Books for the Train Buff in Your Life

In 1913, the Michigan Central Station opened its majestic entrances to the people of Detroit.

Designed by Warren & Wetmore and Reed & Stern, the firms also noted as the architects of the Grand Central Station in New York City, the depot was a marvel of grandeur and comfort for the traveler lucky enough to utilize its facilities. Soldiers went to war, families both separated and rejoined, and folks looking for an honest living in the Motor City all walked the Michigan Central's elegant corridors. Since the last train pulled away from the station in 1988, the structure has fallen prey to rapidly paced deterioration. Detroit's Michigan Central Station captures the glory of the Michigan Central and its environs. Using photographs from the Burton Historical Collection, as well as private collections, the book illustrates the use of the Michigan Central Station by a city whose story dramatically parallels that of this magnificent structure. The book also includes imagined futures of the station from some of the many people who have been inspired by the magic this grand building continues to exude.

During the turn of the century, the railroad was an extremely important transportation and shipping resource to thousands of people and businesses in Pennsylvania.

Along the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad: From Cumberland to Uniontown dedicates its pages to this pivotal mass transportation provider. This book includes images from every B&O bridge and station from Cumberland, Maryland, to Uniontown, Pennsylvania, in 1891. Many of the towns stretched along the miles of tracks, such as Somerfield and Ohiopyle, are depicted in these vintage photographs. Experience the coal and coke booms of the 1880s to 1920s through people from many different locations who had one thing in common: the railroad.

Over 200 images are set in geographical sequence to guide the reader along the famed Henry Hudson trail.

The Central Railroad of New Jersey's Seashore Branch provided rail and boat services from New York City to points along the New Jersey Shore. It discontinued passenger service in 1966, with the last freight train operating in 1983. Official abandonment proceedings sparked the need to keep the right of way for future mass transit needs. This led to interim use. Today, the area is called the Henry Hudson Trail and is one of over 500 parks referred to nationally as a Rail-Trail. This free, ten-mile-long, hiking, biking, and walking trail is administered by the Monmouth County Parks System, and connects several towns of the Raritan Bay shore area. This rare look will enlighten trail users through images of views gone forever, while pointing out structures still in place. Over 200 images are set in geographical sequence to guide the reader along the trail.

Cleveland and Its Streetcars takes the reader back to when railway cars dominated the local street scene. The book focuses on the era of 1910-1954, from the time that Cleveland Railway Company took over operation of the consolidated streetcar lines to the day that the last streetcar rumbled over the city's streets. Cleveland's trailer trains, articulated cars, and its Peter Witt car model were widely admired by the nation, and the streetcar reigned supreme through the end of World War II. In 1942, the Cleveland Transit System (CTS) took over the streetcar lines, and eager to "modernize" its fleet, it decided to replace the streetcars with buses, trackless trolleys, and a crosstown rapid transit line. After the end of the war, in May 1945, the first post-war conversion took place. Then the pace of replacing the streetcars with rubber-tired vehicles quickened. By 1954, the task was complete. This book, with over 200 photographs, documents this changing Cleveland scene--when a wonderful era in transportation flourished and then, sadly, disappeared.

Organized in 1833 by Savannah businessmen, the Central of Georgia Railway was chartered by the Georgia Legislature as the Central Rail Road & Canal Company. The line, connecting Savannah to the interior of the state, boosted the coastal city's seaport, which had lost business to Charleston because of the South Carolina Rail Road's inland reach. In 1843, the Central was extended from Savannah to the outskirts of Macon, and after nearly 120 years of successful operation, the Central of Georgia Railway was purchased by Southern Railway. By 1982, it became merely an accounting entry in the books of Norfolk Southern, a major transportation company.

When the Boston Elevated Railway Company broke ground for the Cambridge Subway in May 1909, its intention was to provide the cities of Boston and Cambridge with the finest and most efficient rapid-transit system of the time. Other cities, such as New York and Philadelphia, paid close attention, adopting many of the Cambridge Subway's revolutionary design features. The subway became known as the Red Line and eventually extended from Cambridge across the Charles River through Boston, serving Dorchester, Braintree, and Mattapan.

Boston's Red Line: Bridging the Charles from Alewife to Braintree details one of Boston's oldest and busiest subway lines. This nostalgic collection of vintage photographs documents the line's construction and its engineers and leaders, such as Maj. Gen. William A. Bancroft, mayor of Cambridge and president of the Boston Elevated Railway Company. In these pages, watch as crews break ground in Harvard and Andrew Squares and see the 1929 trolleys that replaced Mattapan's commuter train service. Through exciting, historic photographs, Boston's Red Line: Bridging the Charles from Alewife to Braintree tells the fascinating story of how the Crimson City's subway became the modern Red Line, taking passengers beneath the streets of Boston to landmarks such as Harvard Square, Massachusetts General Hospital, historic Park Street, and the Longfellow Bridge.

Track the history of Chattahoochee Valley Railway through five generations of service using vintage images.

Weaving across state lines from Standing Rock, Alabama, through West Point, Georgia, and back to Bleecker, Alabama, the Chattahoochee Valley Railway served many communities along its line. Its last run was in 1992, but now the days of the short line railroad are revisited in Chattahoochee Valley Railway. Although some books on the history of the region render a passing mention of this railway, none have included over 200 images and a detailed historical account like Chattahoochee Valley Railway. The railroad served surrounding communities for over five generations by offering transportation, and the rail line's parent textile corporation built schools, churches, recreational areas, and a water supply for those communities. By the 1980s, modernization of the corporate structure eliminated the need for the railway and its equipment was sold off. However, part of its track bed is now a biking, hiking, and walking trail. The old railway is still serving nearby residents and is still enjoyed by all who follow its path.

There was a time when streetcars were a vital part of daily life in Manchester. From 1877 until 1940, horsecars and trolleys glided up and down the principal streets of the Queen City. Today, only a few of Manchester's residents remember those days. Now, you can enjoy a ride with them in Manchester Streetcars, an unforgettable journey over the rails of long ago. By 1892, Manchester had a fine, extensive horsecar system, which was electrified three years later. Expansion began in 1896 and through 1907, the network of tracks grew steadily, with new lines not only serving the Queen City but also radiating to Goffstown, Concord, Nashua, and Derry. More than one hundred closed and open cars provided vital local transportation during the peak years of the trolley era. These pages intimately describe the railway companies and the cars that made street travel in New Hampshire's largest city and vicinity so pleasant and so memorable for six decades.

From 1901 to 1969, Angels Flight was America's most famous incline railway, familiar from its many appearances on postcards and in pulp fiction and film noir. It inspired the titles of five novels, including a 1999 best seller, and three films. Angels Flight's two colorful trolleys glided up and down the side of Bunker Hill in the heart of Los Angeles, carrying 100 million passengers between a downtown business district and a Victorian aerie that gradually deteriorated into a gritty slum. When the city turned Bunker Hill into an acropolis of skyscrapers, Angels Flight was packed up like a boy's electric train set and stored away for nearly 30 years. After a restoration in the mid-1990s that led to a fatal accident, Angels Flight has reopened and is now ready to claim its next chapters in Los Angeles history.

All Aboard: The History of Mass Transportation in Rhode Island covers the period from the Civil War to the creation of the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA). Each of the seven chapters examines a particular form of travel and its impact on the people and surrounding area. From the horse-drawn omnibus, horse car, and cable tramway to the rumbling buses of modern times, this book welcomes readers to explore various types of bygone transport. As well as a cornucopia of transportation street images, the book reproduces documents, badges, and tokens to provide a comprehensive glimpse of yesteryear; it includes little known facts and stories of life on the road. Learn how the horse car beat out the old-fashioned omnibus to dominate city streets during the Gilded Age, and how the electric streetcar quickly replaced the horse car by the 1890s. Discover the joy that grandparents experienced taking an open bloomer car to Rocky Point or Roger Williams Park. See the rubber-tired, trackless trolleys that ran on electric current from overhead wires. Explore the action of the 1902 railway strike in Providence and Pawtucket that led to the mobilization of the state militia.