Hi I was wondering if anybody could recommend good railroad / train books that are worth reading. I just finished "GE Evolution Locomotives" by Sean Grahm-White and it was a very good book. I particularly liked reading how GE strives to go above and beyond emissions and other requiremens to give the customer great value in a locomotive and it is also great to see that GE employees seem to take great pride in the locomotives they build. any book suggestions appreciated.

Could you be more specific to region or eras of interest? It would help us point you in the right direction. From my own interests, I can recommend:

"Stealing the General: The Great Locomotive Chase and the First Medal of Honor" by Russell S. Bond
"General and The Texas: A Pictorial History of the Andrews Raid, April 12, 1862" by Stan Cohen
"Walt Disney's Railroad Story: The Small-Scale Fascination That Led to a Full-Scale Kingdom" by Michael Broggie

All can be found at Amazon and some of the better book stores.

Andy

I can tell you one NOT to waste your money on, "Life and Times of a Locomotive Engineer".

Try this web site, Phil. There's a lot of very interesting stuff in their inventory.

A few books I've enjoyed recently. Your mileage may vary based on specific interests.

The Men Who Loved Trains by Rush Loving Jr. This book is a fascinating account of the collapse and rebirth of railroading in the Northeast. It takes you from you the wreckage of the Penn Central merger through to the bidding war for Conrail in the 90's. I didn't want to put the book down once I started it.

Steam's Camelot by Jim Wrinn. Covers the history of the Southern and Norfolk Southern steam programs with lots of color photographs. Not sure that this would be enough for somebody really intersted in technical information but as somebody that didn't know much about the history of the program prior to 611 I thought it was a good read.

Twilight of the Great Trains by Fred Frailey. Focuses on the way that railroads reacted to the declining passenger market in the years prior to the formation of Amtrak. The B&O/C&O, Santa Fe and ACL chapters were the most interesting for me as all of these roads really tried everything they could and in the Santa Fe's case even considered opting out of Amtrak.

I hear there is a new book coming out on NKP 765? Time to start saving my allowance money!

--Reed

Have a look at

http://www.motorbooks.com/Store/CustomPage_6131.ncm

and

http://www.voyageurpress.com/Store/CustomPage_6131.ncm

They are parts of the same organization, but their lists are not 100% duplicates. And they both sell items from third parties.

http://www.motorbooks.com/Store/ProductDetails_35896.ncm is about EMD

http://www.voyageurpress.com/Store/ProductDetails_9757.ncm is about modern diesels

The above two books compliment the GE book you enjoyed.

Set Up Running: The Life of a Pennsylvania Railroad Engineman, 1904-1949 (Paperback)
by John W. Orr (Author)
I have recommended this book to many and all have loved it.

ray

quote:

Set Up Running: The Life of a Pennsylvania Railroad Engineman, 1904-1949 (Paperback)
by John W. Orr (Author)
I have recommended this book to many and all have loved it.

You are exactly right Ray!

One of the best I've ever read was from an old library sale. Its about a guy who worked on the Santa Fe way back in the day, and he started at the bottom and worked his way up. Absolutely facinating. Its out of print, so your going to have to hunt it down at resale shops and old librarys.

Railroading from the Head End By S. KIP FARRINGTON, JR.

Also, The Wreck Of The Penn Central.
Gives new meaning to mismanagement at the top.

PRRDave

quote:

Railroading from the Head End By S. KIP FARRINGTON, JR.

Dave,
Good book, but I found that "Railroading from the Rear End" by Kip was even more informative.

The Railroads of Pennsylvania: Your Guide to Pennsylvania's Historic Trains and Railway Sites by Brian Solomon was just published. It's very well written and is loaded with beautiful pictures. Must reading for anyone living in (or visiting) 'the best railroad state'.

Strasburg, RR Museum, Steamtown, East Broad Top, the Curve - they (and more) are all covered.

My two favorite first person accounts which I've recommended before as well are:

Brownie the Boomer - Charles Brown annotated by Roger Grant

Railroadman - French

I'm partial to smaller engines, and really enjoyed this book: From Plantation to Theme Park--The Story of Disneyland Railroad Locomotive No. 5, the Ward Kimball."

It's basically the "biography" of a small Louisiana sugar plantation engine, and the story of her rebuilding. Lots of interesting photos of a locomotive as it was rebuilt, if you like that sort of thing.

quote:

Originally posted by Big Jim:
I can tell you one NOT to waste your money on, "Life and Times of a Locomotive Engineer".

I've read this one, just wondering what you didn't like about it....


As for books....

I'd definitely have to second (or third) the book "Setup Running".

One of my other favorites is "Decade of the Trains" by Don Ball. "Railroads Triumphant" by Albro Martin isn't bad for an economic history of Railroading....

A couple more

"Railroad:what it is what it does"
"Perfecting the American Steam Locomotive"

quote:

I've read this one, just wondering what you didn't like about it....

Aside from the guy bragging about his sexual exploits...everything. This book wouldn't make a pimple on "Set Up Running"'s pitoot!

Another (of the many) book that I really like if it can be found is "The Mohawk That Refused to Abdicate...and other stories".

I liked "Set Up Running". Most of where he ran I was at least partially familiar with.

"The Wreck of the Penn Central" was a long hard read about the business end of it with almost no actual railroading in it. I read it because I worked for the PC and because I was stuck in Korea in the Army when I came across it.

I liked "Brownie the Boomer" but again parts of it were on territory that I've run trains on.

I also really enjoyed "Goin' Railroading" by Margaret Coel. It is about an engineer working the Colorado narrow guage lines begining in the 1880s and continuing through his son who worked for the CB&Q in Colorado and Wyoming up into the 1950s. Really brings home what they went through back then.

Wyhog

Just finished "Apex of the Atlantic" about the design and useage of the Pennsy E-6s 4-4-2 Atlantic locomotives. Quite interesting. They made estensive use of dynamotor testing to develop the locomotive, so it was far from a "seat of the pants" design.