Steel Rails Across America The drama of railroading in spectacular photos SIGNED

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PREFACE

THIS BOOK IS CONCEIVED as a celebration - a celebration of the drama and diversity of modern American railroading. In the pages and color photographs that follow, readers will discover that railroading in this country is fascinating, captivating - that there is, as there has been for more than a century and a half, good reason to rejoice in U. S. railroading.

What is it that draws us trackside, that turns us into train-watchers? The answer is different for each of us. Railroading can lure us with the promise of a warm, comfortable Amtrak sleeping compartment and the anticipation of a carefree trip across our continent; railroading can awe us with the fury of potent, howling diesels emerging from a cold, snowy white veil as a Burlington Northern freight challenges the grades and harsh January winds of the Cascade Mountains. Railroading can intrigue us with the spider web of steel rails and the purposeful pattern of signal lights that safely guide scores of daily commuter and passenger trains in and out of Chicago Union Station; railroading can tug at us with its rural beauty, with the gently curving steel rails that carry Conrail trains along the banks of the wide Susquehanna River or steer mile-a-minute Santa Fe freights across the hostile Mojave Desert. Railroading is tradition -exemplified by the grand steam excursion locomotives that still polish American main lines; and railroading is new technology- microproces4,000-horsepower diesels, Double Stack container trains, and computerized signal systems.

This book cannot definitively document contemporary American railroading; to do so would require far more space. Rather, through color photography, text, and captions, we offer an overview of American railroading, and, most importantly, convey the exciting images and the spirit of today's railroading. To that end, our introductory chapter describes and illustrates the industry. Then, in five regional chapters, we travel the contiguous 48 states (Hawaii has no common-carrier railroads; Alaska's rail system is limited) to witness railroading firsthand, up close. Dividing this country into regions is a subjective exercise - we hope you find our regions at least logical. In a few cases, for the sake of continuity, we've broken our own regional rules - for example, although we've used the Mississippi River as one of the lines of demarcation between the regions presented in Chapters 4 and 5, East St. Louis and St. Louis appear together in the latter chapter.

Join us as we make this journey to discover, to celebrate, to rejoice in the grandeur of American railroading. Join us as we follow the paths of "Steel Rails Across America."

Gary W. Dolzall, Waukesha, Wisconsin Mike Danneman, Brookfield, Wisconsin January 1989

CONTENTS

PREFACE

DEDICATION

1 AMERICAN RAILROADING: TRANSITION AND TRADITIONFor the train-watcher, the railroad drama lives on

2 RAILROADING IN THE NORTHEAST

Where American railroading began,

an enduring independence of character

3 RAILROADING IN THE SOUTH

In a land dominated by two titans,

visions of coal, fast freights, and reborn steam

4 RAILROADING'S MIDWESTERN MIXING POTWhere steel rails across America meet,

and a city claims title as America's railroad capital

5 RAILROADING IN THE HEARTLAND

In the great middle of this nation,

endless and endearing railroading discoveries

6 RAILROADING IN THE WEST

Where the immensity and grandeur of the continent give stage to railroading glory

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

AMERICAN

RAILROADING

TRANSITION AND TRADITION

For the train-watcher, the railroad drama lives on

AS THE FINAL DECADE of the twentieth cen-

tury approaches, railroading is in transition. In

an America that is itself in transition - an America trading its legacy of heavy, smokestack industries for a computer-age, service-oriented economy -railroading is, by the hands of necessity and innovation, changing its traditional face.

Change can captivate, or consternate. Many of the age-old, romantic images of railroading are now long into the history books. Steam locomotives (save a precious few preserved and reborn for excursions); elite passenger trains christened Royal Blue and Champion and Super Chief; and fabled companies with corporate titles like Pennsylvania, Seaboard Air Line, Rock Island, and Great Northern are no longer found in this land.

But today, in the footsteps of grand old railroading, walks an industry that mixes timeless traditions with new technology, that commands the attention of train-watchers with rugged-faced, 4,000-horsepower diesel-electrics instead of coal-burning 2-8-2s, that gives names to piggyback hotshots as well as passenger trains - intriguing names like Expediter and Sprint and Falcon and, yes, even Orange Blossom Special.

All pictures are of the actual item. If this is a railroad item, this material is obsolete and no longer in use by the railroad. Please email with questions. Publishers of Train Shed Cyclopedias and Stephans Railroad Directories. Large inventory of railroad books and magazines. Thank you for buying from us.

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