The Great Railroad Revolution: The History of Trains in America

For a railfan who watches trains in the United States, this title explains how the system around them came to exist. The publisher's description says railroads helped make the country: more than two hundred thousand miles of track and a series of grand stations covered the nation by the early 1900s. It adds that trains united far-flung regions, boosted economic development, carried goods, served in wartime and helped the nation become a world power. The story then turns, because the description says the railroads were eclipsed by the automobile, the truck and the airplane after more than a century of dominance.

This is reading for home, a train seat or a station waiting room. The page calls it an account of the heritage of railways in the United States, so it frames sites rather than directing visitors to them. A reader planning to visit a grand station or a preserved line can use the history as background for what they see. It is a paperback with 448 pages, so it suits a longer read. The publisher page also quotes a magazine calling the history sweeping and rich in drama, which hints at a narrative style instead of a reference-book layout. The same page carries other press comments. The Guardian is quoted as calling the author a wise and detailed historian of railways, and the Wall Street Journal as saying the book shows that the United States would not have become the United States without the railroads. The Daily Telegraph is quoted as finding it enjoyably anecdotal, and the Camden New Journal as praising its detail, an encyclopedia of railway lore, myth and anecdote.

Railfans and gift givers who want a single-volume story of American railroading.

Blood, Iron, and Gold by the same author widens the lens to railroads worldwide, in 432 pages. Train by Tom Zoellner mixes history with travel, from the Trans-Siberian to the Southwest Chief.

Image: National Geographic (Penguin Random House) · source

100 Train Journeys of a Lifetime

National Geographic · Mid-range

A National Geographic hardcover that profiles 100 railway journeys around the world, with notes on when and where to go, which cabins to book and what to see off the train.

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Image: Lorenz Books / Simon & Schuster · source

An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Locomotives

Lorenz Books · Mid-range

A hardcover guide to the golden age of train engines by Colin Garratt, with 700 photographs covering the first designs to modern high-speed trains.

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Image: PublicAffairs / Hachette Book Group · source

Blood, Iron, and Gold: How the Railroads Transformed the World

PublicAffairs · Mid-range

Christian Wolmar's trade paperback traces how railroads spread from Britain and America across the globe, in 432 pages.

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