Any books on train history?

[northnorthwest]

During my upcoming Crescent trip I'm thinking of doing some reading on train history. Anybody have a recommendation on a good starter on train history in the US or a slice of that history? It would be nice if it could include some combination of the historic, social, and technical aspects. I'm from Pittsburgh, so it might be nice if the discussion could include trains that passed through there.

Thanks as always.

 

[CHamilton]

Here's one. It's not as detailed as some others, but it covers the issues you mention, and is very readable.

Great Railway Revolution: The Epic Story of the American Railroad

 

[me_little_me]

I found this old book at a used book store (the kind where you "sell" them your books and/or buy the ones others sold). Very interesting. It is called "Westward by Rail" by William Fraser Rae. He describes his trip from the UK by ship to NYC then by rail across the US ending in San Francisco.

No big deal? Lots of people have done it and written about it. What makes it different is that it was written in 1869, shortly after the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad and was written as he traveled. It is an interesting personal experience of passenger rail nearly 140 years ago.

The book is not as good as the cover makes it out to be but is still fascinating.

WARNING: This was the time when the Mormons and the U.S. Government were at odds (to say the least) and he spends an undue amount of time expressing his disdain for the Mormon leadership. However, he probably expressed the then-current feelings of Mormons and non-Mormons against each other.

EDIT: While the story was written in 1869, the book was published in 1993.

 

[Guest]

"Nothing Like it in the World" by Stephen Ambrose is a good history of the building of the transcontinental railroad. It is a bit eye-opening regarding how the politicians and the businessmen were in bed together on the whole project. Talk about corruption!

And for more recent passenger rail history, try "Zephyr" by this forum's own Henry Kisor. One of my favorites.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Great idea for a thread. Are any of these available for e-book readers like the Kindle? I hate carrying paper books around but if you put it on my phone or my tablet I'm good to go.

 

[railiner]

Thru the years, there have periodically been some great chronicle's of the railroad history....

These are a few of my favorites......

This Fascinating Railroad Business, by Robert Selph Henry, Bobbs-Merrill, 1942

The Story of American Railroads, by Stewart H.Holbrook, Crown Publisher's, 1947

Railroads of Today, by S. Kip Farrington Jr., Coward-McCann, 1949

Passenger Terminals and Trains, by John A. Droge, McGraw-Hill, 1916, reprinted by Kalmbach, 1968

The American Heritage History of Railroads in America, by Oliver Jensen, McGraw-Hill, 1975

The above are general histories of American railroads. I also have many more favorites that are specifically focused on individual railroads, on individual locomotive and passenger car manufacturer's, on individual famous trains, etc. Also many covering passenger trains in general...too numerous to list them all here....

As you can see, I haven't added any more recent coverages in general histories, as my collection is already too large for my apartment.

The books I listed are all out of print, so unless you can find them in a large library, or on Amazon, etc., is probably not much help for the OP, so I apologize for that. But if you ever do come across any of these gems, they will provide a nostalgic viewpoint of railroad history....

 

[CHamilton]

Are any of these available for e-book readers like the Kindle?

Yes.

• The Great Railroad Revolution: The History of Trains in America [Kindle Edition]
• Nothing Like It In the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869
• Zephyr

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Thanks Charles. I had a look at each of them. Nothing Like It apparently has some serious issues with misunderstanding significance and misrepresenting the actual situation according to folks who reviewed the book and apparently admitted to some extent by the author himself. Zephyr sounds interesting but a bit limited in scope compared to the others and something I'll probably wait to purchase until I have another Zephyr trip planned. Great Railroad Revolution has the most promise but doesn't appear to be written for quick and easy consumption. Sometimes complexity and nuance are preferable over simplicity though, so that's not necessarily a knock.

 

[CHamilton]

There's also this one, about the history of the southern transcontinental and the ATSF. But for some reason, the Kindle version is not currently available. Maybe you can get it through your local library--Overdrive, which provides ebooks for a lot of libraries--has it.

Rival Rails: The Race to Build America's Greatest Transcontinental Railroad [Kindle Edition]

 

[Long Train Runnin']

There are so many interesting books about the history of railroads, although I tend to find most of them in second hand bookstores. One book I read recently that covered the very early days of railroading from a different approach was "Passage to Union: How the Railroads Transformed American Life, 1829-1929" by Sarah H. Gordon which I don't believe is available on Kindle. It covered everything from ticketing to early luggage design. If your traveling to Atlanta you may want to check out the MBI Railroad Color History series which has a book on the Southern Railway who originally operated the route from Washington DC to Atlanta.

 

[Slasharoo]

I just finished Empire Express, which is about the first transcontinental railroad, not the empire builder. I also read Nothing Like it in the World a few years ago and Empire Express was a bit better IMO. Another book that deals with eastern railroads, is The First Tycoon by T.J. Stiles. It is about Cornelius Vanderbilt so it is about more than just trains, but the trains they talk about are closer to your area.

 

[Carolyn Jane]

Appetite for America, the story of the Fred Harvey restaurants. Lots of history of the developments of the railroads. It goes downhill after the death of the last Harvey boy, but interesting none the less. Available for Kindle. CJ

 

[shelzp]

Don't forget that you can borrow books for kindle as well as audiobooks along with hardcovers at the library.

 

[WhoozOn1st]

Don't forget that you can borrow books for kindle as well as audiobooks along with hardcovers at the library.

Borrowing is only for Amazon's Prime members, though, and it's not quite like a real library, i.e. one at a time, no return date. (new Kindle Paperwhite has no audio)

I'm with Long Train: MANY interesting books about railroad history, and it's difficult to point to one or several, but I will. "A Great and Shining Road" by John Hoyt Williams (Times Books) isn't currently available for Kindle, but is my fave single book on the first transcon. A treatise of wider scope is "Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America," by Richard White (which IS available for Kindle).

Period books shouldn't be overlooked, and that's where used bookstores can really shine. Personal accounts, e.g. "My Life on the New York Central" (not a real book that I know of, just an idea of the type of title) can really add and up close and personal dimension to railroading of yore in an industry almost 200 years old.

 

[trainman74]

Don't forget that you can borrow books for kindle as well as audiobooks along with hardcovers at the library.

Borrowing is only for Amazon's Prime members, though, and it's not quite like a real library, i.e. one at a time, no return date. (new Kindle Paperwhite has no audio)

Many public libraries now have e-books and audiobooks available for borrowing, in addition to their "traditional" hardcover books -- I think that's what shelzp meant.

 

[WhoozOn1st]

Don't forget that you can borrow books for kindle as well as audiobooks along with hardcovers at the library.

Borrowing is only for Amazon's Prime members, though, and it's not quite like a real library, i.e. one at a time, no return date. (new Kindle Paperwhite has no audio)

Many public libraries now have e-books and audiobooks available for borrowing, in addition to their "traditional" hardcover books -- I think that's what shelzp meant.

Yes, of course, and thank you for refreshing my memory! Decades of budget slashing reduced public libraries around here to practical nonexistence some time ago, so that unfortunately the option no longer naturally occurs to me. Pretty sad, as I used to walk to one nearby several times a week; now gone. Besides its traditional services it was my computer link to the world in between college and buying my own.

 

[caravanman]

While somewhat off topic, I found the late 1990's book "Transit Talk" very interesting. New York subway and bus workers tell their story...

http://publictransport.about.com/od/Transit_War/a/Review-Of-Transit-Talk-New-Yorks-Bus-And-Subway-Workers-Tell-Their-Stories.htm

Ed