Trains and Railroads Books

Graham Greene the eminent British novelist published this minor, suspensful and entertaining work in 1932. In Great Britain the novel is entitled "Stamboul Train". The novel is short but has a murder and interesting characters to keep your attention. The characters are well sketched and the novel has deeper depth than the typical spy thriller.
Among the players are:
Coral Musker-a beautiful but poor chorus girl traveling from England to appear in a musical in Istanbul. She falls in love on the train and becomes involved in the pursuit of a Yugolslavian Communist leader Dr.
Czinner. Coral is the most human andsympathetic character in the whole business. She is touching, pathetic and deserving of a better fate than the one she receives.
Carelton Myatt is a young businessman from London. He is on the way to Turkey to cement a business deal. He is also a womanizer who initiates Coral into sex. Later he sets his cap for Janet Pardoe a half-Jewish niece of Mr. Steiner a wealthy businessman. Myatt is a despicable character who seeks his own ego satisfactions not trifling with such things as true love. As the novel ends his future looks bright but we the readers do not like him. Greene chose to make him Jewish opening himself up for charges of Antisemetic caricatures. Much of British society in the 1930s was adverse to persons of the Jewish faith. The novel was written shortly before Hitler became German Chancellor. It should be stated that Greene served bravely in World War II as a spy for the British Government. I do not think he was overtly antisemetic.
Mabel Warren is a lesbian and obnoxious journalist who is eager to interview Czinner and Savery who is a popular novelist. She travels with Janet Pardoe but when dumped sets her sights on Coral.
Josef Grunlich is a robber and murderer who flees Vienna escaping to Constantinople. Grunlich is a despicable human being.
Greene manages to interwine the lives of all these people into an exciting narrative. This is a minor work but is written in the author's cool style with colorful use of metaphor and a good use of mirror imagery. Penguin has reissued this novel in a beautiful edition for the Greene 100th year birthday celebration which was held in 2004. Christopher Hitchns the acerbic critic has a fine introduction to the novel included in the Penguin edition. This book is a good introduction to Graham Greene one of our greatest modern novelist.

Orient Express is a time capsule. It was written in the early 1930s and, as such, captures the world of the inter-war period in continental Europe. The book's strengths and weaknesses spring from this perspective. The strength are that Greene shows us a world that was rather bleak and yet vibrant. The downside is that anti-Semitism and class-based prejudices are evident both in the character's and in Greene's attitudes. However, as a time capsule of a lost era, this book is worth reading.

I have enjoyed a number of Greene's novels, but was disappointed with Orient Express. For a better read and more compelling characters, I recommend Greene's later work including The Quite American, The Comedians or even The Heart of the Matter.

Of course far from his masterworks, this novel is still better than most which plague the bestsellers lists today. It is one of the first novels written by Greene, on of which he calls "entertainments", to distinguish them from his more serious novels. Nevertheless, here in an early work his recurrent subjects loom already: hope and regret; the moral loneliness of each individual; the inevitability of fate; the consciousness, or lack of it, of good and evil.

A group of people are travelling from Ostende (Belgium) to Istanbul, each one with their fears or illusions. During the long way they meet and interact, love and forget each other. Carleton Myatt, a young Jewish merchant, is on his way to solve a problematic business situation with his employees in Turkey. During the trip he meets and seduces (through kindness and sacrifice) a young starlet of nightclubs who only dreams of love and welfare. Dr. Czinner (sinner?) a socialist revolutionary from Yugoslavia, is on the same train bound for Belgrade, but he is discovered and harassed by Mabel Warren, a British, alcoholic and lesbian journalist. The interaction between the characters creates an increasing tension which is only resolved, for good or evil, when each one of them meets his or her particular fate. Foremost is the heartbreaking story of the young dancer, who loses love in the middle of a snowstorm and political intrigue of which she understands nothing. In this book, Greene lets us see the great qualities that would later lead him to write his great novels.

I find Graham Greene to be almost unreadable. I know that this is going to be considered near blasphemous, since literary critics have heaped such praise upon him and so many reviewers here have done likewise.

However, in a word, I find him depressing. His characters suffer from interminable analysis of their every thought and action. The larger story is merely a vehicle for these internal monologues that, frankly, I don't find particularly insightful or interesting. It was V. S. Pritchett who first remarked about Greene's 'perverse and morbid tendencies'. While Greene is no doubt highly intelligent and capable of a very high level of writing, the end result, for me, is something very unpleasant.

I first read 'The Heart Of The Matter'. God, what an endlessly depressing scene! Nor was there any particular character I could sympathize with or even care about. In spite of my negative reaction to this highly praised work, I thought I would give him another try with 'Orient Express' (a.k.a., 'Stamboul Train'), thinking that in this 'entertainment' as Greene called it I would actually be, well, entertained. Instead, I get a trainload of depressing characters whose every thought is scrutinized to an excruciating degree.

Example (from Myatt's suspicions about his business dealings):

'It was odd. He had chosen the samples with particular care. It was natural of course that even Stein's currants should not all be inferior, but when so much was suspected, a further suspicion was easy. Suppose, for example, Mr. Eckman had been doing a little trade on his own account, had allowed Stein some of the firm's consignment of currants, in order temporarily to raise the quality, had, on the grounds of that improved quality, indeed, induced Moults' to bid for the business. Mr. Eckman must be having uneasy moments now, turning up the time-table, looking at his watch, thinking that half Myatt's journey was over. Tomorrow, he thought, I will send a telegram and put Joyce in charge; Mr. Eckman shall have a month's holiday. Joyce will keep an eye on the books, and he pictured the scurrying to and fro, as in an ants' nest agitated by a man's foot, a telephone call from Eckman to Stein or from Stein to Eckman, a taxi ordered here and dismissed there, a lunch for once without wine, and then the steep office steps and at the top of them the faithful rather stupid Joyce keeping his eye upon the books. And all the time, at the modern flat, Mrs. Eckman would sit on her steel sofa knitting baby clothes for the Anglican mission, and the great dingy Bible, Mr. Eckman's first deception, would gather dust on its unturned leaf.'

Lord have mercy. This stuff is like fingernails on a chalkboard!

William Golding called Green 'the ultimate twentieth-century chronicler of consciousness and anxiety'. This does not, however, make for entertaining reading. Greene's writing is an examination of the human condition totally devoid of lightness, humor (at least as I understand the word) or romance. His characters are an unpleasant, unhappy bunch.

Ultimately all his writing reveals is the real Graham Greene.

This is supposed to be an atlas but the maps are unreadable. The print is far too small. I got a headache trying to make sense of it. If you want maps that you can read then don't buy this book.

Book was okay, hoped it would have more about the shot line railroads as well.

This is not a typical atlas in the classical definition of the term. Rather the author somehow found maps produced by the several railroads he covers in his book to provide the mapped details of each specific route. This makes it a bit unconventional and some who think every atlas author should provide original maps may well be disappointed. But I like this book. I give the author credit for finding so many different maps. Some actually are available online, but others seem to come from railroad promotional literature (and difficult to find except for true railroad collectors).

The scope of the book is surprisingly broad. Some of the railroads shown here have been defunct for decades. The book has good text and several photos that show lines that many people only know as memories. It covers modern routes that have emerged from buyouts and mergers (i.e., BNSF) but omits Amtrak. This book has good nostalgia value but the maps, regardless of their origin, are quite informative. A good historian can decipher information for any type of source, even old rail route maps. I enjoy reviewing this book and recommend it fully.

I awaited delivery of this book with some trepidation; what were the chances it would properly cover my three favorite railroads? I need not have worried. Coverage of these is great but I've hardly noticed as there is so much else to read and learn about. I drive many of these [virtual] tracks in MS Trainsim and it's great to see where my tracks fit in to the big picture.
The packaging was very thorough and the book is well produced, of very good quality and the right sized format. I would certainly recommend this atlas to anyone interested in this subject.

Robert Bach
New Zealand

This book contains lots of maps of railroads, as the title suggests. I'm not intentionally being flippant, but that about sums it up. It is a good historical reference, but sorely lacking as a comprehensive tool for viewing existing lines and rail traffic and railroad ownership. I was a history major, so the history was interesting to me, if sketchy, and it was interesting to see what railroad topography looked like in Florida, for example, in 1810, but again, not useful as a modern tool. I was expecting a railroad atlas, state by state, something like what one would get from AAA for highways. This is not that, just to warn you, but for what the authors intended I'm sure it is excellent.

I purchased a version of this guide back in the 90's, and used it heavily. It was much better back then. It now has very little advice about what would be good, accessible day-trips from any given place, and a lot more timetables. This you can get from Eurail's website. The timetables helped me a little back in the 90's because the info was not available for planning from the web. In addition, the options for purchasing passes for one, two, three, multiple countries and timeframes are a ton more complex than they were in the 90's, and this book did not really help much in figuring out what kind of pass to purchase.

I would use a simple tour-book for the country/region you're planning to visit, and use the website for planning your trips. For $10, you can actually make reservations online to make trip planning much easier - once you are within 90 days of your trip.

Not worth it.

Good book. Full of great information. I have rode the trains in Europe and never understood the system. Thanks to this book my next visit to Europe will be much easier.

I graduated from a handheld labeler and have been very pleased with the Brother p-touch. The PC software enables much better formatting and design vs. standalone so I would recommend loading it. The most surprising plus I liked was the battery powered mobile capability - I find myself taking it back and forth to work and home so portability is great. You can make your labels as fancy or plain as you want and the amount of formatting options is certain to please just about anyone. I would highly recommend this model if you are looking for a good all around model. The tapes come in many sizes and colors so again, you have plenty of choices - tapes are expensive but you get a lot for the price.

A very good overview of train systems, costs and best ways to get where you want to go!

I ordered this because I had found the 1997 edition of the Eurail Guide exceptionally well compiled and incisively useful, and secondly because I couldn't find a current edition of the Eurail Guide. In fact I thought this may have been the current edition I was was looking for. Sadly it is not, and it is not half the book the Eurail Guide was. For me this a rather dull book containing some useful information. I can't imaging me consulting very often.

Mr Lothridge has some good stories about his experiences on the railroad but my enjoyment of this somewhat short book was runined by his poor writing. Along with spelling and grammar errors throughout, he has a tendency to wander in his storytelling in a most annoying way. What's needed here is a good ghost writer. Having said that, the short stories are interesting but I don't think the book is worth the price.

"... like sitting around with an old head (Conductor) and shooting the breeze. Entertaining and relaxing," quote; TRAINS Magazine's Managing Editor, Kathi Kube

"pretty darn hard to put down once it's started." Margaret Ross

"... read the entire book cover to cover, having read a couple of stories two and three times, they were so entertaining and brought back some great memories." Tom Carter

"Thanks for the book Unauthorized Train Stories. It's GREAT. I am honored to be pictured with you." David Gunn, President and CEO (Amtrak)

I really enjoyed Ken Lothridge's book! As a former brakeman, conductor and trainmaster, I can vouch for the authenticity of the book! He has a nice, natural style of storytelling. I highly recommend it. William J. Brotherton, author of "Burlington Northern Adventures: Railroading in the Days of the Caboose".

I just finished reading this book and really enjoyed all of the stories. Gritty and realistic, he tell it like it is as far as working for the RR, dealing with the people, co-workers, the unexpected things that happen everyday. I hope he does well with this book so that it might encourage him to put out "More Unexpected Train Stories".

As a newly hired conductor with a western railroad, I purchased this book to get some more insight on my new job. The stories that Mr. Lothridge tells are entertaining and great examples of the good and bad of railroading - however, I unfortuntately have to say that the book is filled with grammatical, spelling, and other errors. I seemed to find some type of error on every page, and it does take something away from the book.

Mr. Lothridge's writing, while mostly detailed and precise, sometimes jumps all over the place, and makes a general assumption that the reader has a fairly good knowledge of railroads before picking up the book.

The first chapter of the book describes the history of railroading in the United States, but doesn't go into enough details about the railroads that Mr. Lothridge worked for.

Even with all of the editing problems, this is a book that I would recommend for the content.

Good book. It's one of the older George stories and drawings, not one of the newer George stories and drawings.

I love all the curious George books. Who Doesn't?

author of "Hobo Finds A Home"

Curious George, Margret & H. A. Rey's loveable monkey (Technically he's a Chimpanzee but we won't quibble too much . . . .) has received a series of new stories but in the same structure and style of the original. In these stories, George is a good monkey who tries to be helpful but allows his curiosity to cause problems. In the end however, George saves the day and all is forgiven. In this story, George, along with the Man in the Yellow Hat, is going on a train trip, causes problems in the station and then prevents a small boy from falling on the tracks. In the end, George and his new friend the small boy receive a ride in the locomotive. (I hope they brought earplugs.)

My mother taught me to read with Curious George and the Man with the Yellow Hat more than 30 years ago and it is good to see new stories for the cheeky little fellow. This story does not have quite the touch of the original but is very close. A good story with a good lesson and highly recommended.

Refusing to believe that love permits control or perhaps distracted by his companion Mrs. Needleman, the man with the yellow hat once again disappears as George wanders unsupervised. This time, in a train station mired in mid-century stasis, George rearranges the trainmaster's board in a misguided attempt to help. In the end, George discovers that what it takes to be forgiven is good intentions and the quick wits to save someone's life. Unlike Vipah Interactive's spanking clean take on George, Martha Weston's looser, darker illustrations harken back to the original's feeling of big city grit.

My son LOVES trains, and he also loved the Curious George movie. He has several of the books based on the Rey's style, and the PS2 Curious George game.

Curious George Takes a Train is the first George book I've bought "sight unseen" (from Amazon.com). However, since my son loves both trains and George, I felt it was a great fit.

Granted, my son seems to like the book. Out of the four books illustrated/written in the Rey tradition, my son owns three by Martha Weston. The other--Curious George Goes to a Chocolate Factory--is illustrated by Vipah Interactive.

Weston is heavy on the black charcoal as it is (as seen in the shadowing of books like Curious George Visits a Toy Store), but she is *especially* heavy with the black illustrations in Curious George Takes a Train. In fact, it often looks as if a child has taken a black crayon and (no lie) colored vertical streaks of black right on top of the people!

It's very unattractive, in my opinion, but kids don't seem to notice these types of things. I also felt that the story was a bit harrowing for a George tale (a little boy runs from his father after a toy train, the gate closes behind him, and the boy almost goes out in front of the tracks--but George saves his life.)

The story is a bit quick...it goes from the Man with the Yellow Hat strolling off with Mrs. Needleman in the station to George climbing up and messing with the numbers and letters on the train schedule--and then off to saving the boy!

If your child is a train enthusiast who likes George, he/she will likely enjoy this book. However, as far as stories go--and illustrations--there are better books in this series, in my opinion.

Beautiful illustrations and a cute beginning, but then something looses flow about halfway through. It takes a little extra explaing from the reader because the text isn't there. I'm not sure what happened the build up was good. None the less it's trains, animals, circus it's hard to go too wrong.

Anyone who likes fantasy, circuses or trains should love this book.

The story line is a little bumpy, but the gorgeous illustrations carry it through. A child who moved into Yonderville worried about where he would find friends. Then the circus arrived in town. Well, not actually in town. It arrived across a field from the boy's house, and had come to a dead end. The engineer had taken the wrong track, and was forced to stop by a collapsed bridge. The train could not make it into town, across the river, to set up the show.

The boy used his imagination. If you appreciate imagination and good illustrations, the rest of the story and it's fold-out watercolor will take your breath away. Alyssa A. Lappen

Circus Train, by Joseph A. Smith, is a delightful book about a young boy, Timothy, who recently moved to the country and found himself without any friends. A train soon appeared on a nearby track which was no longer in service. Taking the wrong track, it was the circus train that had come to a complete stop because the bridge had long been collapsed. Hearing the commotion, Timothy and his dog felt the need to investigate.

The engineer, worried because he could not put the train in reverse, was perplexed by his dilemma. He was stuck. He could not go in any direction. Timothy arrived on the scene and creatively solved the problem allowing the circus train to arrive on time at the fairgrounds in Yonderville.

The book gives children an opportunity to try their hand at problem-solving. What are some of the ways they could resolve this crisis? Allowing children to use their imagination and try their hand at predicting the outcome, they soon come to realize the difference between fact and fantasy. The story concludes with yet another opportunity to predict the outcome!

The beautiful watercolor illustrations give one a sense of nostalgia and excitement for those old days of the circus train. The vibrant use of color brings the pictures to life. It provides children of today a glimpse of one aspect of the "good ole days of years gone by."

We read every children's book on the subject of trains that we can get our hands on, to satisfy the obsession of my 4 year-old. This is the biggest disappointment yet. The illustrations are gorgeous (hence 2 star rating rather than 1 star), but there is just too much fantasy for our taste. The blend of fantasy with reality just doesn't flow. The boy uses his bubble blowing solution and has the elephant's blow up the circus train like giant balloons. As explained in the summary (above) the human cannonball acts as the engine for this now-floating circus and tows the train up and over the broken down train bridge and on to the circus. The next shot is the boy at this same circus, with his parents. In the end the clowns reappear for the lonely boy to play baseball with, along with some real children. This is so fantastical in nature it confused me and my son, making me wonder if all or part of this escapade was a figment of the lonely boy's imagination. I guess we prefer more realistic books on trains, we save the fantasy for other subjects. My conclusion was that the boy imagined the part about helping the circus train to ease his boredom and loneliness, and later did really attend the real circus with his parents. I also assume he is again entering the fantasy world to play a baseball game with imagined clowns and imagined children.

I like this version much better than the original. The biggest reason is that the text matches up better with the pictures. In the original, sentences ran from one page to the next, making it hard to read aloud. In addition, the vocabulary used is simpler for young children (my daughter is currently two years old and has been enjoying this book for many months now.)

Really, I wish I would have bought the original. Strangely enough we had the original version borrowed from the library in the house when this book arrived. Even my 2 1/2 year old daughter prefers the original. It is so much better. The details are more vivid. The language more interesting. This version isn't bad; it just isn't AS good.

All I can say is that I love this book. As a child my mother read me this book over and over. Its message is as inspiring to me now as it was then. I can't say enough how much I love this book. It's a wonderful addition to anyones collection, young and old. Brings me to tears when I read it and think back on my childhood. I don't think I could have gotten through some of those early years without it.

Just buy the REAL Little Engine That Could with its beautiful poetic lines. Skip the easy-to-read version. Little kids have a greater appreciation for real books than some people give them credit for.

After studying North European Railroads for some years, I wanted a new topic to work with. Railroads in USA was choosen as the next challenge. First priority was to get an overwiev of the major systems, and after searching... I settled for this title, and what a good choice. The book has lots af basic information about all significant Rail Roads in USA and to some degree also in Canada and Mexico. Geografic and historical information is presented in a clear fluent language. Scematic maps and standard tables help to digest the many data. There are much information in this book, which one does not go through in one evening although it can be read from start to end, it will also serve as a reference in the future. Good interesting pictures in B&W adds to the good impression.

another must have for train watchers but the lack of color pix is surprising in a book published after 1950; the attempt to include some maps is to be applauded but more of them would be appreciated; another thumbs down for Kalmbach as a publisher

This is probably the best book of its kind, but it has some deficiencies over the first edition. I couldn't find the entry for the Interstate Commerce Commission (which article is mentioned in the introduction). I also disliked relegation of the railroader biographies to a section in the back, without the photographs (instead of as sidebars near the entry for the railroad whose history they effected). However the inclusion of the Union Pacific, which is still extant, was a good idea. I still like the book, but it could have been better.

In the past seven decades the American railroad industry has undergone sweeping changes including a bewildering sucession of mergers. This book is a useful starting place to try and make sense of it.

The contents are arranged alphabetically by road name. Each railroad is covered in a one (or more) page historical summary. Remember, summary is the operative word here. Don't go to this guide expecting to find exhaustive coverage of railroad history.

Some entries include sketch maps, a picture or two of equipment, cuts of company logos, and suggestions for additional reading. Many of the reading lists, however, are dated - the book's major shortcoming.

Notwithstanding, you'll find this volume useful when looking at a map or doing some research and asking yourself questions such as, "Who did that piece of track belong to and what happened to the company?" or "Whatever happened to the road that used to run through my town?"

This was a hugely disappointing experience. We ordered a copy rated as "very good" condition. The book arrived after the quoted delivery time, had many pages that were loose from the binding, and it was missing pages 1-38. When I emailed they took a week to get back to me. When I told the seller that we would take a replacement copy as long as it had all of it's pages, they were hesitant to check on it for me even though I told them they had another copy listed in "very good" condition on Amazon. I chose not to beg them to check on a better copy and instead will never order from them again.

Who was Casey Jones? How did he really die? How did a child bring death to Engineer Ben Dewberry? Of all railroad disasters, why did the "Wreck of the Old 97" become so well known in song?

Lyle spins us stories of the real histories behind two dozen American railroad disasters that spawned folksongs that will not themselves die, though death figures prominently in their stanzas. Having learned most of these songs by heart as a child, Lyle writes this book as a labor of love and makes it the most readable history book in print, imbuing its historical facts with the pathos and the frailty of real humans, whose all-too-human errors occasioned many of the disasters described in these pages.

Of course, this is also a song book, and the music and words of the old railroad ballads are woven into each story. The sole disappointment in the book is that it comes to an end. Found by happenstance, it quickly became a cherished addition to my library, though whether to put it with my railroad collection or my folklore collection remains a bit of a question, but that really doesn't matter since it's in my hands much more than it's on the shelf! Readers of railroad folklore and singers of railroad ballads will surely find the lure of Lyle's writing irresistible.

Also, while you're browsing here, be sure to check out Norm Cohen's "Long Steel Rail," a thoroughly researched and scholarly work on railroads in American folksongs. Together, Lyle's book and Cohen's will provide hour upon hour of enjoyable reading to everyone whose interest includes folk music and iron rails!

Ms. Lyle shows a historian's perspicaciousness in her investigation of "Wreck of the Old '97" and other train wreck songs. She finds people who were at the wrecks and digs up news accounts of the wrecks--not all wrecks, just the ones with songs about them. Her comparisons of the myths in the songs and the history itself make a wonder read.

My father, Fred J. Lewey has been credited with writing the original words to "Wreck of the Old 97", by Robert Gordon's papers, accepted and held by the Library of Congress, where there is a cylinder recording of him singing the song. That recording was used in Supreme Court, in the George trial about the composer. Also, Reader's Digest in their "American Classics" recognised him, and Shapiro & Berstein, (who hold the copyright on the song), have acknowledged his authorship.I have sheet music, and a folk music song book showing him and Charles Noell as co-writers, (although Mr Noell has acknowledged that he rewote some of the words at a much later date). Henry Whitter recorded the song, and changed some words, but certainly did not compose the song. Why then, did the author of this book discuss Norm Cohen's and Robert Gordon's documents, plus mentioning a man proven to have made a fraudulant claim to the song, and never mention the actual writer? Did she fail to complete her research? My sister and I, Fred J. Lewey's only surviving children, are somewhat offended by this omission. Otherwise, we enjoyed the book, although we only recently became aware that it had been published, using a line from our Dad's song as the title!

This book is an excellent concept but a heartbreaking failure. Your child may assemble trains of stickers by placing stickers of engines, coaches and freight cars on pages showing tracks and colorful interesting backgrounds. The stickers curl. They will not stay on the pages. Some scenes cross the binder leading to awkward placement of stickers across it. The book cover deceives. The stickers are bordered in white. My child was trilled to have this book, but after several hours, it was trash. This is a shameful production of a great idea.

My four year-old son LOVES trains, and this book is fantastic. Tons of realistic stickers that can be placed on various landscapes. He absolutely loves this book. I highly recommend this book and any others in this series. They are an excellent value!

Sticker Stories Trains

By Edward Miller
This paperback book tells a little story about trains (well, a loose story). There are 75 "reusable" stickers showing cartoon-like trains. There are all different trains, coaches, box cars, diesel engines, subways, steam engines, etc. The text is vague so the child can use their imagination and their own creativity to create their own trains and I think that is great. There are lots of different scenes that the children then paste the train cars onto the rails.

My complaint is that these stickers are not really re-usable. Even when we tried removing a sticker within minutes of putting it on the page it curled up onto itself, got all stuck, and had to be thrown away. Other times when we tried to re-stick it to the paper, it simply would not stick fully and peeled up by itself and made a mess. I really resent the marketing of these so-called reusable stickers (by this company and other publishers) when really they are not reusable. Also my 4 year-old son got very frustrated with them rolling up and getting ruined when he did not cause the problem! He wanted me to "fix it" but I simply could not.

Once the stickers are in place the book can be re-read and browsed as a completed book which is great.

Overall my children have played with this enough to have gotten good use of the 75 stickers for the low price... so I am granting it a 3 star rating. Other books with similar issues charge a much higher price and/or don't allow as much creativity as this book. This would make an excellent project for long car trips or air flights.

We have enjoyed books illustrated by Edward Miller. His drawings are informative yet playful, and this sticker book has page after page of his scenery. The trains are provided by the imagination of your child as he builds it car by car from the stickers in the center of the book. The printing is excellent quality with multicolor smooth pages. This is a step above a coloring book in terms of page quality and "story".

Usually I am not a fan of sticker books. Typical sticker books have a specific spot on the page where one unique sticker must be placed. This sticker book is not so limiting. Each page has a scene and an engaging sentence or two. For example "All kinds of cars make up a freight train--boxcars, flatcars, tank cars, refrigerator cars. Load'em up at the loading dock!" is the sentence for a freight yard with three loading docks. Your train loving child will need very little encouragement to build several freight trains at each dock from the stickers. If the child doesn't read, the illustrations are excellent at conveying a story that isn't finished until a few stickers are placed on the page. After those stickers are placed the story is exciting enough that your little one may feel compelled to repeat it to you more than once.

Reusable stickers? As noted by others the back cover claims the stickers are reusable and the paper feels like it is slick enough to allow the stickers to be recycled--but if your child is like mine those finger prints on the adhesive portion will quickly limit the useful life of the sticker. For the price, you will be satisfied with the quiet time it provides--even if the stickers don't get reused.

On the next big trip in car or plane (or train), put away the DVD mind numbing drivel and let your child populate a world of his own within the covers of this little book.