Large Scale Central

Books. What are some of your favorites?

General Discussion
#1

Hi all,

Let’s discuss some of our favorite books. And get us off of this LGB stuff. :slight_smile: :slight_smile:
I’ll add a few of my favorites from my library, and then someone can add some of theirs.

Narrow Gauge:

The South Park by Mallory Hope Ferrell. A great pictorial and account of the Denver, South Park and Pacific RR.
Rails, Sagebrush and Pines by MHF. Great book about the Sumpter Valley RR.
Tweetsie Country by MHF. Eastern Tennessee and Western North Carolina RR.
The Silver San Juan by MHF. Perhaps the best book on the Rio Grande Southern RR
Colorado and Southern by MHF.
The South Pacific Coast by Bruce MacGregor.
Nevada County Narrow Gauge by Gerald Best
Slim Rails through the Sand by George Turner. Story and pics about the SP narrow gauge.
Various Colorado Rail Annuals. Great reference books.
Narrow Gauge Nostalgia by George Turner. Narrow Gauge RR’s of Southern California.
The Uintah by Henry Bender.
The Switzerland Trail of America by Forrest Crossen. The story of the Denver, Boulder & Western RR.

Standard Gauge:
Van Horne’s Road by Omer LaVallee. Outstanding book on the Canadian Pacific early days. Some fantastic photos of trestles thru the Canadian Rockies.
Virginia & Truckee By Ferrell.

These books have great photos, Rosters, and ideas for buildings, etc.
If anyone would like to share some of their favorite books here, please do so.
Also, If anyone needs a pic scanned out of one of these books, let me know.
jb

#2

My new fav are the Quick Pic Books. Detail studies, perfect for modeling specific prototypes.

#3
Geoff Ringle said:
My new fav are the Quick Pic Books. Detail studies, perfect for modeling specific prototypes.
Geoff, More info please? What's a Quick Pic Book? jb
#4
John Bouck said:
Geoff, More info please? What's a Quick Pic Book? jb
John, see link: http://www.quickpicbooks.com/
#5

Narnia.

Oh, you meant train related :stuck_out_tongue:

#6

Don’t have a favorite RR book (except maybe Tootle when I was 4)…I thought Julian by Gore Vidal was interesting (but the romans didn’t have trains), Non-fiction, I liked James Maggard’s Rough & Tumble Engineering (but that’s about running steam tractors)…Hmmmm, I don’t go out of my way to railfan either, guess maybe I’m just the odd duck

#7
Mik said:
... I don't go out of my way to railfan either, guess maybe I'm just the odd duck
QVACK! says an odder duck.

Train books? I like just about any. Can’t afford too many of 'em, but that’s life.
Books in general: Can’t say I have a special favourite. I’ve got pickier over the years, especially as many of the “quality” publishing houses seem to have let all their proofreaders go.
Grump, grump.

#8
Chris Vernell said:
Mik said:
... I don't go out of my way to railfan either, guess maybe I'm just the odd duck
QVACK! says an odder duck.

Train books? I like just about any. Can’t afford too many of 'em, but that’s life.
Books in general: Can’t say I have a special favourite. I’ve got pickier over the years, especially as many of the “quality” publishing houses seem to have let all their proofreaders go.
Grump, grump.


Chris,

You would be groaning in a big way when you see the prices of the Swiss books. :wink:

Yes, I don’t buy as many as I used to, either, running out of space in the library - unless I start getting rid of the mags i.e. shuffle them off to the shop. Slowly assembling a library there, too.

My most treasured books: a complete collection of SBB (Swiss Fed Rwys) “Nachrichtenblatt” (Employees’ Newsbulletins) from 1923 to the very end in 198x. Those are an absolute treasure trove of technical information.

Funny thing with the SBB-NB’s, nary a typo, they still proof read everything back then. :wink: :slight_smile: Foolish custom that is, eh? :lol: :lol:

#9
John Bouck said:
Hi all,

Let’s discuss some of our favorite books. And get us off of this LGB stuff. :slight_smile: :slight_smile:
I’ll add a few of my favorites from my library, and then someone can add some of theirs.

Narrow Gauge:

The South Park by Mallory Hope Ferrell. A great pictorial and account of the Denver, South Park and Pacific RR.
Rails, Sagebrush and Pines by MHF. Great book about the Sumpter Valley RR.
Tweetsie Country by MHF. Eastern Tennessee and Western North Carolina RR.
The Silver San Juan by MHF. Perhaps the best book on the Rio Grande Southern RR
Colorado and Southern by MHF.
The South Pacific Coast by Bruce MacGregor.
Nevada County Narrow Gauge by Gerald Best
Slim Rails through the Sand by George Turner. Story and pics about the SP narrow gauge.
Various Colorado Rail Annuals. Great reference books.
Narrow Gauge Nostalgia by George Turner. Narrow Gauge RR’s of Southern California.
The Uintah by Henry Bender.
The Switzerland Trail of America by Forrest Crossen. The story of the Denver, Boulder & Western RR.

Standard Gauge:
Van Horne’s Road by Omer LaVallee. Outstanding book on the Canadian Pacific early days. Some fantastic photos of trestles thru the Canadian Rockies.
Virginia & Truckee By Ferrell.

These books have great photos, Rosters, and ideas for buildings, etc.
If anyone would like to share some of their favorite books here, please do so.
Also, If anyone needs a pic scanned out of one of these books, let me know.
jb


Nice choices, I have several of these in my library also, namely:
Nevada County Narrow Gauge, by Gerald Best
The Uintah, by Henry Bender.
Narrow Gauge Nostalgia, by George Turner.
Slim Rails through the Sand, by George Turner.

I would also highly recommend these:
Mexican Narrow Gauge, Gerald Best
West Side Pictoral, Mallory Hope Ferrall, on the West Side Lumber Co
Pino Grande, R. Stephen Polkinghorn, the Mich-Cal lumber co
American Narrow Gauge Railroads, George Hilton, Perhaps the Canon of NG railroads
An Empire of Silver, R. Brown, colorado silver mining
Logging Railroads in Skagit County, Dennis Blake Thompson, WOW what a book
The Gilpin Tramway, Mallory Hope Ferrall.
Mt Lowe - Railway to the Clouds, Charles Simms,

And for locomotives and manufacturers these books are great:
Climax Locomitives, Thomson Dunn and Hauff
Mason Steam Locomotives, Arthur Wallace
Glover Steam Locomotives, Richard Hillman
Critters, Dinkys & Centercabs, Jay Reed

#10

I surf the Web for train-related photos and reading matter these days. Books are just too pricey. However, one or two of those Quick Pic Books Geoff recommended may cause me to reconsider.

#11

OK here are some of my favourite English language books:

F.J.G. Haut “Pictorial History of Electric Locomotives”

Ziel & Eagleson “World Steam”

Staufer “NYC System - Steam Power”

Sanford “McCulloch’s Wonder”

OS Nock “Algoma Central Railway”

Tucker “Steam into Wilderness”

Farrington “Railroads Around The World”

Hamilton Ellis “The pictorial encylopedia of railways”

#12

HJ,
There’s a book store locally that has “McCullochs Wonder–the Story of the Kettle Valley Railroad”.
I might have to add that to my library. Thanks for the tip.

Some the “local” books I have are:
Rails through the Coeur d’ Alene’s.
The Railroad on stilts: Story of the Camas Prairie RR.
Pacific Northwest Railroading
A few on the SP&S, GN, NP and Milwaukee.

jb

#13

One of my most used books is “A Century + Ten of D&RGW Narrow Gauge Freight Cars, 1871 to 1981” by Robert E. Sloan. Drawings, pictures and text about the RGW rolling stock. Spiral bound and just a great source of modeling inspiration. If you ever want to scratchbuild something, or just add details, this is a great book. Not generally available, but you can still find copies.

Another great reference includes the “ALONG THE ET&WNC” series books by Johnny Graybeal. Six volumes, available at tarheelpress.com.

I have a couple EBT references, but they are just not as detailed as I would like.

#14

“East Broad Top” by Lee Rainey and Frank Kyper

and the already mentioned “American Narrow Gauge Railroads” by George Hilton are my most worn volumes.

#15

Ghost railroads of Indiana , also the one for Kentucky , and the dozen or so hard back books of reference for electric / traction / interurban railroads which are stacked all around my recliner in the living room .

#16

I’m very fortunate. Around here we have the “Craig Memorial Library” as part of the City of Ottawa archives. A lot, if not all of these books that have been listed above are in that library, or over at young Bill Scobie’s house. Bill has a choice selection of just about anything NG, and a lot of other Canadian titles. I get to read the best of everything, considering that I have quite a few old ones myself.
So…my most favored of them all is: The good old “Pocket Oxford Dictionary, fourth edition.”…I like the real way to spell…!!!

Once a year I buy a book for the CML as a way of supporting it. I get to read it, and share it with others.

#17

Ric beat me to it but -

East Broad Top - Rainey & Kyper
Last Steam RR in America - Winston O. Link

are but a few on my recent list.

JR

#18

I don’t have many railroad books, yet. The two best books in my small collection are Slim Rails Through the Sand, and The Impossible Railroad: The San Diego and Arizona RR. The others are just cheapo coffee table books picked up on sale.

Someday I’d like to get the Mexican Narrow Gauge book, and a few others. Unfortunately those go for big bucks these days, and I’d rather spend the money on my layout.

#19

The most stunning book I have is Kinsey PHOTOGRAPHER volume three The Locomotive Portraits by Bohn and Petschek. I can’t tell you what it costs… it was a gift.

Kinsey lived in the woods and photographed logging operations… this book is a must have for the Shay fan.

Kinsey produced crystal clear images using his large format camera with 11”x 14” glass plates.

In my opinion, Kinsey is the Ansel Adams of railroad photography.

#20

Geoff,
I picked up my Kinsey Photographer at Hastings on the discount table for $19.95.
I couldn’t believe such a fine book was so cheap! :slight_smile: :slight_smile:
And you are right, it is the best photographic study of geared Pacific Northwest locomotives I’ve seen!
jb