The Northwestern Pacific was one of California's most distinctive railroads, connecting the northwest corner of the state at Eureka with the San Francisco Bay Area. Its primary business was lumber, largely interchanged with Southern Pacific. Over the years, passenger and general freight services were also an important part of operations, as were passenger ferryboats and electrified commuter services. The NWP was founded in 1907 as a joint property of SP and Santa Fe, to combine several existing railroads; in 1929, SP took over sole ownership.
Fred Stindt, longtime historian and enthusiast of the NWP, originally published two volumes on this topic, and said on many occasions that he wished he had gotten around to combining them. This book is that combined edition, with all the material of the two volumes Fred produced, and some additional information. It contains a great wealth of photo illustrations, along with timetable, map, and advertising materials.
Artist John Signor has created the cover painting based on a historic NWP passenger train photograph. Publication date TBA.
The sixth volume in this distinguished series of books describes Arizona's Northern Roads, the railroads in the northern part of the state. The major roads among these were the mining roads of Jerome and the coal roads of later years; there were also lumber roads and the tourist lines such as the Grand Canyon Railway.
David F. Myrick, distinguished railroad historian and an unparalleled expert on Arizona railroad history, published the first five volumes of this series from 1975 to 2001.
Artist Ernie Towler painted the cover illustration based on a historic photograph of articulated locomotive 500 of the Verde Tunnel & Smelter Railway with a typically short train of ore cars. Publication date TBA.
