Trains and Railroads Books

It is a two-in-one mystery book and is about a train mystery. There is also a new character in the story from California. All in all, it is a very good book!

I have wirtten seven books on transportation and produced various slide shows and articles on rail history dealing with rail history prior to 1850. This book saves hours no days of research. I am happy to see this book is still for sale!
Billie

An annually updated resource, the Empire State Railway Museum's Tourist Trains 2003 is an exhaustive resource which is especially recommended for those tourists and travelers who happen to also be railroading fans. The 38th annual guide to tourist railroads and museums presenting more than 500 railroad-related attractions to visit (including ones that offer train rides, with open hours, fees, coupons good for discounts, and much, much more), Tourist Trains 2003 is commended as being an excellent, information-packed guide filled from cover to cover with fun railroading activities that the whole family can enjoy!

Tourist Trains 2005 is the Empire State Railway Museum's 40th annual guide to tourist railroads and museums. Packed into this 456-page guidebook are more than five hundred railroad-related attractions accessible to the general public, along with listings for attractions that offer trains rides. Included for this rides are listings of their hours, fees, directions, and other pertinent information. Tourist Trains 2005 even offers coupons for discounts on ticket prices! Very highly recommended for the reference collections of dedicated railroading enthusiasts, Tourist Trains 2005 is also of considerable value for planning family vacations for those who want to incorporate their appreciation and enjoyment of America's railroads and railroading history into the life experiences of the children.

I bought this book for writing an assignment for my Capstone class.A really good book...easy to read...well-written book! I have bought books from this same series.

This is a true lap-breaker, but one worth the risk of back injury to pick up. (9" x 12" nearly 500 pages)

When other books don't have the historical RR information I need, this will often have at least enough to get me started. It truly covers the entire world of RR, not just Britain and North America: India, Africa, South America, Asia, Australia. On top of this, every page is graced with period artwork or photos, in color as often as possible.

It's a compendium of articles by specialist authors. "History" subdivides by area. Then there's separate ones on Passenger Travel, Locomotive Development, & Civil Engineering. We especially enjoyed the section on the great name trains, from the 20th C Ltd to the Shinkansen Hikari. Other sections are Railway Operation, Freight Transport, Industrial RR, Rapid Transit, Mountain RR, Architecture, Preservation, RR in the Cinema, RR At War, biographies of notable figures, "The Artist's View," Records, Disasters, Chronology, Facts & Figures, and a glossary for the newcomer. All this, and huge beast is indexed, too.

As specific reference on this or that line, no, of course not. You couldn't do all of them in less than a room of books. As a general reference to lots of them, great.

REVIEWED BY: Gayle Jacobson-Huset, Managing Editor

In 1892, Ari the Engineer was chosen to drive the very first train from Jaffa to Jerusalem. Nathaniel and Jessie, his friends, were not chosen and were sad. Ari was so happy to be chosen that he bragged too much to his friends and hurt their feelings. But Ari didn't care - he was so excited that he was making this first historic trip to Jerusalem. He was in such a hurry to leave, he didn't even say good-bye to his friends!

As he makes stops along the way, people give him food and treats to bring to the people of Jerusalem to help them celebrate the Rosh Hashanah holiday. Ari started to think of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. He thought of his friends that he'd hurt with his bragging. Did Ari go back to Jaffa and apologize to Nathaniel and Jessie? You'll just have to read this cute book to find out. I loved the storyline and the colorful kid-friendly illustrations. This book gets a high-five for teaching your child all about friendship and compassion. This one's a keeper that your child will enjoy reading over and over again.

I've been a travel agent for over 20-years, and have used this book for years. It has a lot going for it. There are a few things you should know first though.

First, the book is published by the Thomas Cook from the United Kingdom. So, it's more geared toward a British audience. Don't let that disturb you. This is still my favorite guide, so far.

This book is a great reference tool, but you have to READ it. I've seen people just grab a book. . . hop on a plane. . . and they think they will just "wing-it" after they get there. That's very irresponsible, and you'll waste a TON of time and not get to see an experience as much. Planning is key. Yes, you'll be able to make adjustments along the way as you like, but if you don't have some sort of plan, then you're likely to take a train from Paris to Rome. . . then back to Zurich. . .then back to Milan. . . and so for. . . wasting lots of time.

This book is certainly geared more toward young-people who are trying to get by cheap with hostel recommendations and such. That doesn't mean it's exclusively for young-people backpacking through Europe though. There's so much information tucked into this book, that anyone traveling in Europe by train will find it helpful.

What's inside?
* General information about train travel within Europe
* Maps - Country maps, city maps, and more
* Essentials for each country such as store opening hours, language, currency, holidays, climate, tipping, etc.
* Information about the larger city train stations - hours, what they have to offer, tourist office, hotels, etc.
* Ideas for day-trips from larger cities.
* Ideas about where to go next from larger cities
* Pictures of different sites
* Sightseeing information
* More. . . More. . More. . .

Here's one thing that you won't find a lot of, and that's rail schedules. With some of the larger cities, there will be some information about how far away other cities are located, and the frequency of trains, but not schedules. Train schedules are a little like airline schedules. They change, so book publishers such as this do not wish to include them. Also, Thomas Cook is the premier publisher of of rail time tables in Europe. Do a search for the Thomas Cook Timetable. The come out four-times per year, and they are NOT cheap. The are also NOT easy to read. Once you get the hang of it, it's not difficult, but they are quite daunting, especially at first. You're much better off going online to the Rail Europe website to check rail schedules. . . but. .when you're traveling within Europe. . . and don't have internet access.. . then the Thomas Cook Timetable can be very handy.

Finally, this is NOT what I would say is a definitive guide to Europe overall. There are certainly better guides for that, but this IS a great guide for the train part of the trip. I used to live in Zurich and traveled all over. . . and used it a lot. . . and take it with me each time I return.

If you're looking for some good "companion" overall guides to Europe, below are some I like as well.

The Rough Guide to First-Time Europe 7 (Rough Guide Travel Guides)
The Rough Guide to Europe on a Budget (Rough Guide Travel Guides) (Rough Guide Travel Guides)
Rick Steves' Best of Europe 2008 (Rick Steves)
Rick Steves' Europe Through the Back Door 2008: The Travel Skills Handbook (Rick Steves)
Let's Go 2008 Europe (Let's Go Europe)
Let's Go 2008 Western Europe (Let's Go Western Europe)
Europe on a Shoestring (Lonely Planet Shoestring Guides)

This is the only book needed when travelling around Europe.

This book is a necessity for anyone traveling in Europe on their Train system. Wonderful information...