Customer Reviews

Modern Trains and Splendid Stations: Architecture, Design, and Rail Travel for the Twenty-First Century

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Compiled and edited by Martha Thorne (Associate Curator of Architecture at The Art Institute of Chicago), Modern Trains And Splendid Stations is a wonderfully descriptive and impressive collection of photographs showcasing inner-city railroad travel stations in North America, Europe, and Japan. Gorgeous color pictures, railway station histories, and an informed and informative wealth of background information on each spotlighted railway make Modern Trains And Splendid Stations an enthusiastically recommended title for personal and academic Architectural Studies, as well as a welcome contribution the reading list of any railroad buff.

In my thesis research on railway architecture, this book has been a delightful read. My opinion is that the "meat" of the book is in the essay written by Thorne, "Renaissance of the Train Station."

She covers pertinent points about the historical experience of railway travel and its development as an infrastructure. Her comments are well developed and informed of timely events. Wessner and Phillips expand on the development of the infrastucture in Europe, Asia and the United States respectively.

I was very pleased with the coverage of the projects as well, and have made this volume a keystone of my architectural library.