Customer Reviews

The American Railroad Freight Car: From the Wood-Car Era to the Coming of Steel

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The author, John H. White, Jr., was for many years the curator of land transport at the Smithsonian Museum. His knowledge of the subject matter is encyclopaedic, and he clearly loved his work. This monogram, and its two volume companion on the American Railroad Passenger Car, stand alone as books of their type. Well organized. Endlessly informative. It is very, very rare to find railroad publications that have been written by authors with the level of academic training in science, history, logical argument, and writing ability found in these works. Highly insightful explanations of the evolution of technology.

Ultimately, these books are labours of love, and it shows.

If you're a model railroader who scratchbuilds or kit-bashes freight cars, you NEED this book. It is jammed full of photos and information about early freight cars. There are cars in here that I'd never heard of before. Detailed photos and diagrams of brake systems, trucks, wheels, frames, you name it.

These books are unusual in their focus on the history of technology, explaining how it works, and how it changed over time. It gives a comprehensive account of the development of these cars with many fine pictures.