Customer Reviews

Delaware & Hudson

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's great to see this book back in print. Buy it and read it if you have any interest in canals, coal mining, or the history of one of the US's oldest railroads!

Delaware & Hudson describes the company that ran the first steam locomotive in this country, and operated the first integrated transportation system in 1828, when it combined the use of a railroad and canal in an audacious scheme to transport Pennsylvania coal to New York City. The D&H first used Roebling's wire cable to operate its gravity railroad, and later used the same cables to build wire suspension aqueduct bridges to carry the canal over two rivers, and did all this years before Roebling would build the Brooklyn Bridge.

The book is filled with photographs, maps and engravings, with images on virtually every page. Although it is a book for railroad fans, it also works as a history of American technology and the history an American company which rode its use of technical inonovations to become one of this country's largest corporations by the middle of the nineteenth century.

This book is wonderfully researched, chalked full of the details any railroad fan wants. The historical account of the D&H's begining as well as the discussion of the leaders of this great road are most interesting. A must read for those interested in the great railroads of the USA.

I consider this one my biblical reference of our country's oldest continually operating railroad, the Delaware & Hudson. Jim Shaughnessy has done an excellent job of relating his research, and the photos and maps bring it all together.