Other Titles

Symposium on Railroad History,Vol. 4

Edited by Anthony W. Thompson

This book is the record of the Kalmbach Memorial Library Symposium on Railroad History presentations of 1995 and 1996. Published by Signature Press in association with the Library, which is part of the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA), the book is part of a continuing series. It is distributed solely by the NMRA through the Library. Copies may be ordered by telephone at (423) 894-8144.

Contents of the book and authors include: Larry Kline, "Growing Up Together: Railroads and the Steel Industry, 1870-1930," John Wesner, "When Boxcars Became Colorful: Changes in U.S. Railroad Freight Car Lettering in the 1950s," Robert J. Church, "Dunsmuir: A Railroad Town, Then and Now," Al Westerfield, "Billboard Reefers and Other Disasters: How Government Regulation Affected Car Building," C. Keith Jordan, "Pre-War Operations on the Santa Fe's Surf Line," Richard H. Hendrickson, "Operations on the Surf Line in the late 1940s," and John H. Kirchner, "The Theory and Practice of Plantation Railroads."

The Central Pacific and Southern Pacific Railroads, Revised Edition

Lucius Beebe

First edition published: 1963. The Howell-North edition of this book has long been treasured by rail historians of every persuasion, not least because of its superb collection of photographs by master railroad photographer Richard Steinheimer. However, since the Gold Spike Centennial fourth printing in 1969, the book has been out of print, and currently commands a premium price on the used book market.

Well-known Southern Pacific historian Don Hofsommer has contributed a new introduction, and artist John Signor has completed a superb new painting for the dust jacket. Also added will be a number of unpublished Steinheimer photographs, in both B&W and color. This new edition will be a "must" for railroad enthusiasts, and for fans of the Southern Pacific in particular. Publication has not been given a specific schedule date at this time.

Sierra Railway,Second Edition

Dorothy Newell Deane

The Centennial of the Sierra Railway took place in October, 1997 at Jamestown, Calif., commemorating the railroad's arrival there in 1897. This noteworthy book, written by the daughter of the railroad's longtime Chief Engineer and published in 1960 by Howell-North Books, has long been out of print.

This new edition not only contains new text bringing the history of the Sierra up to the present day (written by Rick Mugele, with help from Dave Connery and Kyle Wyatt), but it also features many photographs not in the first edition. These new photos are from both the pre- and post-1960 eras, many by Ted Benson for the recent era.Some photos will be in color, and a new dust jacket painting by renowned railroad artist Rod Aszman will grace the frontispiece page. The book also has corrections of some minor errors in Deane's text.

This book will be a welcome addition to the lore of the Sierra, as well as a contribution to the history of California and the West. No publication date has been set for this title.

Pacific Fruit Express,First Edition

Anthony W. Thompson, Robert J. Church and Bruce H. Jones

The first edition of this book (full page description available, together with reviews) was a thorough and complete history of the world's largest refrigerator car operator, the Pacific Fruit Express Company. The 432-page book had 663 photos (some in color), scale car drawings, shop track layouts, system map, paint scheme drawings, and accurate color drift panels. Published in an edition of 3000 copies in June, 1992 (old ISBN: 09633791-2-7), the book was declared "out of print" in August, 1996.

A second edition (see description elsewhere on this site) has now been issued with corrections and updating of nearly a third of the pages, together with 32 new appendix pages. Publication date was August 15, 2000.

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