There have been volumes of railroad books published over the years. I've been emptying Indiana University's library with a great deal of them for research, the most recent being J. Parker Lamb's "Perfecting the American Steam Locomotive," and the earliest being Taylor Hampton's "The Nickel Plate Road."

Over the years, writers like Don Ball have really captured the essence of railroading and steam locomotion (Railroads: An American Journey being one of the best, I think) but what are some other great railroad books? What makes them great? Photos? History? Prose? A good balance between techno-speek and poetry?

If you were to write a book on the subject, be it steam, diesel, or railroading at all, how would you do it? What would you include? What draws you, the reader, in when you look railroad literature over?

And importantly, what are some good ways for railroad literature to spark the interest of the general public?

Well, as book review editor (and usual reviewer) I find the first criteria is getting a copy to read and review in the first place. We seem to be flying well under the radar for most publishers. When I have solicited a book upon a recommendation, it generally is provided. Submissions gladly accepted.....or recommendations along with publishers contact info.

I tend to prefer books that colorfully provide a real sense of the time and place and conditions of the subject. Too many authors scrimp on contextual richness. Granted it isn't as easy as showing some photos and a list of technical specs, which in a reference work like a spotters guide is about all that is expected, but then (apart from needing to ferret out a fact) i am not much inclined to curl up with a reference book and a nice glass of homebrew for an entertaining evening.

There are some technical books I will sit and read - obsolete mechanical stuff written by mechanics to guide other mechanics decades ago not only teach valuable skills, but provide a window into what being a mechanic was like in 1880 or whenever.

Critical technical appreciations are also of great interest - I have a copy of one on Gods Wonderful Railway locomotives somewhere. It was written by an English foamer back in the thirties (I think) about his favorite line, comparing various locomotive classes, and explaining development. Few academic books read well, but one that really caught me was METROPOLITAN CORRIDOR. It brought a lot of concepts into a rational system of understanding, in a most entertaining way.

The common thread I suppose is gaining a personal sense of historical context.

General audiences? I believe they are most likely to enjoy a book that speaks to their lives in some way, perhaps by dealing with people primarily and technical information secondarily. SUPERPOWER follows a young apprentice through every department of Lima Locomotive Works as he tries out verious trade skills to find his best fit - and the first Superpower Berkshire is his test bed in every case. I can easily see a book like it grabbing a 12 year old with what could become a lifelong interest.

I got ahold of a copy of Ziel's TWILIGHT when I was young - it spoke to me and made me into the disfunctional individual I am today. Now, having gotten much larger and wrinklier, i see bits and pieces of my own history mixed in with the captioned photos which are the bulk of the book, instead of the demonstration of need for attention I saw back in the '60s.

Good railroad fiction - can it be written in a way that speaks to nonfans today? The old railroad Magazine ran a story a month that was wonderful, especially if it was about Spike Mulligan pulling one over on P. Virgil Miller. Haven't seen any at all lately of any quality.

Final plug for some mass audience books like Zephyr, Rails to Nowhere, and the two biographical books (can't remember the titles) written by the woman SP conductor about her career. All these are contemporary sociology with a lot of personal context to make them accessable. Sure could use more.

dave

The first thing that I look for in any work is wheither or not it has footnotes or endnotes, or at the very least a Bibliography. This is important to faciliate further research by historians and students because many railroad related texts are oddly cataloged and most librarians are not the least bit familer with railroad related primary or secondary sources. Likewise, it also helps to verify the validity of a particular sources claims and facts.

A good example (but definately not the only one) in terms of both citations and overall composition is

The Detroit, Toledo & Ironton Railroad by Scott D. Trostel, Published by Cam-Tech Publishing. 1988

Tom Cornillie

Which is far too close to the truth. I tracked down Kevin J. Holland's "Berkshires of the Nickel Plate Road" in a library's business section over the weekend.

I would have to say that one thing I like in a railroad book is one that gives you a very good idea of what it was like on that railroad. When they put in stories from the men that worked the line. To me it just brings it all to life in my head. Along with many pictures that show the equipment and the surrounding area. You can fully understand a railroad till you see what the landscape it ran threw was like and the equipment they operated. One of my favorite set of books are Two Feet Between the Rails, Two Feet to Tide Water, Two Feet to Togus, Two Feet to the Quarries, and Two Feet to the Lakes. All written by Robert C. Jones. These books offer a very good look into some of Americas most unique railroads. The Maine two foot gauges. They all have personal accounts in them and are full of pictures that really give you the feel of the area and the railroad. I know when I read about some of their winters I get the shivers. I also like it when they add in mechanical stuff to it too. I draw locomotives and cars all the time and the mechanical parts of a book help me put the most detail in a picture that I can. Well that's just my personal preferences. (I also am a big two foot gauge fan which is the reason why I picked those books)

-Eric

A good book should of course be well researched and fact checked. Photos should be properly developed with the best possible reproduction, preferably from collections that have not been seen before, rather than "stock" photos that have been published elsewhere. Professional editing does wonders for spelling and syntax. Clean and logical layout is a must.

Those are all technical aspects that impact the look, feel, and overall readability of any book, but some railroad books are found to be lacking in one or more of those areas. Understandable since many authors are not writers by profession and their books are a labor of love.

The single most important element of any book though, is simply this: have a good story to tell. Engage the reader. My favorite at the moment is "Chasing Trains" by Robert Richardson, founder of the Colorado Railroad Museum. Not only chock full of fascinating photos from the 1930s, '40s, and '50s, but a wonderful autobiographical tale of a remarkable man and his railfan adventures.

Alan Maples

The SP ex-conductor is Linda Niemann, who is now a professor in Georgia. She's also one of our book reviewers for the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society's journal, Railroad History.

I'm the book review editor for Railroad History and what we look for in a publication is, at its most basic level, an answer to the question "So what?" Is this yet another book on Colorado narrow gauge? If so does it have anything new to say? If not, we tell readers, "It has nothing new to add," so they can make an informed decision on buying it. And of course, as others have noted here, a sense of context. Readers need to ask: "What does all this mean in the greater scheme of things?" In other words, the "why?"

My own favorite railroad is the PRR and one of the most consistently and favorably commented-on PRR books of the last five years is "Set Up Running," which is not so much about the railroad as it is a collection of reminiscences of an engineman's experiences over a career of something like 50 years, compiled by his son. I think the reason is that in the railfan field's first season -- 1935-1980, let's say -- many books tended to focus so heavily on technology (the "what" and "how") and pure history (the "when" and "where") that the personal side (the "who") was not just ignored but marginalized. Now, with books like this, a balance is coming about.

At Railroad History, we look for many of the attributes mentioned by other postings here -- accuracy, clear writing and/or editing, sharp reproduction of photos, documentation in the form of a bibliography and index, and value for money. One author vigorously protested when we ran a review that noted -- in passing -- his book's many typos and factual errors (and this in a semi-technical, semi-historical work with roster retailing for $60). We sent him our eight-page compilation of the goofs, and have heard nothing more. The publisher apparently cut corners by not hiring an editor to oversee the work of the author (who was not a writer) or the publisher and author both assumed that because their intentions were good and they loved the subject, the product would of course be error-free. Editing is a skill every bit as critical as having the right focus and f-stop in taking a photo.

Another point is logical organization -- does the text describe many town or place names but has the publisher, trying to save money, decided not to commission a good map? That's contemptuous of the reader, who is the one paying good money for a product.

Anyone interested in more detail on this subject, and coincidentally, anyone interested in potentially joining our team of reviewers, can e-mail me to receive a list of reviewer's guidelines at cupper@att.net. You don't have to be an R&LHS member to be a reviewer, but most of our reviewers do choose to be members.

Dan Cupper
Deputy Editor, Railroad History
Harrisburg, Pa.

My interests lean toward branchlines. They often had a unique character in the equipment they used, the territory in which they operated, and people that used them and worked them. So I like a book that offers good pictures and interesting text that explains what is was like to work on a particular line.

While not exclusive to branchlines, and each with relatively little text, I'd have to say that the 2 O. Winston Link books capture this feeling in the pictures. Another is one published some time ago is called "Canadian Steam". I borrowed it from the library countless times to show it to my Grandfather who was a conductor for CN throughout the steam era. He often remarked on how the pictures brought back memories. One picture that comes to mind was taken at night during a blizzard at a train meet in the Maritimes. You see 2 tail-end crew standing on the platform of the caboose watching the engine from the other train roll by. Definitely an example of where a picture is worth a thousand words.

Thank you guys for making this a great discussion.

Your input is extremely valued.

Now, to steal all your ideas and write the ultimate railroad book...

-Kelly Lynch