Show Trains of the 20th Century

For all of the steam and diesel locomotives you can't see in person, or the ones you want to remember in all of their larger-than-life glory, this is the book to buy. From the steam age to the modern diesel era, locomotives are marvels of engineering and industrial design, brimming with power, movement, and man's ingenuity even when sitting still. Photographer Ken Boyd's approach to the locomotive is unlike that of any other photographer. Every aspect of his photographs, from bolts and conduits to sheet metal and windows is painstakingly evaluated and then digitally edited until it glows with clarity and brilliance. The results are images of locomotives bristling with details not visible in conventional locomotive photography. The Art of the Locomotive features 150 large-format plates depicting locomotives ranging from the diminutive steam engines of the middle nineteenth century to the steam and diesel behemoths that followed. Each plate is accompanied by a detailed caption describing the locomotive's history and technology. The machines included represent railroads from all over the United States and Canada, from the Great Lakes region to the Gulf of Mexico, from the east Coast to the West Coast. In addition, Boyd offers an appendix describing his photographic process, shedding light, as it were, on the method behind his fantastic imagery. Boyd's images are so incredibly sharp and breathtakingly rich, they have to be seen to be believed.

This richly illustrated history chronicles one of the most revolutionary developments in freight railroading during the twentieth century: intermodal shipping, or the use of containers to move cargo between trains, trucks, and oceangoing vessels. It was a development that transformed the movement of freight around the world, with an almost incalculable impact on American industry. Intermodal railroading in North America begins tentatively, with attempts at piggybacking in the 1930s, before moving on to more serious developments in the period from World War II through the 1960s, notably by Canadian Pacific and the New Haven and Southern Pacific railroads. After looking at early intermodal technology and traffic, particularly the formation of pioneering equipment manufacturer and provider TTX, author Brian Solomon turns to the contemporary period. His account of mighty changes in North American shipping ranges from the implications of deregulation and various railroad mergers, to the emergence of partnerships between railroads and trucking and shipping firms. In addition to railroads like Conrail, BNSF, and CSX, this comprehensive history features trucking, freight delivery, and forwarding firms such as J. B. Hunt, Sea-Land, Maersk, and K-Line. It also considers the importance of specialized modern rolling stock, motive power, loading equipment, and intermodal hubs including South Kearney, Seattle, Long Beach, Oakland, and Houston.