Series:
MBI Railroad Color History
Biographical note:
Mike Schafer hails from Rockford, Illinois, where he recalls his earliest train-watching experiences on the Illinois Central, Milwaukee Road, Burlington Route, and Chicago & North Western. He vividly can recall his first train rides, circa 1952, on IC\u2019s Hawkeye and Land O\u2019 Corn between Rockford and Chicago. Eventually he would declare the latter — America\u2019s railroad hub — his \u201chonorary hometown. Mike and his little dog Archie reside in a house (which includes a 1,600-square-foot model railroad) next to BNSF\u2019s busy Twin Cities mainline in a small town outside Chicago where he also serves as village trustee and occasionally mayor pro tem.
Brian Solomon is one of today’s most accomplished railway historians. He has authored more than 30 books about railroads and motive power, and his writing and photography have been featured in Trains, Railway Age, Passenger Train Journal, and RailNews. Solomon divides his time between Monson, Massachusetts, and Dublin, Ireland.
Main description:
From humble beginnings in the 1800s, the Pennsylvania Railroad grew to be one of the most powerful, influential railroads in American history--a railroad that Fortune Magazine called “a nation unto itself.” It owned its own shops, coal mines, hotels, communications system, and power plants, not to mention hundreds of depots (including the famous Penn Station in Manhattan), thousands of passenger cars, tens of thousands of freight cars, and a vast fleet of steam, electric, and diesel locomotives. The Pennsy’s 10,000 route-miles served thirteen of the most populous and most industrialized states in the United States.
Pennsylvania Railroad examines the mighty railroad’s evolution from a disparate group of early horse car lines into a twentieth-century transportation giant. Color and black-and-white photographs and period ads illustrate the railroad’s many facets, including both its passenger and freight operations, as well its motive power through the decades. Though the Pennsy was merged out of existence in 1968, an epilogue details the PRR legacies that survive on today’s modern railroad scene.
