I'm looking for a good book on the railroads serving the pittsburgh and altoona areas of PA, Ideally one at a more introductory level (the person I would be getting it for is not a railfan)...

any suggestions?

The problem I see is that the books I know of aren't that good, and the books that are "good" are two specialized for your friend.

Here's one:

http://www.amazon.com/Rails-Pittsburgh- ... 441&sr=8-3

"Rails to Pittsburgh" is available in both paperback and hardcover;unfortunately the photo quality ranges from excellent to beyond-marginal, and the reproduction and printing is quite sub-par.

I might also suggest Don Ball's "The Pennsylvania Railroad: The 1940s and 1950s", apparently still readily available new and used, which has a lot of Pittsburgh/Altoona area color photography, but is focused exclusively on the PRR.

It's possible that Morning Sun has released a "$60 slide show" book focusing on the Pittsburgh area.

A final note: A couple photos in the Feibelman book illustrate why good photography in the Pittsburgh area was rare....... the smog was so thick so often that photography was all too often nigh impossible.

From the back of the mailing insert for the Summer 2008 issue of The Keystone:

SKU 102 - The PRR's Golden Triangle - Main Line - Panorama in the Pittsburgh Area, by Ken Kobus and Jack Consoli ISBN 0-9663191-0-9

SKU 103 - Altoona and the PRR - Between a Roar and a Whimper, by Betty Wagner Loeb ISBN 0-9663191-1-7

Books are $20 each, shipping is $6.50 for up to 3 books, plus PA sales tax @ 6%. Checks payable to PRRT&HS and mailed to PRRT&HS c/o Kutztown Publishing Co., PO Box 346, Kutztown, PA 19530-0346

It's been 40 years since the PRR merged into PC, but these are good coverage of what was there at the time.