Customer Reviews

Great American Railroad Stations

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Complete with brief, but detailed history and current uses for stations throughout the country, this tome is a must for any railfan to enjoys seeking out the train depots in cities along the path of his vacation route. Though by no means comprehensive (about 10 to 12 depots are listed for most states; Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio each have dozens, many of which are in excellent condition.), the book is nevertheless tremendously useful. In addition, one should consider Halberstadt & Halberstadt's "The American Train Depot & Roundhouse" and Ward's "Southern Railway Depots, Vol. 1 & 2. The out of print Alexander's "Down At The Depot" should be sought out as well

This book is a good list of existing railroad stations for those who want to search them out. However, I was hoping for more detail. The depots are pictured in their historical setting. Most are exterior views, and the images are smaller than I would like. Very few interior views or drawings are included, and I wanted to see something like that to complete the feel of the depot. I didn't do a count, but it seems that less than half of the depots mentioned have corresponding images. So you'll still probably want to Google the name of a depot of interest for more details. This book documents the existance of depots but lacks the human scenes and other details that would make the study and appreciation of depots complete. This book was published in 1996 and describes some depots in either a state disuse or as vacant, but I know of several as of 2011 that have been refurbished and given new function. My point is that the text sounds dated, but it's not unacceptable. Overall, I was less than impressed with this book, but I'm still glad that I have it. It may be worth paying a hefty price to add this book to a railfan's library, but not to me.

I wrote my undergraduate thesis about the adaptive reuse of passenger rail stations, so I've seen many books on the subject. This is undoubtedly my favorite. It's slightly outdated, with some of the buildings used for other purposes since publishing, and it's certainly not a list of every single extant station in the country, but it's still the best book about stations I've seen. The introduction from former Senator Moynihan is inspiring. Potter writes lists stations by region, state, and town, and gives exact locations so you can visit them yourself. There is a good chapter in the beginning about stations, and plenty of resources in the back that would be helpful if you're planning on revitalizing a station, or even just visiting a few.