| ||||||||||||
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent History on one of the Greatest Transit Car Builders,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The history of the St. Louis Car Company, "Quality Shops" (Hardcover)
This is one of two books published back in the late 70's on the history of the St. Louis Car Company, also knowns as "The Quality Shops." The SLCC was one of the greatest builders of trolleys, rapid transit cars, and buses in the United States up until its demise in 1974.
The focus of this book is on the socio-political history of the company, and it takes the reader through the various management styles and changes that led the car company through every decade of its existence. It has a fabulous array of photographs of all kinds of vehicles produced; even the company's automobiles, airplanes and other oddity products are exhibited. It is not only a history of the SLCC; the reader is also given a glimpse of how the transit industry changed when the publicly funded "Authority" took over most transit systems and made it almost impossible to even design a new subway car. There is a great passage from the diary of Meissner Jr., who ran the company in its later years, on how by the 60's, it would take weeks and weeks of committee decision making just decide on the width of a stripe on a New York City Subway car. How business people were replaced with incompetent beaureaucrats; how it took up to eight years for the Washington DC subway cars to be designed - a contract which the SLCC lost. Unfortunately, by 1974, there were alsmost no more trolleys being built in the US, which was the SLCC's main product for decades. By the early 70's, the company was completing its huge orders for the NYCTA, and it lost the bid for the R-46 subway car order - even though these cars were nearly identical to the R-44 order it was completing. With no new orders on the horizon, the St. Louis Car Company shut its doors shortly thereafter. This book is and excellent complement to the other SLCC book published at the same time by another publisher. If you are fascinated by one of the greatest transit car builders of all time, and how it was born, and how it eventually died, this book is a must-have.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
