Penn Central Railroad (Railroad Color History) [Hardcover]

Peter E. Lynch (Author)

Book Description

Series: Railroad Color History | Publication Date: June 3, 2004

In describing Penn Central's operational history and the factors that led to its formation and downfall, author and former PC employee Peter Lynch offers a collection of the best Penn Central color imagery from the archives of photographers Thomas McNamara, J. W. Swanberg, David P. Oroszi, and others. These region-by-region collections depict freight and passenger operations, motive power, rolling stock, and facilities along 20,000 miles of trackage in states from New England to Illinois.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Model Railroading, August 2005 (circ.: 11,000)

“This book is not a history of the failure of the merger. Rather, it is more of a photographic and written record of some of the trains that were the Penn Central. It also focuses on the daily operations of those trains, where they went and what they did.”

About the Author

A graduate of Brown University and Rutgers University, Peter Lynch has worked for the New Haven, Penn Central, Conrail, and Housatonic railroads. Currently employed as an engineering coordinator on Connecticut Department of Transportation rail projects. Lynch is the author of New Haven Railroad. (0-7603-1441-1) He resides in Old Saybrook, Connecticut.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: MBI; 1st edition (June 3, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0760317631
• ISBN-13: 978-0760317631
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,844,464 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Well Done Follow On To Peter Lynch's "New Haven Railroad", May 25, 2004

By 

Marc Frattasio (Penn Central New Haven Region) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Penn Central Railroad (Railroad Color History) (Hardcover)

Peter Lynch's new "Penn Central Railroad" is a nice follow-on to his excellent "New Haven Railroad" of last year. The Penn Central book is formatted and laid out in a similar manner to Peter's previous work, combining well-written historical narrative with a good selection of photographs of trains and locations.

A good summary history of the Penn Central is provided. Among other things this covers the circumstances leading up to the merger of the New York Central and Pennsylvania railroads (and the inclusion of the New Haven), the merged railroad's financial and other problems, a review of its operating regions (Eastern, Central, New Haven, etc.), and the circumstances that led to the formation of Conrail.

Although I enjoyed the narrative, I most appreciated the numerous photographs of Penn Central equipment in various "interim" color schemes. By this I mean shots of equipment in New York Central, Pennsylvania, and New Haven color schemes with Penn Central stencilling and numbers. I have not seen most of the photographs in this book published elsewhere.

I'm a long-time member of the New Haven Railroad Historical & Technical Association (http://www.nhrhta.org) and the New Haven is my favorite railroad. By rights I guess I ought to hate the Penn Central, but I don't. For better or for worse, it's the railroad that I grew up with during my childhood and there is substantial nostalgic appeal to me. I highly recommend "Penn Central Railroad".

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Penn Central Railroad/Peter E Lynch, May 17, 2004

By 

19YCopy5 (CPR/MECKeag) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Penn Central Railroad (Railroad Color History) (Hardcover)

An informative and well illustrated general history of the Penn Central Railroad focusing on PC operations and merger plans, and what actually happened on and to the railroad, and further breaks the story down by operating region. Excellent text, good region maps (surprisingly, no system map), and well chosen photographs by a serious author who apparently comes from railroad management ranks. Peter E Lynch has produced a balanced work that both railfan (anti-PC foamers will have to look elsewhere for solace) and historian will appreciate.

A slight distraction is that Thomas McNamara photo captions appear to need closer scrutiny. Of the locations I am familiar with, most of the "Horseshoe Curve" photos aren't Horseshoe Curve or otherwise aren't correct. For the record: Page 66 appears to be the curve east of ETT Benny where the Red Arrow derailed decades earlier. Page 156 is ETT Benny interlocking with westbound TV at right while at left an eastbound tonnage train is coming down the slide from Portage Tunnel. Page 16, if Horseshoe, train is eastbound downgrade (note the heavy brakeshoe smoke, and heavy sand accumulation on roadbed of foreground tracks).

The only real historical weakness in the book seems to be the lack of any real discussion of Hurricane Agnes (June 1972) and it's heavy impact on PC, giving it only a paragraph of text and mentioning it only as a "violent storm". Only an undated photo on page 132 gives readers any real hint as to the devastation this storm caused but the caption makes no mention of it (See the Aug-Sept 1972 issue of Penn Central Post, "Special Issue - The Flood").

All in all, Penn Central Railroad is an excellent and needed contribution to the historical record.

5.0 out of 5 stars I love this book, September 1, 2011

By 

PC "Glider Pilot" (Auckland, New Zealand) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Penn Central Railroad (Railroad Color History) (Hardcover)

As a relative new student of the American railroad history this followed on nicely from the MBI Pennsylvania RR book. As other reviewers have pointed out the photographs are great. Good locations and selections of locos. Yes Penn Central deserves a "Could Do Better" for it's colour scheme and logo but no fault to the author. Great description of the legacy routes with hand drawn maps. Covers all the various divisions with an entertaining dialogue. If you get this book at reasonable price I would say "Go for it".