Customer Reviews

A History of the American Locomotive: Its Development, 1830-1880 (Trains)

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The usual superb and scholarly effort we know and love from Mr. White, yet readable and benefiting from his enormous access to the best pictures.

Very good book on the development of locomotives in the 19th century. Loaded with diagrams and pictures to go along good explanation of how a loco is put together and what the parts do.

"The History of the American Locomotive" is a highly detailed study of locomotives in the mid 19th Century. Its 504 pages contain hundreds of b&w photos and engineering drawings. There are chapters on locomotive builders, construction materials, types of locomotives, performance, fule, boilers, running gear, and other miscellaneous parts. It also has detailed studies on twenty-four representative locomotives from 1829 to 1870 (with an average of 8 1/2pages each).

This is a very technical study intended for those who are already familiar with the subject(s), but he writes well enough that the general reader can still enjoy it.

If you are a 19th century railroad buff (and like this kind of detail) then you will love Mr. White's other books "The American Railroad Freight Car" and "The American Railroad Passenger Car". John White was the Curator of Transportation at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.

19th Century railroad history buffs will also enjoy George Hilton's "American Narrow Gauge Railroads"