From dizzying mountain passes to verdant pine valleys and arid desert canyons, the regions spanning the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Coast have always presented the railroad industry with special difficulties, spurring the development of new equipment to surmount those challenges. This is an art book treatment showing North America's most recognizable railroads in spectacular locations appealing to railfans nationwide.

"With an appendix containing a full analysis of the debts of the United States, the several states, municipalities etc. Also statements of street railway and traction companies, industrial corporations, etc." (statement omitted on later vols.).

Celebrating the sesquicentennial anniversary of the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in the United States , After Promontory: One Hundred and Fifty Years of Transcontinental Railroading profiles the history and heritage of this historic event. Starting with the original Union Pacific—Central Pacific lines that met at Promontory Summit, Utah, in 1869, the book expands the narrative by considering all of the transcontinental routes in the United States and examining their impact on building this great nation. Exquisitely illustrated with full color photographs, After Promontory divides the western United States into three regions—central, southern, and northern—and offers a deep look at the transcontinental routes of each one. Renowned railroad historians Maury Klein, Keith Bryant, and Don Hofsommer offer their perspectives on these regions along with contributors H. Roger Grant and Rob Krebs.

Includes schedule of the California Zephyr, and brief comments about points of interest along the route from Chicago to San Francisco.

The city of Yreka was determined to have a railroad. When the Southern Pacific Railroad decided in 1883 to bypass Yreka, the citizens constructed their own railroad known as the Yreka Railroad Company. This railroad managed to eke out a living over the next few decades. In the 1930s, the railroad was reincorporated as the Yreka Western Railroad. By the mid-1930s, the railroad went bankrupt and was forced into receivership, and a new manager was put in charge. Through perseverance of the new manager, the railroad began to grow and prosper. By the late 1970s, the railroad once again started to decline, but as in the past, it managed to hold on. In 1986, the railroad started an excursion train known as the "Blue Goose," and steam locomotive No. 19 was added in 1989. Throughout all the hardships, the railroad still continues today and has been given the nickname "the Little Railroad that Refuses to Die."

In this work, the most comprehensive of its kind, the author examines in engaging narrative and wonderful photography the development of the area’s complete railroading industry—Class 1 railroads, short lines, industrial and mining roads, and logging lines. Added to the textual histories are more than three hundred photographs and illustrations, including timetables and maps for most of the lines discussed.

A reflection of the effects of highways--and their hugely subsidized trucks--upon railroads, and of the incompetence of the Southern Pacific. The trucks took much rail freight on the coast, the SP--partly through government rules & inertia--failed to meet the competition; many lines were closed, most of the rest were sold to small, hungry, competent firms. This is the story. It is well told in a style familiar to rail fans: lists of stations, engine rosters, control blocks. Abundant photos, a few in color. Current through the visit of the X2000 in mid-1993. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.