Chronicles the new lightweight passenger trains introduced by the Illinois Central to attract the riders it lost during the Great Depression.Includes the pioneer Green Diamond, the City of Miami which ran from Chicago to Miami with the help of seven other railroads and the Panama Limited, Illinois Central's premier train.

The passenger train has long held a special place in the imagination of Americans, and Indiana was once a bustling passenger train crossroads. Limiteds, Locals, and Expresses in Indiana, 1838–1971 brings to life the countless locals, accommodation trains, and secondary expresses that Hoosiers patronized during the Golden Age of the passenger train. Craig Sanders gives us a comprehensive history of intercity passenger service in Indiana, from the time railroads began to develop in the state in the mid-19th century through May 1, 1971, when Amtrak began operations. Each chapter summarizes the history and development of one railroad, discusses the factors that shaped that railroad's passenger service—such as prolonged financial difficulties, competition, and the influence of a strong leader—and concludes with a detailed account of its passenger operations in Indiana. Sixteen maps, 87 photographs, and other evocative illustrations supplement Sanders's text.

This is the story of the USS Wolverine and the USS Sable, two Great Lakes excursion ships converted for aircraft carrier training during WWII. Through the duration of the war, the United States Navy qualified 17,800 pilots for aircraft carrier operation. Training the pilots on either the Atlantic or the Pacific Ocean would have exposed the training ships to the danger of submarine attack, while requiring the escort of fighting ships that were needed elsewhere. It would also have involved arming and armoring the ships used for training. Commander R.F. Whitehead came up with an idea that solved all of these problems. He suggested doing the training on the protected waters of the Great Lakes. The USS Wolverine and the USS Sable were chosen and became the only fresh water, paddle-wheeled, coal-fired aircraft carriers in the history of the world. Author Paul M. Somers shares his collection of vintage photos and a lifetime of research to detail the history of these two great vessels-from their life as cruise ships to their contributions to the war effort and then to their eventual scrapping.

The New York, Susquehanna & Western Railroad arose in 1881 through the merger of several smaller railway companies that linked the anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania to the industrial centers of the New York–New Jersey metropolitan area. Immediately successful in the coal business, the NYS&W also attracted tourists by promoting the beauty and rural charm of the Delaware Water Gap and building picnic facilities for same-day excursions from both ends of the line. The company's fortunes rose through the 1920s, fell in the 1930s, surged in the 1940s as it became one of the region's busiest and most innovative passenger lines, and slowly declined from the 1950s until finally passing into bankruptcy in 1976 and reorganization into a regional freight hauler. As expertly and engagingly told in this heavily illustrated book—the first in-depth history of the line—the story of the NYS&W vividly illustrates the challenges faced by the many smaller railroad companies that contributed to America's industrial growth and the inventive solutions their directors devised to surmount these difficulties in the service of local and regional needs. Robert E. Mohowski traces the company's tangled history from the founding of its direct ancestor—the New Jersey, Hudson, and Delaware Railroad—in 1832 through its acquisition by the Erie Railroad in 1898, its reemergence as an independent entity in 1940, and its thirty-six-year-long struggle to keep the railroad in business. As Mohowski accounts, the NYS&W throughout its history aggressively sought out new sources of revenue, particularly as the traffic in coal dwindled. Commuter service became the most successful of these activities, and the line's management invested heavily in upgrading its locomotive and passenger car fleets. The company introduced streamlined, self-propelled cars that provided fast, comfortable travel in northeast New Jersey (a prototype for New Jersey Transit's present-day Midtown Direct service). These efforts, however, proved insufficient to prevent the company's demise. Beloved by railroad enthusiasts, the New York, Susquehanna & Western serves as a case study in technological innovation and creative management and stands as an important chapter in the history of American railroads.

See the streamlined trains of the 1930s in all of their sleek glory. In the 1930s, streamlined styling was applied to everything from kitchen appliances to farm tractors as it captured the American imagination. Keen to regain passenger traffic lost to automobiles and expanding roadways, railroads hired industrial-design giants like Raymond Loewy, Otto Kuhler, Henry Dreyfuss, and Brooks Stevens to produce sleek, futuristic shrouds for locomotives. These streamlined locomotives and trains became the most iconic in American history. Even today, classic designs like stainless-steel Zephyrs, shrouded Hudsons, and EMD E-units remain the popular conception of what a locomotive "looks like." Streamliners : Locomotives and Trains in the Age of Speed and Style explores the historical and scientific context for the development of streamlined locomotives and trains, the designs that became standard-bearers of North American speed and luxury, and the contemporary popularity of the streamlined look in popular culture. Illustrated with rare historical photographs in both black and white and color, as well as period advertising, route maps, and patent design drawings, Streamliners elucidates the story of this fascinating design trend by following the various technologies and styling trends and how they changed the look of American railroading. Profiles of prominent designers and preserved streamliners in use today round out and complete this picture every railfan will want. Streamlining was the product of the last great era of American passenger trains, when elegantly styled, named trains connected cities across the continent on fast schedules. Streamliners thoroughly explores the connections between style, speed, and the rails.

Provides historical coverage of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. Includes information abstracted from over 2,000 journals published worldwide.