred Frailey’s Blue Streak Merchandise. Frailey is editor of Kiplingers and is a very frequent contributor to Trains. His work is always accurate and very insightful. This book is very unique in that it provides a history of the Southern Pacific/Cotton Belt, from the 30’s thru 90’s as seen thru the “headlights” of one train…The Blue Streak Merchandise. The BSM was a very successful St. Louis to Los Angeles merchandise train which was the pride of the Southern Pacific. You will be able to trace the changes which occured in the industry, not only in the technology, but also the mergers which occured and the changes in freight patterns.
These three books will give you an excellent recent history of the industry. There are many more, but these three I can highly recommend.
If you like business books which read like a novel, read Barbarians at the Door, dealing with RJR Nabisco takeover in the 1980’s and also 24
In general I think the best books are written about RRsystems, not just regions, but I understand the merits of your approach.
[:P] One book from the Sixties is witty, fun to read and absolutely revolting to people who would rather romanticize rail from that time over reality. It’s called TO HELL IN A DAY COACH and the author’s name is Peter Lyon. In 1966 Mr. Lyon, a travel journalist, correctly sensed that the nations’s passenger railroad network was in danger of crashing; he took multiple “grand tours” across and around the U.S., including to areas that have no train service today. When possible, he traveled first-class. He is very opinionated about what roads and what trains he likes and dislikes and not all readers here will appreciate everything he says; on the no-brainers, like the Santa Fe which he adored, it’s hard to disagree. But he also has a muck-raker’s genius for finding the deliberate glitches put into the system to discourage passenger travel. The train from St. Louis to Kansas City that was deliberately scheduled to arrive in K.C. exactly ten minutes after the U.P.'s City of something-or-other had left is one example. Was that any way to run a railroad?
Lyon’s view was not particuarly political but I think in his own modest way he started getting people’s minds attuned to the fact that the passenger trains would all be ICC’ed out of existence if something were not done pretty soon. He didn’t invent the “Railpax” procedure that led to Amtrak in 1971, but after reading books like his, people realized that something had to be done to preserve the trains; if not gov’t takeover than subsidies and the like. And Lyon also has a great joy for the sights and scenes along the way; that in itself makes the case for train travel.
TO HELL IN A DAY COACH was published in 196