Trains and Railroads Books

The Iron Horse: How the Railroads Changed America
By Richard Wormser

The Iron Horse: How the Railroads Changed America is a non-fiction book that was put together with information found from other sources.
The Iron Horse: How the Railroads Changed America is about the building of the first trans-contanental railroad in the United States, and all the challenges that had to be overcome.
One of the biggest problems was finding good labor at a cheep price. Many of the Anglos got mad when wages had been cut, many Chinese were then hired at a lower cost they also worked harder and longer than the Anglos.
Over-all the book was long considering the few books about railroads in myschool library. I enjoy reading about railroads because I've lived near and at times next to railroad tracks or near a switching yard. From my experince of searching through my school & local library I've found it difficult to find books that I can really read that are about this topic.

This is my 2 year old's favorite book. He takes it in the car, to grandma's, to bed, etc. The story is simple but entertaining for toddlers and preschoolers. James the Engine gets into trouble with some naughty freight cars and it's Thomas to the rescue! A classic board book.

James, who crashed in the last story of Thomas the tank engine, settles down and becomes a very useful engine. He has 4 stories all to his self, James and the Top-hat, James and the Bootlace, Troublesome trucks and James and the Express. In the first story, he and Edward double head a passenger train in which James gets too excited for his own good at the big station and ruins Sir Topham Hatt's Top Hat. Then, he takes some coaches out after being given into trouble by Sir Topham Hatt, who threatens to take away his red coat and have him painted blue. He bangs the coaches so badly that he causes a leak in the pipe which is repaired by, of all things, a passenger's bootlace. He is sent to the shed in disgrace and left there to think about what he's done. But one day, Sir Topham Hatt comes to see him and tells him to pull some trucks for him and in the end keeps his red coat. In the last story, after being teased by Gordon, he pulls the Express and gives the big engine a showing up by proving that he is not the only engine who can pull the Express after all.

The remarkably detailed, stunning black and white drawings by author/illustrator David Weitzman are worth a great deal more than the price of this book. Front endpapers and back endpapers offer a comprehensive picture of this early locomotive with accompanying numbers identifying each feature. There's the wood filled fire box, the crank, and even the driving axle. All with an interest in trains will consider this slim volume a treasure.

As some know, John Bull was built in England and transported by steamship to America in 1831. Such a powerhouse had never been seen before, and it was used not only to help build but to run the first New Jersey railroad.

This met with such success that America soon manufactured many more similar locomotives.

After a lengthy tour of service the locomotive was retired to the Smithsonian Institution where it was admired by thousands. Even more amazing is that some 150 years after it first arrived on our shores the John Bull was still able to run as smoothly as ever.

"The John Bull" is fitting tribute to a vital portion of our transportation industry.

- Gail Cooke

If for some reason I had to part with all but ten of my hundreds of books, this would be one of the ten that I would choose to keep. Guy Billout is an artist. He clearly utilizes both hemispheres with ease. If you live in your left brain, and try to "read" this book with an engineer's or accountant's brain you will probably miss the point. It's unfortunate that stores that happen to have this gem in stock often file it in the children's or juvenile section. Although suitable (and even delightful) for kids, I believe that those people with more miles behind than ahead will be more likely to understand the story and be taken by it.

This interesting book details the end of passenger service on April 30, 1971 by the now freight-only carriers in the United States. This book is an excellent historical reference on the creation of Amtrak by the United States government in order to satisfy the complaints of both the railroads and the public. Contained in the book are a list of passenger trains remaining on private carriers the day before Amtrak began, before and after maps of the nations rail passenger network, and a timeline detailing government proceedings into the nations rail passenger system leading to the creation of Amtrak. There are many black and white photos of the last day of service on many varied railroads. Unlike many other railroad books a historical timeline is developed using news reports of govenmental proceedings and private railroad stances on passenger service in the United States. The book painfully shows just how much of the passenger system was discontinued with the creation of Amtrak leading one to wonder if it would have been better to let the nations passenger rail system die a natural death.

This book is a fine study of the Katy's Northwestern District. The extensive rare photographs, many by the author, are a wonderful complement to the well organized text. The detailed coverage of the last days on the District is particularly poignant.

-A superb piece of work from Katy expert Raymond George and Joe Collias, the dean of Missouri railroading. Heavily illustrated history of the M-K-T railroad, featuring locomotives, trains, structures and cabooses. A joy to read for anyone with affection for the Katy Railroad.

I think that Harre W. Demoro's The Key Route is a labor of love because the author, a veteran transportation reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle and Oakland native, grew up riding the Key SystemÕs trains, got to know some of the KeyÕs employees (including the conductor who recited Irish poetry), was a part of his daily life, and had the honor of being one of the last passengers to ride this train from San Francisco to Oakland across the Bay Bridge in 1958 when bridge rail service was discontinued. I first read about this book in the ChronicleÕs Sunday book review section while I was in high school, and remember browsing thought it at a bookstore in downtown San Francisco after it was first published, so itÕs a bit of nostalgia for me. Also, after this book was published, the author wrote two feature articles about his experience in riding the Key System and growing up in Oakland for the ChronicleÕs Sunday magazine. One of them was about getting around Oakland by streetcar or bus, and the other was basically a nostalgic look back at his experiences in riding the Key SystemÕs trains, which included many photographs from his Key Route book.

What draws me to the Key System story is the fact that my father rode the KeyÕs bridge unit train from Oakland across the Bay Bridge to San Francisco while he was stationed at the Alameda Naval Air Station during the 1950s. Several times before his death, my father told me that he took the wrong train. He wanted to get on the A-line to San Francisco, but rode a train to Berkeley instead. So after arriving in Berkeley, he transferred to the train that he wanted, the A-line to San Francisco. He also commented that the trainÕs conductors were very courteous. Such was my fatherÕs personal link to a forgotten relic of Bay Area interurban rail history.

Ironically, there was something my father never told me about riding the Key System.The bridge unit trains got their power in two different ways. On the bridge, the trains got their power from an electric third rail through a special power shoe under the trainÕs body like most subway trains get their power today. Off the bridge, the trains got their power from an overhead wire through a pantograph on top of the cars body. This is the way most light rail vehicles and commuter trains in Northeastern corridor (Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Washington D.C.) get their power today. The KeyÕs trains also ran on the streets of Oakland and Berkeley just like a streetcar. Another interesting feature of this train is that as the train ran toward the Bay BridgeÕs entrance, it passed under a machine that pushed down the pantograph to prepare the train for third rail power on the bridge.

A really good book that brings back memories of a era that is now history. Otherwise, a fine collection of small paintings of every-day places in the U.K. from the 20th century.