Customer Reviews

The Men Who Loved Trains: The Story of Men Who Battled Greed to Save an Ailing Industry (Railroads Past and Present)

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a rather fast-paced book for a volume that covers 40 years and two of the most significant railroad events in the history of East Cost railroading. Despite the speed, Loving does an excellent job of putting the reader through the creation and death of Penn Central, the birth of Conrail and the bitter split of that railroad between CSX and Norfolk Southern. The PRR executives get blamed for most of the disasters that take place, and perhaps rightfully so. Still, there wasn't much said that redeemed many of the execs from the Pensy. It can lead the reader to assume he has a bias in favor of the NS and NYC.
Despite this, it's an excellent book and well worth buying for anyone who loves trains.

While reading this book in the Fall of 2006, I realized I needed to pursue my life-long dream of working in the railroad industry. I know it's in my blood. This book helped me realize that and inspired me to make it happen. So, despite my comments below, this book certainly had a profound impact on me personally.

Overall, I found this book to be a very fascinating, well-researched, and enjoyable read. I'll defer to the insiders who, in other reviews here, have commented on the accuracy of the history (kudos to anyone who tries to capture 50 years of eastern rail history in under 500 pages). So, read it with a grain of salt, and in light of other pieces on the same subject (not many to be found). There were a few places in the book, when discussing mergers and major shifts, where Loving rushed past without much detail (i.e., these two railroads were talking, yada, yada, yada, they were merged). Again, the trade-off would have been a hundred more pages to cover all the details. While it should come as no surprise, loving railroads is not the only requirement to make it to the top floor of the ivory tower. Most if not all of the rail chieftains depicted in this book were Ivy League MBAs, lawyers or bean counters. Nonetheless, leaders who actually love and understand their industry are likely more effective. In the end, if you have an interest in the business aspect of running a railroad, you should definitely read this book.

This book provided a fascinating behind the scenes look at the business and financial side of Northeastern railroads, particularly the PC and then Conrail, and the process by which Conrail, and 3 decades later, its breakup, occured. Have the job I desired when I first worked for the rails (yet never did get) the author seemed to be a the right place at the right time throughout his career, to be instrumental in the changes that occured in the Northeast, and in reality, throughout the rail industry in the 80s setting the stage for the rails revival. The author truely helped shape todays railroads. Dont let the business side of this book scare you away, this is a must read for railfans, historians, government administrators, business students, and those who are just fascinated by trains.

I bought this book for my husband who works for the railroads mentioned in this book. Because of his busy schedule, he does not usually read books prefering to read magazines instead. However, I gave him this book as a Christmas present and he read it in one week. He said the book was excellent! He found it an excellent source of information. He was there during a lot of what happened so it was of special interest to him.

Don't let the title fool you. This book is not just for the railroad buff. It is that, and much more. Mr. Loving provides an inside the boardroom view of how corporate decisions are made at the highest levels; and how the most important decisions are often swayed by the most minor considerations. While describing the dramatic transformation of the U.S. railroad industry, this book also provides one of the most practical, real-world, essays on how corporations truly work. It reads like a novel but has the substance of a textbook. As a corporate CEO myself, I learned much from it that will apply to my own industry. I'm recommending it to my friends and, indeed, to anyone who is interested in management, as a must read.

The Men Who Loved Trains is certainly a readable book. What surprised me was the fact that the Indiana University Press would publish a book that is relates solely what named and unnamed people told the author. Based upon the acknowledgements that indicate that the author spoke with many of the major players, the tale of the split of CR between CSX and NS is plausible. The earlier history is more shaky. The PRR & NYC merger into PC is a rehash of what has been written long ago in a number of books and newspapers.

The biggest problem I find is the story of PC becoming Conrail. Having worked at Conrail at that time, I note that this chapter is filled with errors. This is not surprising because, in reviewing those interviewed, there was no one cited who was familiar with the actual operation of the railroad at this time. The operating department run by R.B. Hasselman was very service conscious. In fact Mr. Hasselman and his General Supt. E. A. Priebe developed the intermodal train plan in 1977 that made UPS Conrail's largest customer. This work was handled solely by the operating department - UPS would not even talk to Jordan's marketeers. The great story about the cattle car for Lancaster, PA forgot to mention that the charges for running TV-2, the train that would deliver this car to Lancaster, via Amtrak would have eaten up most of the revenue. The Jordan MBA crowd that came in with the army of consultants were naive and indecisive. Rather than solving the problems, they were largely in the way of progress. It should be noted that when Mr. Crane came he got rid of all these folks and together with R. B. Hasselman and his team and made Conrail quite profitable. Mr. Loving failed to note this obvious fact.

There were a number of simple factual errors, i.e. a standard rail is 39 feet long not 38 feet. A key state for the Wabash RR is Missouri for its Kansas City connections - not Iowa. There also are a few spelling errors. For a guy coming from Fortune, The Men... seemed a rather sloppy piece of work. Still it was entertaining - I was glad to learn that Stuart Saunders spent Thursday afternoons in a hotel with his Main Line girlfriend. It made him seem more lively than one would expect from his rather dreary photographs.

Peter E. Lynch
Old Saybrook, CT

This is probably one of the best books I have read in years. Even though my background is not economics this book is excellently written to make you interested what's going on in the railroad industrry. This book in many ways is more written like a novel than a documentary. It is really fun to read and I learnd a lot by reading it. Highly recommended!

Rail history is perhaps unique in its being influenced by a combination of economics, technology, regulation and personalities. It is nonetheless rare to have all four of these factors not only captured "up close and personal" but also tied together with a single thread. In this case the reader is treated to no less than a front-row seat on the restructuring of the U.S. railroads in the Northeast.

How fortunate that Rush Loving was there to both observe and interact with the key players in what has not only proved to be the salvation of the US rail industry, but has also served as a model for many other countries. An ideal companion to Richard Saunders Jr.'s "Main Lines", together these two books serve as the clearest basis for understanding the rail industry as it stands today.

Henry Posner III
Chairman
Railroad Development Corp.
Pittsburgh, PA

Just finished this book, and I'd say it's one of the best books about the corporate end of the industry I've ever read. It starts with the pre-Penn Central merger era and goes all the way to the break up of Conrail by CSX and NS, introducing all of the various personalities of the movers and shakers along the way. Very readable, not dry at all.

I never really got too deep into the story of how Penn Central came to be, and while the break up of Conrail was only a few years ago, I didn't know the real story behind it either. The author gives an excellent history lesson. Hope he writes more on railroading.

Rush Loving has created an excellent journalistic piece of recent history writing; it is unlikely that professional historians will improve on his work. Well-researched and very readable.