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Rails to the Setting Sun by Charles Small Hard Cover 1971 188 Pages
Rails to the Setting Sun by Charles Small Hard Cover 1971 188 Pages DUST JACKET has a large tear on the back cover, selling as a hard cover. Review copy on the front page (written with a marker)
This book records the images and settings of a group of railway lines in various parts of the world, mostly less than three foot gauge, which have either recently vanished, are heading for extinction, or are preserved by the peculiarities of local laws.
Today in search of steam power in active service on the narrower of the narrow gauges, one must seek out the cane fields, the olive groves, the remote coal fields, odd mines and far off forests for here are the survivors hidden away from the prying eyes of public timetables.
One could possibly argue that these lines, engaged in the grubby task of hauling raw materials, are uninteresting. They do part of the world's work and what they lack in main line elan and dash is amply compensated for by their variety and individuality.
A few still carry passengers, even if only workmen's trains, which depart at inconvenient hours. Others, from force of habit, attach passenger conveyances patronized only by those as old as the equipment.
The locomotives, the focal point of interest for many enthusiasts, are as interesting and varied as the lines themselves. Shays, once the mainstay of the North American logging industry now operate in revenue service only in Bolivia, Taiwan and the Philippines. The indirect drive locomotive, the early designers answer to keeping the cylinders out of the mud or dust, survives only in Spain. Engines left over from many wars ago, engines of no known parentage and engines rebuilt so many times that their original form and shape have been lost, exist on these lines.
The pursuit of such small railways brings ancillary benefits to those of an inquiring mind. It is unlikely that you would find out that Greece is full of cats, Taiwan swamps you in tea, Malaysia has Japanese locomotives operated by Australians, and that half the mine shafts in Spain are named Santa Barbara unless you stumbled across this information in the process of searching the world for little railways.
Included is one exercise in railway archaeology, the reconstruction of the railway scene in Nouvelle Caledonie, once a stronghold of the genuine Decauville system. It is ironic that the name Decauville, once a synonym for light railway, has completely vanished from the scene and their engines now exist only at preservation societies or on plinths in various parts of the world. As a tribute to this pioneer effort, this chapter is included.
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