Trains and Railroads Books

Of course this is a good book to have on hand but there is so much info that a book with its name could contain, it would be hard to narrow down enough info to have it fit in a book this size. I am more interested in railroads in southeastern Indiana so this book didn't have much for me.

The fresh, exuberant expression of the Souters' writing continues throughout the book as a look at a paragraph from Chapter 7 attests: "Lionel has survived competition, inflation, two world wars, the Great Depression, financial scandal, receivership, rampant nepotism, material shortages, off-shore production experiments, dubious corporate acquisitions, management blunders, marketing blunders, the decline of the railroads, Roy Cohn as CEO, loss of its distribution network, loss of its primary customer base, Sputnik, acquisition by a cereal company, spin-off to a toy company, purchase by a millionaire hobbyist, and the computer chip revolution. Today, the name Lionel still means `electric train'."

Spicing the book further are enticing glimpses at the competition that Lionel often felt nipping at its heels. Here and there throughout the book, sidebars pop up to give views of Carlisle & Finch, Ives, Hafner, American Flyer, Dorfan, Marx, and today's competing brands. Each of these peeks at the "other brand" relates that manufacturer's production to the fortunes of Lionel and helps the reader understand Lionel's response to the threat.

The book does have some shortcomings. It really could have been proofread more closely. A photo caption describing the introduction of the operating cattle car states that it arrived in 1948 but goes on to say that it was pricey for 1947. If this weren't confusing enough, the typesetter mistook the year for the price, and the caption actually states that the car "was pricey for $1,947 but sold well." And we thought that today's prices were high!

Another gaffe comes when OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, is twice misnamed the Occupational Safety Hazard Administration. Sharp-eyed readers will also catch other errors such as an occasional misspelled or repeated word. These are not often frequent or blatant enough to detract greatly from the enjoyment that the book offers, but they do suggest an inferior proofreading effort.

Perhaps some readers will be willing to overlook the affronts upon the language from uncorrected typographical errors; however, they may be less willing to overlook factual errors in the history and description of Lionel's products. During the discussion of Lionel's brief post-war venture into HO scale trains, the Souters state that "Lionel came out with a strange three-rail HO gauge track that was anathema to its primary hobbyist market." The fact is that Lionel never "came out with" any such track during the Post War or any other era. In the late Pre War Period, the company did catalog and sell both two and three-rail track in OO gauge for a brief time. American OO gauge track is wider than HO and is not compatible with it. The book is confusing not only two different track gauges but also two different time periods.

Discussion of Lionel's fortunes in 1959 includes a description of the No. 3435 Aquarium Car, part of which reads, "Inside, a strip of 35mm clear film with fish painted on it moves past the windows when the activation button is pressed as the car passes over the magnetic track section." The authors must be terribly impressed with the capabilities of Lionel's remote control track section with its electromagnet to ascribe to it the capability of activating the car's vibrating motor! In reality, the car is equipped with an off-on lever to start and stop the motor. With the lever in the "on" position, the motor moves the film strip continuously and with total disregard as to whether or not a remote control section of track is even installed on the layout.

While these examples reveal some of the questionable historical research and knowledge of the authors, they are neither so severe nor so numerous as to sentence the book without parole. There is much that is very good about it: sharp, large photographs of prototypes and their O gauge models; a text that is replete with wonderful turns of phrase that make it a joy to read; an honest willingness to tell all; and the fact that the discussion extends to Lionel's current ownership. On the other hand, occasional textual errors, some factual discrepancies, and the absence of any citations or bibliographies identifying sources limit the extent to which the reader can trust the material.

Is the Souters' book worth its cover price? Probably. After all, who can quibble with the accuracy of these observations from the concluding chapter:

"Today's toy train market is driven by an aging population of nostalgia-loving adults who collect and run joyful remembrances of their youth.

"Where Lionel will find itself in 2001 and the years to come is a guessing game, but whoever is making the decisions, whoever is designing the products and marketing them has one supreme advantage over all the competition. They have the name that has come to symbolize durability, value, and imagination for 100 years. They have the loyalty of fans around the world. They have Lionel--America's Electric Train."

I was excited when I saw the advanced advertisements for this book and looked forward to its publication. I was not let down. The authors know their stuff and have put together a fine reference work on the 20th Century passenger service of "The Old Reliable".

This is not a novel or in-depth review of the subject so don't appoach it looking for any insight into the inner workings of a railroad. The extensive biliography gives plenty of sources to find that material. It is, however, a detailed overview of all aspects of L&N passenger service, from train equipment to dining car staffing. The writing is crisp and well paced with only a few dry spots. Many personal tales and anecdotes abound adding dimension to the topics.

My only complaints about the book are that the authors should have focused on each train such as the Hummingbird and Cresent in seperate, detailed sections rather then covering them in a chronological manner (which can be confusing and tedious for those not familiar with the railroads many routes). Also, more color photos would have been appreciated, especially for those of us who model L&N equipment in their model railroad layouts.

Again, a fine reference work put together by authors who definately love their subject.

A. C. Mierzejewski has provided an extremely useful insight into the workings of the Reichsbahn for a time period not well understood by many on both sides of the Atlantic. He does a good job of relating the internal railway business matters with the politics of the time, and shows an understanding of the broad variety of subjects that were interacting.

As sometimes is the case with histories, this book will not only provide the obvious aid in understanding what came next, but could also be recommended for reading by people who are working with the former COMECON countries. The author shows much about the "inside" reaction against pressure from outside for reform.

The book also will be useful for those of us working in public transit or government-owned railways, as it deals with many of the issues that we cope with today-- just made more extreme, and therefore visible, by the circumstances of the Weimar years.

The book would have merited 5 stars if it had a few more maps to support specific chapters. If a reader does not have a good handle on German geography, the book could still be educational, but I would recommend having a map of Weimar Germany handy to best understand some points.

A wonderfull source of information for the "o" and 027 gauge operator.Explains how to set up accessories from Lionel.I found an excellent track plan,for an 027 layout,with a trestle,in a limited space. Highly recomended!

I found this to be an interesting book, though the Chapter 11, "The Train Lost In The Snow" is so full of errors that I cannot believe much of it.

First of all, The Simplon Orient Express from Paris to Istanbul (I forget when the name changed, but it was about then) and got marooned in the snow in Turkey. But the route in the book states that the train went from Paris through Switzerland to Milan and Venice.

True, but after that, the book does not agree with the published route for the train. It says that leaving Venice, the train went "approached Linz" and got to Vienna with a delay of less than an hour. Now the Simplon Orient Express did not go to Linz or Vienna. It then says it went to Budapest, which it also did not. Then it talks about crossing the Rumanian Hungarian border, but the train did not go to Rumania. (Other consists of the Orient Express did go to these places, but not the Simplon.)

Other details are also in error. The chapter frequently refers to the trouble of getting steam from the locomotive to heat the cars. On the Orient Express cars at the time, the cars were heated individually by a heater in each car. The roof of each car contained two reservoirs, one for hot, and one for cold, water. The hot heater was heated by a coal stove at the end of each car and fired by the conductor of each car. The hot and cold water fed taps in the individual compartments wash basins, and also the facilities in the toilets. The hot water also fed a radiator in each car for heating purposes.

I am mystified by the large number of errors in this story, and wonder how reliable the rest of the chapter can be. I have doubts.

The author uses a unique view point to combine the various aspects of social impacts that the railroads had on American culture. A great many topics are covered from sweeping social behavioral norms, to the logistics of ticketing, to luggage design. The social and cultural viewpoint dominates the normal railroad book themes of business, economy, technology, and governmental regulation. All of these topics are covered but only as they influenced, dictated, or were demanded by the social trends. A major point made is that much of American urban culture today is an unintended consequence of how the railroad industry evolved. Railroads originally seen as the instrument for growing a community's wealth, end up being the instrument of draining both the wealth and population to the major cities. A second major theme is how the railroads enabled and even forced a transient society for people at all income levels. The local communities on which the country's original culture was founded are lost forever.

The writing style is straight forward and interspersed with a good deal of backup information and supporting stories. Not exactly enjoyment reading, but certainly not boring. There was a great deal of duplication of information from chapter to chapter often using the same phrasing. Once, the same quote is used twice on one page. A better editor could have helped the author present the same information in 2/3 the space.

From a railroad perspective there are a few minor oversights, such as giving credit to the Northern Pacific as the pioneer of promoting rail travel for vacations. I believe more research would show they were only attempting to duplicate the Great Northern's success with the "See America First - Glacier National Park" campaign. Such minor oversights in the examples do not invalidate or even lessen the points being made by the author.

As a reference work its organization is not ideal for finding information, but this is a consequence of the social viewpoint. It does have a fairly complete index. As a reference the strong point is the chapter notes (footnotes) and the notes on the sources. I will be using these frequently. However, it does not include a traditional bibliography listing all the references together sorted by title or author.

In summary, I recommend this book for both the casual and serious student of history and railroads. It could even be used as a basis for a class. I am pretty certain hard core "train" fanatics will not like it. This book will be an eye opener for many, and probably should be a required read for anyone trying to get a complete understanding of the cultural transformation that occurred around the turn of the 20th century. I intend to add a copy of this book to my personal library.

As an American, I have not had the chance to actually ride one of these. But I will admit, this is my second book on HSTs, my first being Heyday of the HST by Galvin Morrison. This book simply puts the other one to shame. First off, the other book is just a collection of Mr. Morrison's pictures of HSTs. This book is divided nicely into chapters based on the trains development, use by individual train operating companies, maintenance, and even derailments and wrecks!(my favorite chapter) Only the last part of the book is in color though. Along with the lack of some technical drawings and what decision were made behind the building of this trainset are why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5. Hopefully in 5 to 10 years, Mr. Marsden will update it with comparisons to England's next invention, the IEP (Intercity Express Programme). It is laid out in the typical Ian Allen Publishing format, where the story is told more by pictures and captions rather than chapters written full of history and some pictures like we see from publishers in the U.S. But if you have little knowledge or understanding of the types of trains in England (and there are some in Australia though not pictured in this text) I would recommed this book.

This book ties into the audio cassette and model trains of the Great Railway Adventure series. The two main characters are brother and sister Tuck and Billie who help a brave engineer when he is injured. The illustrations are in an older style that is very vivid and detailed. My 5 year old daughter, a train enthusiast, loves all three books in this series.

This book does not cover as broad a field as the title suggests, and is mainly concerned with railroad track. In this area I think Professor Vassilidis presents an excellent mix of theory and practical application, with good diagrams and references to published research papers. Subgrade, ballast, sleepers, fastenings and rails (including the wheel-rail interface) are all given a thorough treatment.

However, he does not cover bridges, culverts, drainage, or slope stability except in brief passages. I was also surprised that heat buckling was barely discussed.

I am delighted to have this book in my library. In addition to the material on track, the author has included useful chapters on train dynamics, electrification of railways, and an overview of the modern role of rail transport.

The flyer on the cover states that "the intended readership comprises all those concerned with the design, operation and engineering management of railways, consulting engineers and students." Bullseye! The only reason I have not given it five stars is because it does not cover all major aspects of permanent way engineering.