Have you ever watched wagon after wagon of a goods train thunder past and wondered where it is heading, what it is carrying, and how it works its way between the passenger services? While goods services now tend to be shrouded in anonymity, in past times they were celebrated, prominently advertised, and in many cases were the raisons d'être for a rail route. Throughout the nineteenth and much of the twentieth century, goods trains were the lifeblood of the nation, transporting precious raw materials, construction and industrial items, and fresh produce from coastal areas and farms into the centres of bustling cities. This informative illustrated history shows how rail freight has been carried since Victorian times, and how systems have been organized, from the train itself to the sidings, railway clearing houses, goods sheds and final destinations – whether villages, towns, cities, factories or docks. It also examines the basic rolling stock of these trains, from the humble coal wagon to today's hi-tech containers.

In simple, powerful words and vibrant illustrations, Donald Crews evokes the rolling wheels of that childhood favorite: a train. This Caldecott Honor Book features bright colors and bold shapes. Even a child not lucky enough to have counted freight cars will feel he or she has watched a freight train passing after reading Freight Train. Donald Crews used childhood memories of trains seen during his travels to his grandparents' farm in the American South as the inspiration for this timeless favorite. New York magazine's The Strategist chose Freight Train as one of the "Best (Nonobvious) Baby Books to Bring to a Shower." As The Strategist stated: "The Caldecott Honor Book is spare and minimal in both art and text and follows the journey of a freight train and all its cars until it rolls off the page and into the distance. It’s a good way to learn all the different names of train cars, too." Red caboose at the back, orange tank car, green cattle car, purple box car, black tender and a black steam engine . . . freight train.

The average freight car can hold 200,000 pounds. This is equal to the weight of 15 male bush elephants! Early readers will be impressed by the powerful freight trains in this book moving heavy loads of food, coal, oil, and more!

This comprehensive book, written by an experienced railway modeller, demonstrates how, with a little patience, you can produce accurate and realistic models of goods trains, sheds and yards. It presents detailed step-by-step projects and covers basic card-kit building, 'kit bashing' and scratch building. Written in an easily understandable style, this fascinating work is aimed at all those railway modellers who wish to authentically replicate the way goods were moved and handled on Britain's railways during the steam era. It covers the simple tools and materials that are required and is packed with information about steam-era goods workings and how to recreate them on a layout. It shows the reader how a typical goods yard operated and how it was constructed, and demonstrates how to detail, improve, modify and achieve the best results from card kits. It also examines the growing appeal of 'download' kits and shows the modeller how to improve the appearance and reliability of goods rolling stock. With many money-saving suggestions, this essential guide to transforming shiny shop-bought models and kits into convincing representations of the real thing will be invaluable to all railway modellers. Fully illustrated with 245 colour and black & white photographs.