More, as promised............

Journey to Amtrak, edited by Harold Edmunson, published by Kalmbach, contains a plethora of stupendous photography and accounts of the last days pre-Amtrak and Amtrak's beginnings. Follow-up: Amtrak at Milepost 25, by Mike Schafer, with loads of color and details.

The Western Maryland Railway: Fireballs and Black Diamonds by Cook & Zimmerman. Not just a dry recitation of data, it has among the best photo work ever in a "company history" type of rail book as opposed to a photo collection or travel guide. It makes you care about the railroad even if you don't.

A similar work, of personal memoirs and photography, that makes you interested when you're not: Illinois Central: Monday Mornin' Rails by Jim Boyd.

When the Railroad Leaves Town, by Schwieterman. Examination of how and why railroads abandon, and their relative costs to the communities. Examines case histories of dozens of communities. Two-volume set, east and west. I've been in many of the communities detailed.

Guinness Book of Rail Facts and Feats, by John Marshall. Also published without the Guinness name, this now-obsolete reference book is perfect bathroom trivia material, and will expand your rail horizons if you find it on the secondary market.

"Portrait of a Silver Lady", by Ted Benson and Bruce MacGregor. The definitive story of the California Zephyr from beginning to end, and the story of post war American passenger trains though the tale of one of the best and most beloved of them.

Excellent writing and superb photography.

Howard P.

George L.Beam and the Denver and Rio Grande Vols I and II
The Last of Steam Joe Collias
The Search for Steam Joe Collias
The Iron Horse at War Valle
Frisco Power Joe Collias (Favorite to me)
Three Barrels of Steam Boynton

The list could go on and on, but I like to pick any of these up from time to time.

Martin, Albro. James J.Hill and the Opening of the Northwest. New York, Oxford University Press, 1976.
Martin, Albro. James J.Hill and the Opening of the Northwest. Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1991. (Paperback)

Other books:
Lewty, Peter J. To the Columbia Gateway: The Oregon Railway and the Northern Pacific, 1879-1884 . Washington State University. (Paperback)

Lubetkin, M. John. Jay Cooke's Gamble: The Northern Pacific Railroad, The Sioux, And the Panic of 1873 University of Oklahoma Press, 2006.

Knowles, Valerie. From Telegrapher to Titan: The Life of William C. Van Horne. Indiana University Press, 2010 (Paperback) [Bibliography of Van Horne builder of the Canadian Pacific.]

Harwood,Herbert H., Jr. Invisible Giants: The Empires of Cleveland's Van Sweringen Brothers. Indiana University Press, 2003 [Van Sweringen brothers developed Shaker Heights, built the Cleveland Terminal, controlled the NKP, the C&O, and MoPac.]

The New Haven Railroad: A Fond Look Back Andrew J. Paulacik
A Time of Trains David Plowden
Ride the Sandy River L. Peter Cornwall and John W. Farrell
The Mohawk That Refused To Abdicate David P. Morgan
Magnetic North Roger Cook and Karl Zimmerman
Delaware and Hudson Jim Shaughnessy
Set Up Running
The Electric Way Across the Mountains Richard Steinheimer

Theses are the ones I'll run out the door with...

Some more:

Hilton, George W., and John F. Due. The Electric Interurban Railways in America. Stanford University Press, 1960 and 2000 (paperback).

Hilton, George W. The Cable Car in America. Stanford University Press , 1991 (revised edition)

Hilton, George W. American Narrow Gauge Railroads. Standford University Press, 1995

MacGregor, BruceThe Birth of California Narrow Gauge. Stanford University, 2003.

Excellent topic. I will add the following:

Metropolitan Corridor: Railroads and the American Scene by John R. Stilgoe

This is an excellent history of how economic development and success followed wherever railroads were built.

I should mention my favorite place to look for old or obscure books. ABE, Amazon and such are fine, but if you don't mind an old library copy literally rescued from landfilling...
http://www.betterworldbooks.com
ETA: No one yet has mentioned Project Gutenberg's huge library of e-books in numerous formats. If you enjoy very old railroad history, it's hard to beat.

I highly recommend the book listed above in the post by wilkinsd:

Salsbury, Stephen, No Way to Run a .: Untold Story of the Penn Central Crisis (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1981).

This is one of the best books I've ever read about the RR industry, with most of the emphasis being on the railroads in the mid-Atlantic region during the 1950's, '60's, and '70's, and in particular - one man's view of the events that led to the demise of the Penn Central merger. It was so fascinating that I could hardly put it down when I first read it. A must-read for fans that are students of the RR industry as a business.

"Guinness Book of Rail Facts and Feats, by John Marshall. Also published without the Guinness name, this now-obsolete reference book is perfect bathroom trivia material, and will expand your rail horizons if you find it on the secondary market."--Alexander Mitchell

I remember that one in the library when I was in college in the 1970s. One thing I remember from it was the three oldest railroad employees in the world worked for a road in South America; I think all of them were in a roundhouse. One of them was 101, another was 100, and the youngest was a relatively youthful 97. Supposedly the senior member of the trio would annoy his slightly younger compatriots by addressing them as "Sonny". . .

Ho, ho, ho, ho, wouldn't that be a little tidbit to put into a TV program or a movie about railroaders at work?

I'd like to nominate a recent work of fiction, 'The Wrecker' by Clive Cussler and Justin Scott. I'm about halfway through it, and haven't hit any real bad technical errors yet, beyond little things like 'crown plate' for crownsheet. The authors seem to have done their homework here. The plot involves the expansion of the Southern Pacific, set in 1907 and beyond. All of the story seems to make sense, so far.

As far as factual historical works go, I have been collecting selected Morning Sun books, and others like them, for several years now. My wife just about screams when she sees a new addition to my library, but I keep reminding her that time travel hasn't been perfected yet. Books are a good substitute-

EDM