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Narrow Gauge Railways in America Howard Fleming with dust jacket # and signed
Narrow Gauge Railways In America Howard Fleming 1871-1949 By Grahame Hardy and Paul Darrell
101 Pages + Number 208 signed by Darrell, Hardy and Thompson From the books of...on blank page
Hard cover with Dust Jacket. Dust jacket has plastic protective covering
Copyright 1949 FIRST EDITION
Including a list of narrow gauge railways 1871 to 1949 compiled by Brian Thompson edited by Hardy and Darrell. Illustrated with engravings reproduced from the original volume.
INTRODUCTION
Before the narrow gauges pass entirely from our time, it is considered of interest to reproduce this book - the first American work advocating the cause of the narrow gauge railroad. By narrow gauge we mean any distance between the rails less than 4' 81/2". At the time of their adoption in America in the 1870's, there was considerable controversy over their advantages. In the light of present day developments the arguments in favor of them as presented by Howard Fleming, a prominent civil engineer of that pioneer time, are of significance inasmuch as the narrow gauge flourished throughout the country for well over half a century.
In the years following the Civil War, narrow gauge lines formed an important part of the American transportation scene. Within the next twenty years they had reached their peak, and for many reasons, decline followed. Powerful arguments in their favor were economy of construction, even in difficult country, and light locomotives and rolling stock. The distinct disadvantages of transshipment of goods from narrow gauge to standard gauge cars, and vice versa, plus the active enmity of the older established standard gauge lines, soon undermined the advocacy of the narrow gauge.
As our railroad system expanded, the undesirable break-of-gauge made operations more difficult for any line that was not of standard gauge. The principle of interchangeability of equipment is the backbone of the great American network. Anything that interfered with this precept was bound to be by-passed as the railroad system expanded. Consequently we are today almost without narrow gauge railroads, and their existence is a limited one at best. During the last fifty years many of the narrow gauges were standard-gauged themselves, and thus given a new hold on life, but now most of these have been absorbed in major systems or have reached the end of their track, and are to be found only in the railroad's obituary: "Abandoned."
The directory of narrow gauge railroads, compiled by Brian Thompson, contains a record of over 750 railroads of a miscellaneous nature, and shows the wide acceptance of the narrow gauge idea, in spite of all disadvantages. It is unfortunate that most M these roads have joined the legions of the past, but it is only natural they should fall victim to railroad progress, in spite of their miniature charm, and their contribution to early railroad development.
The basic text of this book is a reproduction of Fleming's second edition of 1876, simply because this edition contains much more material than the first edition of 1875, and is thus of greater value to historians. In addition to this text, there is a miscellany of narrow gauge material. Particular emphasis has been placed upon illustrations and engravings from both editions of Fleming's work, and similar pictures obtained from many sources are included with the knowledge that they will be of value. A selection of advertisements of the day -always interesting in themselves - help to round out the text. The contents are offered with the intention of filling a gap in railroad literature, especially so with the inclusion of Brian Thompson's comprehensive list, a task which has no equivalent in any other single source.
The additional material was largely obtained from periodicals of the period, and the compilers wish to express their most sincere thanks to Miss Jeannette Hitchcock of the Hopkins Transportation Library, Leland Stanford, Jr., University, for her wholehearted co-operation in the search for obscure notes from the past.
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