What does everybody think of the new "Tourist Trains Guidebook?" My beloved annual "Steam Passenger Service Directory" seems to be a thing of the past. Over the past several years the "Steam Directory" changed it's title to "Guide to Tourist Railroads and Museums" and then to "Tourist Trains." I have really liked some of the changes (like the maps for each state that appeared last year) and some I've not liked so much. This year's edition does not mention that it is the 2007 edition. I wonder if this means that for now on, it will only be published every couple of years?

I discovered the "Steam Directory" in 1989 when I was 10 years old at Cass Scenic RR and got my parents to buy me a copy in the gift shop. Every year after that, the "Steam Directory" was our vacation guide much to the disbelief of my mother. What a great book! Eventually, I set out to find every edition. Using eBay, train meets, etc., I finally owned every edition since the first in 1966. The 1966 directory was so small. It's hard to believe how many operations have stayed the course and how many have disappeared. This little book that the members of the Empire State Railway Museum started has sure made a difference in my life. I assume from a statement on their website that they are no longer involved in the publication of the book. After 41 years of involvement, I hope they see the benefit they have brought the industry.

When I was younger, I always wanted to submit our Goose Creek RR to the Directory so that I could say that we were in the Directory. But, of course, being a private 2ft gage operation, I knew that we were not the type of operation for which the Directory was published.

Matt Helton

I like the changes for 2007. No, it's not the Steam Passenger Service Directory of old…but I still like it.

Like Matt, I first saw the directory at a young age – it was at the Golden Spike National Historic Site when I was - like Matt - ten years old. My parents bought me my first copy. That was the 1985 edition. I absolutely wore that book out! I firmly believe that if it wasn’t for the directory, I never would have become seriously interested in railroad preservation.

Years later, and thanks to Ebay, I have also managed to find all the issues of the Directory - back to '66. There are some real stinkers in there! Like the '03-'06 editions when it was "Tourist Trains." The 80s issues are great, as are the L&RP published Directories from the early '90s. But the recent crop? They got progressively worse until this new 2007 edition came out.

Looking at my shelf, the 2005 Directory is rather large and cumbersome at 450 pages; the photos are small; the captions and descriptions of the attractions are generally terrible (if not outright wrong in some cases); and the photos are very small and for the most part very out of date.

Compare this to the new Tourist Trains Guidebook. It’s slim at 270-something pages, and easily fits in my camera bag. I notice that it’s now in a more traditional travel guide format, intended for everyone, not just railfans. One thing that I loved about the old directory was that they gave you some technical information about the locomotives and cars each railroad used. Most of that information is available online today, but I still miss having it in the book. Am I the only one?

Instead of a page for each and every attraction, only the more popular tourist lines and museums are “spotlighted” with and nice photo and detailed information. Everyone else gets a short description. I like it. The descriptions of the attractions are excellent; someone obviously did their homework. Like Matt, I noticed that there is no date on the cover. I did note that the laminated discount card (no more coupons) is good through December 31, 2008, so I suspect that we won’t see an update until ’09.

In the interest of full disclosure, I must confess that I was given a complementary book by Kalmbach. They used a photograph of mine on page 91.

All in all, I think Jim Wrinn and the staff at Kalmbach deserve some kudos for producing an excellent successor to the Steam Passenger Service Directory.

Jeff Terry

I am disappointed that trolley museums without steam and/or diesel operations have been limited to simple listings vs. the major attention given to tourist railroads and railroad museums.

Wesley