Customer Reviews

Trackside Maryland: From Railyard to Main Line

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I found this book to be very good; if you're from the Mid Atlantic States it's a great book! Many of the photos and stories are very good; almost all are black and white. This book had me looking back in time and remembering the days of powerful steam engines and then powerful diesel locomotives. A lot of the book is dedicated to the latter. I would highly recommend this book, even if you're not from the Maryland area the photos and stories are very good and trains of course are national in nature.

This book offers beautiful photography and useful commentary. It is not just about trains or, worse still, just about locomotives - as are far too many railroad books. These photos show railroads and trains in their physical contexts.

I should mention, however, that the subjects of these photographs are highly concentrated, in/around the state of Maryland, and perhaps are of less interest to persons not emotionally or otherwise connected to that region.

Morning Sun Books currently markets a series of railroad books in its "Trackside" series (currently some 80 plus titles) and each title is focused either on a specific geographical area ("Trackside Around Southern California 1954-1963 With Dick Donat", "Western Maryland Trackside With George Leilich", "Trackside Around Kansas 1960-1975 With Lloyd E. Stagner", etc.) or on a specific railroad ("Wabash Trackside With Emery Gulash 1954-1974", "Boston & Maine Trackside With Arthur E. Mitchell", "Trackside Along the B&O 1957-1958 With Edward P. Griffith", etc).

Although at first glance this book may appear to be part of that series, it is NOT. It was published by Greenberg Press (and later re-published by Johns Hopkins University Press), the publishing company of Bill and Linda Greenberg in Sykesville, MD, publishers of a comprehensive line of books on Lionel, American Flyer, Marx and Kusan model trains (including an extensive number of books on Lionel train repair), and other pre-war and post-war stalwart toys (such as Gilbert Erector Sets, "Tootsietoys", doll houses, and Star Trek collectibles, among other toys).

This particular book represents one of Greenberg's several entries into books on full sized railroading ("Union Pacific Business Cars, 1870 - 1991", "The Royal Blue Line: The Classic B&O Train Between Washington and New York", and several others). It is truly an outstanding book on railroading and one of the best of its genre I've seen. The book is chock full of great black and white photographs by photographer James Gallagher accompanied by descriptive prose by Baltimore Sunpapers Columnist Jacques Kelly.

The photos are varied, engaging and plentiful. They are not just about trains (although plenty of them are) but also about RAILROADING, including the people of railroading and the scenes of railroading. Some of my favorites are one of a locomotive engineer accompanied in the cab by his railroad's canine mascot, as well as some taken in and around Harpers Ferry, West Virginia (which is just across the Potomac River from Maryland and must certainly be one of the most picturesque communities and railroad track layouts in the country).

The book is set mainly in the State of Maryland (and surrounding locales) and features the railroads you would expect to see in that area, namely the Pennsylvania Railroad, Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, Western Maryland Railroad, Norfolk & Western Railroad, and the "Ma and Pa" (Maryland and Pennsylvania) Railroad. It focuses on the time when steam was just starting to be replaced by diesel and while the bulk of the photos are of steam locomotives, there is an ample supply of photos of diesels, GG1 electric locomotives, RDC cars and even a few of the PRR's "Aerotrain".

While Marylanders will particularly enjoy this volume, one need not have a connection to that geographical area to enjoy the exceptional railroad photography and text. Any lover of railroading will truly appreciate it. As of this writing, it is available in hardback on Amazon for a price that's extremely reasonable for railroad books these days (and on Amazon Marketplace for even less in some cases). Even at the full price it surely one of the great values in railroadiana available today.