Customer Reviews

EMD Locomotives

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

By using photographs and words Brian Solomon's book took me on an historical journey of diesel locomotives from the beginning to now. The photographs have preserved a visual history of these locomotives and they have preserved a visual history of life in America as it was near the ever-present train tracks. The excellent photos display trains, tracks, weather, buildings, people, cities and countryside of the beautiful country known as the United States. The words in the book describe in some detail the different diesel engines that EMD has used over the years to power its locomotives. Details include horsepower ratings, RPM ranges, cylinder bore and stroke and the configurations of such engines as the Winton, the 567, the 645 and the 710. On page 50 there is a mechanical drawing of the inside of an E9 locomotive detailing the two engines, the genrators and other devices. Also present is a chart on gear ratios and a chart on the Speed Tractive Effort Curve. The captions for the many photographs throughout the book give detailed information. This information is supplemental to the text and not a restatement. This is an excellent book for casual reading, learning details about diesel engines and for enjoying excellent photographs of America and trains.

This book is a beautiful book about the locomotives manufactured by the Electro-Motive Division of GM. GM sold the division in 2005.

The book has both black-and-white and color photographs. Nearly every page from 8 through 172 has one or more pictures on it. Each picture has a little blurb next to it identifying the locomotive and giving info about it. The text itself is well written and very interesting. The photos are memorable and the book would be worth buying even without text just for the pictures!

There is an index of the locomotives and railroads that used them, and a bibliography for the reader who wants to read more about some of the references in the book.

If you are a rail fan, this is definitely a book you want for your collection.

Hi!
This book was really interesting reading if you are interested in how diesel engines from EMD have been progressing through the decades.
This writer Brian Salomon is also really good of what he is doing just like Sean Graham-White with his book GE Evolution Locomotives.
This book is also very well written I must say. I could only find one single misspellings in it. The book shows in a very thorough way how these fantastic machines have been developed through the decades with lots of good illustrative pictures and with just as good comments to these pictures.
It also explains very well why the diesels were so much better and cheaper for the railroad companies than the steam engines.
The only thing that I am really missing in this book too, is a summary chapter where you can see all these different variants of machines are put up in some kind of diagram or table.
This, so it will be more easy to see the small changes of development as the evolution has been going forward of these massive machines.
But if I summary this book overall I can really recommend it for those who want to get some really thorough information of these machines verses steam. It is very "nutritious" of information. You need to read it at last two times to get most of this information into your head.....
I was very pleased with this book I must say, so I can really recommend it too.

Yours sincerely Mark from Sweden.

I have the Our Gm Scrapbook ,1971,Kalmback,Trains, and this Brian Solomon EMD LOCOMOTIVES book. This book is up to date and with The Update on EMD being sold off from GM.(Sadly). Wonderful History and photos.

"EMD" is short for "Electro-Motive Division [of General Motors]," and this beautiful and informative book is a class act all the way. Authored by rail photographer / writer Brian Solomon, EMD covers the entire period from EMD diesel-electrics' first long-haul appearance on American railroads just prior to our nation's entry into World War II, until the point in 2005 when the division "went private" and no longer belonged to GM. During this period EMD's ruled the road, and for most of the time either vanquished the diesel-electric competition (Morrison-Knudsen, Fairbanks-Morse) or relegated it to a very junior number two (General Electric).

But EMD is more than just a string of diesels. At various times and in various parts around the world the company also built "pure" electric locomotives (or "motors" to the purist). The leading example is probably Amtrak's AEM-7, workhorse for the Boston-Washington Northeast Corridor ("NEC").

Throughout, this book's photos, most of them taken by author Solomon himself, are spectacular. The wrap-around text is, if anything, even better. So often in this field there are books for buffs and books for newbies -- this serves both areas of interest. Of particular note is its outsized "coffee-table book" format, its beautiful binding, and the crisp and accurate reproduction of its color plates. While not an inexpensive introduction, Amazon brings the price down to affordability for even the casually interested.

As a model railroader, this book is full of data covering time-line of production, mechanical data (tractive power, tonnage, etc.), and what railroad companies owned what models - and how many. It also provides other details such as popularity and information about owner's likes and dislikes regarding available features. There are LOTS of color photos to look at throughout the book. If you're interested in trains, EMD's locomotive history, or just want a good reference book to inspire you for your next kitbashed or scratch-built locomotive this book is highly recommended.

Very good book. Covers main locomotives produced by EMD for USA. It includes not only general descrition about the different desings, but also some technical information very well explained. Very esay to understand and very well written. It also includes great photos.

The usual well written, well documented Brian Solomon output. Tells the story of General Motors entering the Locomotive market, leading the field for years but losing interest and allowing EMD to fall into the rank of "Has Beens".

What a fantastic reference book for those of us who grew up playing by the railroad tracks and waving to the crews as they rocketed by in those glistening EMD locomotives!