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Colorado's Mountain Railroads by Robert LeMassena Revised edition
Colorados Mountain Railroads by Robert LeMassena
Revised edition First Printing 1984
384 pages.
Hard cover with Plastic slip cover.
Two decades ago, when the first volume of the first edition of this work appeared, there was scarcely any literature pertaining to Colorado's numerous and interesting railroads. Moreover, much of what had been published was out-of-print, or was included in historical society periodicals or privately published booklets. Even the names and locations of the railroads were known only to experts, and they didn't know all of them. Photographs were scarce, and many of them lay unidentified or unknown in both private and public collections. Since that time authors and publishers have produced about 50 books concerning the railroads of Colorado, and the flow of illustrated literature shows no indication of abating. The birth, life and death of obscure carriers has been chronicled in utmost detail; locomotive rosters have been compiled with incredible accuracy and completeness. Yet, "new" photographs continue to appear; "new" information continues to be unearthed; and even "new" railroads continue to be discovered by the more curious individuals. Despite this apparent surfeit of works there is surprisingly little overlap; twenty recent books about the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad-neither large nor old by national standards-embrace mutually exclusive aspects. And, still, authors feel that only a small portion of Rio Grande history has been disclosed in text and illustration.
Those first five volumes of the first edition, a compendium of 1000 pages and 1500 illustrations, are now both rare and-more important-quite inadequate by contemporary criteria. This new edition, though utilizing the editorial philosophy and -arrangement of the old one, can hardly be compared with respect to completeness, accuracy and depth. Many of the original illustrations have been retained, but new or better ones have been added. The motive power lists have been enlarged and corrected to identify the various steam locomotives' origins and dispositions. Descriptive text has replaced the statistical arrangement of facts, and new maps have been drawn to show the smaller railroads in more legible clarity. Regardless of one's interest in Colorado's railroads-in the mountains or on the plains-this new edition will provide a wealth of fundamental information about their names, trackage, motive power, and history. Like an encyclopedia, this work may be used as a basic reference, or-through its bibliography-a guide to more-detailed information contained in other books.
One would suppose that by this time, with such widespread public awareness of old photographs, ghost towns, and abandoned roadbeds, that pictures of every locomotive and station, together with maps of all rights-of-way and industrial facilities would be available in accessible collections. Such is far from the truth; there are still railroads whose names are known, but whose precise locations and rolling equipment is known only to those who are no longer among us. These await discovery by some dedicated researcher, or through accidental revelation when long-stored accumulations finally see the light of day. Surprises are still to be anticipated-as every author knows.
Excepting the D&RGW and small local railroads, the detailed development of motive power does not go beyond the end of the steam era. To do otherwise would embrace half-a century of diesel-electric history pertaining to very large railroads, whose operations in Colorado constituted only a small part of their entire transportation system. Such an account would be beyond the intended scope of this work, and would contribute little to the State's railroad history.
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