While perusing the most recent issue of Classic Trains Magazine I found that the University of Pennsylvania press just announced this book, by Albert J. Churella. You may remember this author wrote From Steam to Diesel a number of years ago, which is a good book.

Anyway, I used the code in the ad to get a fairly hefty discount and placed my order. The book arrived yesterday! It's the size of the Yellow Pages! I had expected an "academic sized" book and got something much larger instead. At 945 pages, I'm going to be working on this one for a while. Still, looks good, and worth checking it out, for those of you interested in railroad history.

I find it fitting that a book about "The Standard Railroad of the World" is published in a non-standard size.

Anyway, thought this would be of interest to some on the forum, especially with the Holidays approaching.

Pondering that book myself for the Christmas book list.

The important question is whether it holds up as something "railfans" want to read. In my honest experience, I have a hard time getting the typical "foamer" and "pitcher-taker" interested in the "how and why," as they're too distracted by mere data (they can tell you the PRR had 598 I-1 2-10-0s, and rush to add "more than most railroads had locomotives total," but they have trouble telling you why any particular line was built). The famous Burgess & Kennedy "Centennial History of the Pennsylvania Railroad, 1846-1946" is still sought by PRR fans, but I swear half of them have never read any of it and only have it as a "collectible." (Currently $40-130 on Alibris, down from a decade ago.)

Right now the estate book collection I'm (almost literally) shoveling through has a rich selection of books covering railroad rate regulation, government policy concerning transportation rate regulation, late 1800's books advocating what became the Interstate Commerce Commission, books arguing against it after it was formed, etc. right up to academic economic examinations of what role regulation played in the 1950s and 1960s collapse of American railroading, as well as books on transit fare policy, transit fiscal planning, private-versus-public transit operation, etc. This is hardly a surprise; the guy was an internationally-renown transit consultant. I'm having to fight to retain/add these books in the collection over the protests of other library committee members who prize more highly a huge set of streetcar transfer tickets, a stack of builder's photos, or a track diagram showing changes to a junction.

Let us know how the book reads, and how much you learn.

For me the "how and why" have been just as interesting and important as the "Hey, look at that interurban." Especially when talking to museum visitors, I can answer questions like "Why are there no more trolleys?" or "Why was steam phased out?" without delving into conspiracy theories about General Motors, the tri-lateral commission and freemasonry.

Recently, I suggested that someone may want to read George Taylor's The American Railroad Network which is a rather short book, but a good one at explaining how rail transportation developed into a network, after not originally being conceived as one. I just got a blank stare.

There's a lot of good scholarship out there on issues such as rate regulation, railroad safety and railroad law that has been put out recently. I find the stuff fascinating, but fear I'm in the minority.

Seriously, if you cannot find a home for those "heavy" books in your library, you should contact the John W. Barringer III National Railroad Library at the St. Louis Mercantile Library. They have a good "nuts and bolts" collection that can only get stronger. I'm using the library now and its resources on an article I'm writing.

I'll let you know how the PRR book reads. I plan on starting later tonight.

The University of Pennsylvania Press has a podcast that includes a very good interview with the book's author:

http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/podcast/pp_podcast_churella.mp3

For all you metro-Philly area types, the author will be delivering a lecture at the Hagley Museum in Wilmington, DE on 15 Nov. at 7 pm. I am considering making the journey.

http://library.hagleyblogs.org/2012/09/ ... he-others/