Electric Traction on the Pennsylvania Railroad, 1895-1968
Electric Traction on the Pennsylvania Railroad, 1895-1968

Author: Michael Bezilla

Publisher: Penn State University Press

Published: 1980

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13:

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The first comprehensive case study of railroad electrification in the United States, this pioneering book highlights a subject of current government and industry studies and a target of billions of dollars of Amtrak rehabilitation funds. Both energy conservation and environmental quality remain at stake together with transportation efficiency. Electric traction on the Pennsylvania Railroad was a technological success handicapped by an economic factor: the onetime relatively low cost of petroleum, which gave diesel locomotives and highway vehicles a temporary advantage. Today the growing cost advantage of electricity--generated with coal; atomic energy; water, wind, and solar power--prefigures a revival of electric railroad traction. Drawing upon previously untapped records of the PRR and its suppliers, notably General Electric, the author traces stages in cooperative risk management. First came challenges of limited scope which steam locomotives were unable to meet: the New York City tunnel extension of 1910 and the Philadelphia suburban modernization begun in 1913. Next came a decade of mainline electrification, 1928-38: first New York to Washington and then passenger and freight extensions to Harrisburg. These projects were preceded by large-scale research and experimentation, followed by constant improvement in equipment and operations. Electric traction is depicted as a program involving not only the railroad but also its consultants, equipment and energy suppliers, and (to a lesser degree) governmental bodies. Locomotive and power transmission design is described in detail--with copious illustrations--as are the creative achievements of managers, engineers, and workers. And the presentation will be clear to readers without specialized technical or business backgrounds.

A Century of Subways
A Century of Subways

Author: Brian J. Cudahy

Publisher: Fordham Univ Press

Published: 2009-08-25

Total Pages: 617

ISBN-13: 0823222950

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The transit historian and author of Under the Sidewalks of New York delivers a lively and authoritative history of New York City’s fabled subway. On the afternoon of October 27, 1904, ordinary New Yorkers descended beneath the sidewalks for the first time to ride the electric-powered trains of the newly inaugurated Interborough Rapid Transit System. More than a century later, the subway has expanded greatly, weaving its way into the fabric of New York’s unique and diverse urban life. In A Century of Subways, transit historian Brian J. Cudahy offers a fascinating tribute to New York’s storied and historic subway system, from its earliest beginnings and many architectural achievements, to the ways it helped shape today’s modern metropolis. Taking a fresh look at one of the marvels of the twentieth century, Cudahy creates a vivid sense of this extraordinary system and the myriad ways the city was transformed once New Yorkers started riding below the ground.

Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania
Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania

Author: Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania

Publisher: Stackpole Books

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 52

ISBN-13: 9780811729567

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A guidebook to the museum in Strasburg, Pennsylvania, covering the history of the state's railroad industry, with a tour of the 100,000-square-foot exhibit hall, which displays dozens of historic locomotives and rolling stock significant to Pennsylvania's railroad heritage. A complete checklist of the museum's collection of rolling stock is included.

Field Guide to Trains
Field Guide to Trains

Author: Brian Solomon

Publisher: Voyageur Press

Published: 2016-05-01

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 0760351260

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Now you can be the human Wikipedia page of trains--from locomotives to rolling stock. No Great American road trip would be complete without seeing trains streaming across wild prairies and through thick forests. All kinds of diesel and even a few steam locomotives can be seen, with everything from boxy frontends to curving streamlined bodies. The containers, flat cars, and boxcars pulled by these locomotives carry diverse freight, and the variety of these cars is wide. Field Guide to Trains: Locomotives and Rolling Stock is the source for easy-to-digest information on locomotives and cars. Model railroaders will also find this book indispensible, as it offers myriad ideas for realistic train systems. The book is divided by diesel-electric locomotives, self-propelled passenger trains, passenger cars, freight cars, rail transit, and preserved equipment at museums and excursion steam locomotives. It also touches on historic diesels, vintage trams, maintenance trains, snowplow engines, and circus trains. Featuring North American and world examples of trains, Field Guide to Trains includes just about any type of locomotive and train car you are likely to see on the rails today, making this book the only available comprehensive guide to locomotives and rolling stock out there. Bring Field Guide to Trains: Locomotives and Rolling Stock along on family trips to see what rolls the rails as you're traveling. Make a game of how many locomotives and car types you can identify. Buy locomotives and certain car types for your model layout. This is simply the handiest field guide for families and railroad buffs that you'll ever find.

North American Railroads
North American Railroads

Author: Brian Solomon

Publisher: Voyageur Press

Published: 2014-10-15

Total Pages: 323

ISBN-13: 1627885579

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This richly illustrated encyclopedia of classic and contemporary American railroads features consise histories of 101 U.S. and Canadian railroads past and present. Illustrated with period and modern photography in both color and black and white, evocative print ads, and system maps, each profile is also accompanied by one or more fact boxes offering details on the railroads' geographic scope, hardware, and freight and passenger operations. Spanning more than a century and a half, this giant compendium of “fallen flags,” Class I behemoths, classic regional carriers, and transportation icons is sure to become the go-to compendium for railfans of all stripes.

Coal Trains
Coal Trains

Author: Brian Solomon

Publisher: Voyageur Press

Published: 2009-07-15

Total Pages: 160

ISBN-13: 1616731370

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From the first, U.S. railroads have carried coal from mines to docks, steel mills, and power plants across the country. In this authoritative book spanning the whole of that history, from the mid-nineteenth century to present, noted rail author Brian Solomon explores the railroads and hardware that have transported the fossil fuels that made America work. Brilliant period and contemporary photographs convey the drama of the enterprise: the very long—and very heavy—trains powering up mountain grades and thundering across barren prairies. At sites from the eastern and western U.S., past and present, readers see giant double-headed Norfolk and Western steam locomotives moving Appalachian coal in Virginia; modern CSX diesels dragging unit coal trains over the well-groomed former Chesapeake & Ohio main line; BNSF’s SD70MACs with more than 100 hoppers in tow; Rio Grande locomotives snaking through the Rocky Mountains; and coal trains working full-throttle up Colorado’s Tennessee Pass, cresting the Continental Divide at 10,000 feet above sea level. Taking up topics ranging from the colorful but now-defunct “anthracite roads” of eastern Pennsylvania to today’s AC-traction diesels that work Wyoming’s thriving Powder River Basin, Solomon reveals how for 150 years the unique demands of coal—and America’s demand for coal—have prompted new railroad technologies.

The Railroad
The Railroad

Author: H. Roger Grant

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2005-04-30

Total Pages: 202

ISBN-13: 0313014051

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Railroads altered the landscape of the United States. Within a few decades of the invention of the locomotive, railways stretched from coast to coast, enabling people and goods to travel far greater distances than ever before, completely altering our concept of time and space. And while railroads may seem like an old technology, they continue to be an essential means of transporting both good and people, and new technologies are making the railroads an increasingly relevant resource for the 21st century. This volume in the Greenwood Technographies series tells the life story of all aspects of railroad technology—everything from the structure of the track to communications to what powers the locomotive.

Crossroads of Commerce
Crossroads of Commerce

Author: Dan Cupper

Publisher: Stackpole Books

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 0811729036

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Each year, starting in 1925, the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) commissioned a striking oil painting of a PRR engine in a dramatic setting, which was featured on a large wall calendar that the company distributed by the hundreds of thousands to customers and the public. Grif Teller painted 27 of the 33 scenes. This book reproduces Teller's calendar art and his other paintings in full color and recounts his life and career.