Trains and Railroads Books

I am interested in purchasing this book but I don't know it's value? I want to offer a fair price. What did it cost new and what are they currently selling for?

This book is hardly ever in at our 4 county library system. SoI bought the last one ... had. I made the mistake of giving it "to read and return" to a train buddy. Bad mistake. The variety, workmanship and excellent graphics made this a treasure. Guess I'll just have to ask my master modeler friend and fellow singer about its whereabouts. Shucks, there goes a perfectly good friendship. In estate planning there is the old, old saying: "Once you give it away, it's gone!"

This book offers beautiful photography and useful commentary. It is not just about trains or, worse still, just about locomotives - as are far too many railroad books. These photos show railroads and trains in their physical contexts.
I should mention, however, that the subjects of these photographs are highly concentrated, in/around the state of Maryland, and perhaps are of less interest to persons not emotionally or otherwise connected to that region.

I found this book to be very good; if you're from the Mid Atlantic States it's a great book! Many of the photos and stories are very good; almost all are black and white. This book had me looking back in time and remembering the days of powerful steam engines and then powerful diesel locomotives. A lot of the book is dedicated to the latter. I would highly recommend this book, even if you're not from the Maryland area the photos and stories are very good and trains of course are national in nature.

At first this book didn't capture my attention from amongst the mountains of train books that my 3 yr old has found for us to read him, but the poetry of thus book really has stuck with our son. Months after borrowing it from the library, he still goes around composing his own songs, copying the rythm from this book. Amazing to see the the words have such an effect. This is one that will definitely become a favorite in our collection. The pictures are also great, and I enjoy the real life images it conveys.

I don't understand why this book didn't earn at least a runner-up for the Caldecott award. The pictures are superb, reminiscent of Edward Hopper. The text is a poem with rhythm, so that when it is read out loud, it evokes the sound of a train moving down the track. It took me awhile to get the hang of it (how often can you say that about a children's book?), but now my 2 year-old daughter nods her head to the words. She loves trains and loves this book.

My 15 month old daughter LOVES this book. It is currently her favorite book, and we read it about 3 times a day. I don't know if she likes the cadence of the text or the bright pictures. It's not a bad book - I think the end seems incomplete, and it drives me crazy that the text says that "the train goes jiggly-rumba" ...I get clickety-clack, chugga-chugga, but jiggley-rumba?! But these are minor quibbles. If your daughter likes pointing out buses, cars and trucks on the street, then she might like this book too.

We recently picked this up at the libary and my 16 month old son is crazy aobut this book. He wants it read over and over again. He also loves pointing out the bird that is hidden on each spread.

"The Train Ride" by June Crebbin and Stephen Lambert.

I bought this book for my granddaughter, Tabitha, after we had gone on a train ride from Plymouth to Boston, Massachusetts. She clearly recognized details of our actual train ride with the same elements in the colorful illustrations and the words in the book. She sat quite still as I read this wonderful book to her. The book's author has obviously chosen her words to echo the sounds of a train: "What shall we see? What shall we see?" And, as you read the book, if you throw in a couple of extemporary "Choo-choos" , you can set up a train sound in your reading.
The colors of the illustrations are bright; seems like the originals were done in pastel chalks. My granddaughter noticed that the locomotive was red, which was not the color on the train ride into Boston. The dark black of the tunnel was scary, but, on the next page, all fears were relieved when the tunnel darkness turned the window into an impromptu mirror. Tabitha laughed at the page with the words, aa"gaggle of geese", and said "gaggle" quite a few times as she tried out this new word. She was most happy to find, at the end of "The Train Ride", there was Grandma (who looked quite a bit like Mommy), waiting for them at the station. This is a most entertaining book.

Using Jan Crebbin's book, The Train Ride, is a great way to engage early elementary age students in reading comprehension. Having read the book several times, children can choose their favorite image from the book and draw it. This can be made into a bulletin board at school or can just serve as an enriching parent-child activity. Seeing the images flash through the train window is a wonderful reminder of summer vacations and family trips. I am going to be using this book with my kindergarten class' back to school unit which is based on Watty Piper's classic, The Little Engine That Could. Another book to use with The Train Ride is Freight Train by Donald Crews. Hop aboard for some exciting reading with your young child.

If you love the song, made famous by Arlo Guthrie, you probably like trains. If you like trains, this book is sure to delight you! It's a wonderful tribute to the classic folksong! Steve Goodman composed "The City of New Orleans" while riding the Illinois Central, while observing his fellow passengers and the passing landscape. Who can forget the warm images he recounted: of the old men playing cards, the young mother nursing her baby, the passengers being lulled to sleep by the rhythm of the rails? "Everything in this song actually happened," Goodman once said; "I'm no good at fiction." Michael McCurdy's illustrations, a combination of woodcuts and watercolors, must be seen and savored! The book is aimed toward children, and kids are certain to enjoy it. But I believe it will evoke stronger emotions in baby-boomers who remember the song and how it actually felt to "be gone 500 miles when the day is done".

Bright with Michael McCurdy's striking woodblock illustrations, "The Train They Call The City of New Orleans," a classic tune captured by the voice of Arlo Guthrie, comes to lilting life beginning with a map of the train trip from Chicago to New Orleans.

Evocative of a time when most travelers in the United States crossed the country by train, the lyrics of this familiar song are preceded by a map of the train's route.

Beginning in wintry Illinois readers find the "restless riders" in one of those fifteen cars, and watch the conductors prepare for their duties. Sacks of mail are loaded, and then the train pulls out of Kankakee through "freight yards full of old black men and the graveyards of the rusted automobiles."

Later Pullman porters ready berths for the night as engineers guide the mammoth locomotive toward the Midwest and Louisiana.

Youngsters will respond to the arresting illustrations and soon be humming along with the narrative.

- Gail Cooke

This book and its illustrations will bring back memories of childhood summer vacations and will make your children excited to go on their own summer trips. The illustrations are beautiful and detailed -- your children will love to read and re-read this book as they try to pick out all of the interesting details.

My boys absolutely loved this book. The illustrations really caught their eyes. They pointed out many things that I didn't even notice at first glance. Although the boys have not personally taken the Downeaster, they have been on a train and related well to the book. Rebecca Harrison Reed is a highly talented children's book artist! I look forward to her next book.

I thought that this was an exciting book about the Underground Railroad. It was funny at times, but sad at others. The book made laugh, and it made me cry. It had TONS of adventure and it would be a good book for those who love action. However, the ending was excellent, and I loved it. I think that you should read it, too!

This book is one of the best the she has written. This is my cousin and I think the books she writes are the best. I love them!

Yosemite's natural history and wonders had become well known by the mid 1850s, but few tourists wanted to travel to the remote historic valley via horse: enter the train in 1907, which allowed visitors to reach the park in less than a day, fostering an increase in park appreciation which continues to this day. Yosemite Valley Railroad expert Jack Burgess began his study of the railroad in the mid-1960s as he searched for an appropriate prototype for his model railroad layout: his interest in modeling led to much more than a casual probe of the Yosemite Valley Railroad system, as the 400 black and white vintage photos, maps and illustrations packing detail into TRAINS TO YOSEMITE proves. Rail buffs will find well over 300 pages of detail pack in not just history, but very specific train details, from switching routines and classification lamps to relocated lines and bridges. It is this depth of information which is the mark of the model hobbyist - and which lends so perfectly to a complete, comprehensive coverage of the real thing. Yes, TRAINS TO YOSEMITE is a specialty item for rail transportation or California-specific collections: but such holdings will find it essential.

This is the most comprehensive collection of photos and data on the Yosemite Valley Railroad yet published. The book is not merely a rehash of photos that you have seen over and over, but many entirely new photos...a lifetimes collection. Jack's excellent eye for details and dedication in reaching out to those who worked on the RR, lived in the community, or researched this road, make this book a real treasure.

this helps clarify some of the questions we had about road we live on, which was once main road between Banner Elk and Boone,NC. The railroad line was adjacent to our road before the great flood wiped it out.Interesting.

In addition to telling the unique and colorful history of the ET&WNC, this book is a fine reference for ET&WNC fans or modelers. It has many illustrations of the line and rolling stock. Photos and sketches in this book were used as prototypes for several model railroad items in G-scale narrow gauge.