This classic illustrated reference is now fully updated with revised profiles, additional diagrams, and more than a dozen new railyard profiles. Railyards are the epicenter of modern railroad operations sprawling multi-acre facilities, featuring miles of track and complex operations. There, freight-carrying rolling stock of every conceivable type is dropped off, sorted, and switched from train to train before being sent off to its next destination. Michael Rhodes, a devoted U.K.-based rail enthusiast, has traveled the United States and Canada dozens of times, gathering information about the histories and operations of these facilities. In this updated and expanded edition of his 2003 book, North American Railyards, Rhodes provides a unique reference to railyards across the continent, including the latest information on their status, traffic, and more. In addition to revising the previous yard profiles where necessary, he has added more than a dozen profiles not included in the previous edition, bringing the total in this volume to 100. The book also includes 10 new yard diagrams not appearing in the previous volume, provides updates to the existing 25 diagrams where needed, and features system maps for the Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, CSX, Norfolk Southern, BNSF, and Union Pacific railroads. Where the first edition of North American Railyards was unparalleled in enthusiast literature published before it, this fully revamped and expanded edition brings even more information and a beautiful new layout to the bookshelf of any true railfan.

"An updated edition of the work first published in 2003, describing and illustrating more than 100 working railyards throughout the United States and Canada. Includes photos, system maps, and yard diagrams"--Provided by publisher.

Railroad classification yards are sprawling, multi-acre facilities featuring miles of complex track and "sidings" where rolling stock is dropped off, sorted, and otherwise switched from train to train before being sent off to its next destination. With the glory days of train passenger service and thus railroad terminals long gone, classification yards have become the focus of modern railroad operations.This comprehensive, illustrated guide is the definitive reference to major North American railyards - more than 70 in all. Over the past 13 years the author has visited each yard gathering brief histories, operating data, information on unique characteristics, and photographs. In the relatively few cases in which yards have been downsized or closed, the author includes the most recent information.

"Christopher Rund chronicles the development of the Indiana Rail Road Company from its origins of part of America's first land grant railroad - the Illinois Central - through the political and financial juggling required by entrepreneur Tom Hoback to purhcase the line when it fell into disrepair. The company was reborn as a robust, profitable carrier and has become a new model for America's regional railroads."--BOOK JACKET.

Celebrate over 150 years of the North American railroad with this visual history. You'll be amazed by over 400 modern and vintages photographs of these trains!

Trains Across the Continent North American Railroad History Second Edition Rudolph Daniels A wonderfully readable, illustrated guide to the history of railroads in America. "Trains Across the Continent is everything you need to know about railroad history—both educational and enjoyable reading." —Dean Bruce, President, Railroad Education Training Association "Trains Across the Continent should be in every public school library in the country. Quickly and concisely Dr. Daniels leads you through the maze of building, merging, and a myriad of other details necessary to understand modern railroading. Steam, diesel, passenger, and freight are all carefully explained on a national scale rather than railroad specific, making this book even more of a useful tool for the student." —Donald D. Snoddy, Historian, Union Pacific Railroad "Trains Across the Continent" is a truly comprehensive account of how railroads helped shape, and are continuing to shape, the history of North America." —Jonathan B. Hanna, Historian, Canadian Pacific Railway "Nothing but positive comments about it from faculty and students alike. . . . The industry bible in this area." —Phillip B. Cypret, Sacramento City College "Professor Daniels displays both passion and scholarship in this nicely arranged buffet of subjects both large and minute, important and interesting, serious and fun, to present a delicious overview of railroad history." —James D. Porterfield, author of Dining by Rail "Daniels manages to make brief mention of all major points of North American railroad history . . . from the workings of a steam locomotive to the dawn of the railroad mega-merger, nearly every conceivable aspect of railroading receives attention. . . . This volume is a must for those wishing to broaden or hone their knowledge of the birth and evolution of the railroad industry in North America." —Rail News Updated maps, new appendices, a greatly expanded bibliography, detailed discussions of the recent attempted mergers of the CN and BNSF, of the diesel locomotive, and of railroad electrification further round out the usefulness of Trains Across the Continent as the complete and concise introduction to North American railroads. Rudolph Daniels is Chair of the Behavioral Sciences Department at Western Iowa Tech Community College, where he teaches history and Railroad Operations Technology.

Containing 202 hand-drawn color maps of every railroad line in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia, this book provides a unique record of a time when passenger trains still made stops in every town and freight trains carried the bulk of the nation's cargo. Drawn at a scale of 1 inch to 4 miles, the maps include main and branch passenger and freight lines, former steam locomotive and manual signal tower stations, towns that functioned as crew change points, track pans, coaling stations, and a variety of indexes of railroad features. Carpenter is a longtime observer and collector of railroad history. This is the first volume in a series that eventually will provide the first comprehensive atlas of the U.S. post-World War II railroad system. Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).

Beginning with the introduction of the steam locomotive, followed by the development of iron railroads, the North American railroads impacted the nation in ways unseen by anyone before or since. Just under two centuries ago, not even the most gifted of visionaries could have foreseen the impact on the development of the United States of America that would follow the introduction of the steam locomotive. Then, in the second quarter of the 19th century, the trails of horse-drawn wagon trains were quickly followed by the iron railroads with steam locomotives hauling an ever larger and more diverse assortment of loads - humans, animal and freight. So while the horse may have opened up the North American continent, its real exploitation was made possible by the steam-hauled railroad service. Whereas it had taken weeks, if not months, to take long journeys within and across the U.S.A., the advent of the railroad permitted such journeys to be completed in days, or at worst weeks. While the steam locomotive did not complete the exploration and opening of the U. S. A., it was essential to its development in social, political and economic terms, in the last half of the 19th century turning a small, poorly populated and economically insignificant nation into a huge, rapidly growing and economically powerfully entity that had come to rival the most advance European nations.

"Illustrated history of the North American Railroad industry's mergers and acquisitions illustrated with historical photography and 50 specially commissioned maps and line diagrams charting that evolution"-Provided by publisher.