Books - Reviews by WPLives

Books - Reviews by WPLives

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Member	Item		Review/Comment
WPLives 22nd May 2024		Book Jeff Wilson - Piggyback & Container Traffic (2017)	Review "Piggyback & Container Traffic is an excellent primer for historians and model railroaders interested in this significant category of railroad business. I remember piggybacks and I wonder where in the world one would have to go not to find an intermodal container? The author introduces the book with comments about just how enormous of a task it would be to write a full history of the subjects, and ends the book with a large bibliography of sources, as well as the sidebar Finding train information. This book is full of photographs and other graphics. The text is very detailed and yet easy to follow. I have no meaningful complaints and happily recommend this book". - Fred Boucher, KitMaker.net ✔︎ Helpful Review?
WPLives 6th Oct 2021		Book Guy L. Dunscomb - A Century Of Southern Pacific Steam Locomotives (1963)	Review Review "this book captures not only the changes in American steam locomotive development, but also the why that it happened. And that makes it worth reading" ----The Santa Fe Railway Historical and Modeling Society--- ✔︎ Helpful Review?
WPLives 16th Aug 2021		Book Lawrence A. Brough - The Electric Pullman (2013)	Review Although not one of the major manufacturers in its field, the Niles company produced some notable and well-remembered equipment during the height of the electric interurban railway era. Indeed, among some interurban railway historians, Niles cars are sacred objects. As such, its story deserves to be told and theoretically would be a logical complement to IUP's books on the Brill and Jewett companies. Brough himself is a serious historian who knows his subject and has clearly mined all the sources that seem to exist. -- Herbert H. Harwood, Jr. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
WPLives 16th Aug 2021		Book Lawrence A. Brough - The Electric Pullman (2013)	Review Electric Pullman is required reading for anyone interested in interurban history. It holds additional appeal for those interested in Ohio history or the junction point between business, society, and technology. ― Lexington Quarterly This book is a highly informative three or four evening read. ― The Villager ✔︎ Helpful Review?
WPLives 16th Aug 2021		Book H. Roger Grant - Railroads And The American People (2012)	Review Reviews With plenty of detail, Grant brings a bygone era back to life, addressing everything from social and commercial appeal, racial and gender issues, safety concerns, and leaps in technology. But Grant never loses sight of the big picture and the essential role the railroads played in American life. He writes with authority and clarity in a work that can appeal to both casual and hardcore enthusiasts. ― Publishers Weekly (starred review) With its wealth of vignettes and more than 100 black-and-white illustrations, Railroads and the American People does a fine job of humanizing the iron horse. ― Wall Street Journal Consisting of hundreds of vignettes containing a wealth of detailed descriptions and remembrances, Grant's work is highly recommended to train buffs and others in love with early railroading. ― LIBRARY JOURNAL Railroad historian Grant...has written an engaging book of train stories, detailing their social influence from 1830 to 1930...Highly recommended. ― Choice Read this book slowly, allowing the wealth of detail―which is the book's great strength―time to sink in. You will find yourself thinking about certain details after hours, each reader resonating with some different aspect of the map Grant creates. Re-reading, some other aspect will surface...Grant's book leaves you wishing for more. ― Indiana Magazine of History Grant very successfully identifies the countless ways that railroads have touched the lives of ordinary Americans and rail enthusiast communities such as ours as well. ― Michigan Railfan Awards Bronze Medal, 2012 ForeWord Reviews Book of the Year 2013 AAUP Public and Secondary School Library Selection, Outstanding rating Gold Medal, Automotive/Aviation/Railroad category, 2014 Independent Publisher Book Awards ✔︎ Helpful Review?
WPLives 5th Aug 2021		Book Jim Wrinn - Union Pacific's Big Boys (2020)	Review Style over substance Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2020 (My actual rating is closer to 2 3/4 stars) Union Pacific's 25 4-8-8-4s have long had a massive cult following, one which endures today with the restoration of 4014 to running order. I've long awaited a really substantial reference book on these classic locomotives, and I suppose I'll just have to keep on waiting. For the most part, this is another case of style winning over substance. Not mentioned in the product description is the fact that most of this book is recycled material. All eight chapters were previously published as articles in "Trains" Magazine; three of them are from their July 2019 special issue "Big Boy: Back in Steam." For a book billed as "the complete story," the historical and technical sections are disappointingly anemic. Although the chapters focused on earlier articulated and Superpower locomotives are fairly detailed and fleshed out, there's not much here on the design, development, and operation of the Big Boys themselves. Beyond a decent cutaway artwork and a fairly detailed specifications table, there's little in the way of technical detail; no line diagrams, no schematics of the valve gear, very few images of the "guts" of the locomotive beyond the boiler interior, a smattering of "how it works" information, and not even a labeled image of the backhead. Histories of individual Big Boys are nowhere to be found. Frankly, William Withuhn's "American Steam Locomotives" did a better job describing the Big Boys and their articulated brethren. This leaves the photographs to do much of the heavy lifting, and there's certainly a lot of them here. Thankfully, many of them are absolutely superb, depicting Big Boys and other classic American articulateds in their prime, the restoration of 4014, and its triumphant return to the rails in 2019. Most of the images are finely reproduced, with the fine grain of the black & white photographs and the superb color and detail of the 21st-century photos jumping off the page. Unfortunately, the editors at Kalmbach have totally wasted the landscape format, and many of the photographs go right through the binding. This might be acceptable in a ~70-page staple-bound magazine, but in a 224-page paperback book, a lot of fine mechanical detail disappears into the gutter. If you're a huge fan of the Big Boys, you might be able to forgive this book's flaws and simply enjoy the photographs. If you're interested in the mechanical aspects of steam locomotives, you're probably going to be disappointed. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
WPLives 4th Aug 2021		Book H. Roger Grant - Electric Interurbans And The American People (2016)	Review A well-written social history of the shortest-lived major US transportation mode . . . This book will appeal to railroad enthusiasts and social historians with its extensive stories and case studies of the benefits in that era. . . . Highly recommended. ― Choice This compact, highly readable volume should be considered essential to understanding the interurban phenomenon, especially because it avoids getting caught up in technology and rolling stock. Instead, it focuses on what life was really life for people who rode the electric cars. . . . Rarely seen photographs of traction at high tide help to tell the story. ― Classic Trains Chronicles one of the most intriguing yet neglected pieces of American transportation history, electric interurban railroads. ― Sn3 Modeler An enjoyable and informative read. ― Journal of the Railway and Canal Historical Society With this book, the subject no longer has footnote status. In fact, Grant's work deserves a place alongside some of the other landmark surveys of the subject . . . Here, Grant moves beyond the receiverships, the rickety track, and all that fascinating rolling stock. He shows us why the whole darned thing mattered. ― Railroad History "Grant carefully provides specific examples from his broad knowledge of transportation history to support any assertions made in his text material. Even the most knowledgeable rail historian is likely to discover something new about electric interurbans that he or she had never considered before." ― The Michigan Railfan H. Roger Grant has produced a fine social history of America's electric interurbans, exploring the relationship between people and those railway enterprises. The book fills a void, is eminently readable, and richly illustrated. -- Don L. Hofsommer ✔︎ Helpful Review?
WPLives 31st Jul 2021		Book Harold A. Edmonson - Railroad Station Planbook (1977)	Review Railroad Station Planbook For the fine scale modeler in railroading, this is aan incredible book. I am a fine scale modeler and the variations of stations shown make this book very valuable. Also the many variations of railroad stations shown will help you design a very realistic station for that special location on your layout regardless of the scale. It was all I had hoped it would be. I highly recommend this book. As for the railroad historian, I beleive you to will be helped in your research as well. Happy modeling. Dec 27, 2008 Railroad Station Planbook This book contains much useful information about railroad stations. It has very many excellent quality line drawing of railroad stations of all sizes. There are plans for little country stations to those that would be in some of your larger cities. It is very well written. I read a review of this book in an old Modelrailroader magazine and became interested in it. May 13, 2008 great book for model railroaders I purchased this book knowing that I wanted to scratch build model railway stations. It has drawn to scale many of the more famous buildings. Expertly written and easy to follow with histories of the stations also. There was nothing to dislike abo ✔︎ Helpful Review?
WPLives 31st Jul 2021		Book Robert J. Church - The 4300 4-8-2's (1996)	Review Selected Comments on the First Edition of The 4300 4-8-2's "A superb book about an outstanding Southern Pacific locomotive type. The text is well written, filled with authoritative research, and supplemented with an excellent selection of photos and drawings." -- Guy Dunscomb, railroad historian and author "An excellent and informative work. Indispensable for any steam enthusiast." -- William Kratville, locomotive historian and author "Well researched and very well organized. All of us can be nothing but pleased with the material. We recommend it for railfans and modelers alike." -- Robert Hundman, in Mainline Modeler magazine ✔︎ Helpful Review?
WPLives 31st Jul 2021		Book Steve Schmollinger - The Feather River Canyon (1996)	Review California's beautiful Feather River Canyon is home to the Union Pacific's most scenic railroad line. Several photographers provide their excellent views of the canyon's beauty and the train's challenging journey through it, with text providing a history of the line and its origin. The result is a fine reading for any train buff. -- Midwest Book Review -- ✔︎ Helpful Review?
WPLives 31st Jul 2021		Book Bob Larson - Life On The Feather River Route (2005)	Review Life's work on the Feather River Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2015 This is pretty much the story of the authors life on the Western Pacific around the middle section of the line. Pictures throughout are in both color and black and white, including some good pictures of steam. There is a great map of the WP in the back of the book. .Rob is also the author of SOO Line Remembered which is another very interesting story. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
WPLives 30th Jul 2021		Book Tom Dill - Southern Pacific's Historic Overland Route -Color Pictorial- (1999)	Review Review I own and have consumed both books. The Tom Dill book, while excellent, is a photo book with excellent captions. Tom is very accurate with his work. That said, I would recommend John Signor's book for the purpose you outline. It is a complete history and description of operations on the Salt Lake Division (roughly Reno-Sparks to Ogden). Lots of text, good photos, outstanding maps. This book is a companion to Signor's Donner Pass book. It will give you many hours of reading and studying photos. I'd love to recommend both, but your limits were clearly stated. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
WPLives 30th Jul 2021		Book Michael C. Healy - BART (2016)	Review *Reviews* “Indispensable.” —Michael Rosen, San Francisco Chronicle “The Metro. The T. The Tube. The world's most famous subway systems are known by simple monikers, and San Francisco's BART belongs in that class. Michael C. Healy delivers a tour-de-force telling of its roots, hard-fought approval, and challenging construction that will delight fans of American urban history.” —Doug Most, author of The Race Underground: Boston, New York, and the Incredible Rivalry That Built America's First Subway “From Emperor Norton's 1872 dream of a transbay tunnel to the BART tube opening one hundred years later, Healy explores the nuanced history of the Bay Area's subway system through the convergent lenses of social, cultural, engineering, and political forces. In this exquisitely researched work, Healy not only brings the dramatic stories of BART's development to light, but shares the fragile web of energies, power, funding, and sheer will that created this monumental system of people-moving.” —Anthea M. Hartig, executive director of the California Historical Society ✔︎ Helpful Review?
WPLives 30th Jul 2021		Book Tony Koester - Realistic Model Railroad Design (2004)	Review A book well worth buying User Review - mscwolf - Overstock.com Tony Koester does it again. This companion book to his first Realistic Operation starts well and keeps on going. Whether you model a real Prototype or freelanced layout youll get great practical tips to create your ideal model railroad. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
WPLives 29th Jul 2021		Book Brian Solomon - Railroad Signaling (2003)	Review Solomon’s book…is rare, combining history, technological advances, theory, and practice into a compelling yet seldom told story... The easily digestible text and wonderful photographs of a diverse mix of historical and contemporary signal equipment enable readers to understand not only “how” basic systems work, but also “why”... Solomon gives this little known segment of railroading its due. -- Trains, July 1, 2010 ✔︎ Helpful Review?
WPLives 29th Jul 2021		Book Claude Wiatrowski - Railroads Of Colorado (2004)	Review Reviews This beautiful coffee table book is more than pretty pictures. Written in a down-to-earth style, the book is fun to read, whether you are a railroad buff or just interested in a part of Colorado's history. --Colorado Country Life The book is carefully researched and the text is written in an entertaining manner. The true splendor of this volume lies in the magnificent color photographs that leap out at you from its pages. It is more than a coffee table treasure, however, for it contains a well-documented record of one of man's more colorful attempts to beat nature. --Santa Fe New Mexican, Marion C. Loeb A combination history, guide, and coffee table photography book, this volume is beautifully photographed, well-researched, interesting, and an informative read. Clearly, the author is passionate about his subject. This well-researched book is highly recommended. --Colorado Libraries, Laura Kaspari Hohmann The book is carefully researched and the text is written in an entertaining manner. The true splendor of this volume lies in the magnificent color photographs that leap out at you from its pages. It is more than a coffee table treasure, however, for it contains a well-documented record of one of man's more colorful attempts to beat nature. --Santa Fe New Mexican, Marion C. Loeb A combination history, guide, and coffee table photography book, this volume is beautifully photographed, well-researched, interesting, and an informative read. Clearly, the author is passionate about his subject. This well-researched book is highly recommended. --Colorado Libraries, Laura Kaspari Hohmann ✔︎ Helpful Review?
WPLives 28th Jul 2021		Book Brian Solomon - Vintage Diesel Power (2010)	Review If the evolution of the diesel locomotive captivates your interest, Vintage Diesel Power is a book you'll want in your collection. - Canadian Railway Modeller ✔︎ Helpful Review?
WPLives 28th Jul 2021		Book Brian Solomon - Vintage Diesel Power (2010)	Review For those who enjoy seeing those colorful diesel locomotives of yesteryear at work, this book is a great way to reminisce. - The Michigan Railfan ✔︎ Helpful Review?
WPLives 28th Jul 2021		Book Paul Mallery - Design Handbook Of Model Railroads (1979)	Review The best of the best layout design handbook Reviewed in the United States on July 4, 2013 This is my #1 book to have with me when I start designing any railroad, from Z gauge to my latest 1:29 scale monster, dual gauge, occupying my old tennis court. It keeps reminding me of easements to curves, to proper track spacing for yards, bridge placements, crossings, turnout ladders and always avoiding generating too many straight line railroad plots. Better to have sweeping curves, making for interesting views than to make a plain Jane, boring, track plan. Though there are parts of Nevada that have 30 miles of straight line roadbed. Go Figure !!! ✔︎ Helpful Review?
WPLives 28th Jul 2021		Book Robert Schleicher - Building Your Next Model Railroad (1986)	Review Alan C. Heuer 5.0 out of 5 stars Reviewed in the United States on April 17, 2014 One of the finest modelling Books around - recommended by friends, recommended to ALL! This is in fact one of the BEST of the how-to, why-to and what's-next books on the subject. Dense material load, exquisitely readable, and well- illustrated without being a "picture book". 5 stars all around - reprint needed! ✔︎ Helpful Review?
WPLives 28th Jul 2021		Book Derek R. Whaley - Santa Cruz Trains (2016)	Review "Hills and mountains covered with redwood forests, valleys and ravines in which marvelous ferns grow and wild flowers abound, and through which gurgling brooks flow in crystal streams, give abundant scope for romping and climbing by young America." Oakland Daily Evening Tribune, April 20, 1888 ✔︎ Helpful Review?
WPLives 26th Jul 2021		Book John C. Smatlak - Pacific Electric's 500-Class Cars (2010)	Review Review This focused and intensive book chronicles the technological and operating history of the Pacific Electric Railway's 500 class cars from inception through retirement and rebirth through replication. Smatlak places the evolution of the cars within the framework of the changes undergone by the Pacific Electric system and the greater Los Angeles region as an organic part of the whole. Thus the book, while full of technical details about the cars, their equipment, and mode of use, also provides the contextual basis for understanding the wider and richer history of the railway system. It is profusely illustrated with historic photographs to build on the context, as well as illustrate the technical evolution of the cars. Along with the historic photos of the cars in use, drawings, shop documents, even the original bills of sale for the cars makes this one of the most complete histories of a single class of rolling stock I've ever had the pleasure of reviewing. Smatlak does not stop chronicling the cars history with their retirement, however. He has included a chapter showing how some carbodies were recycled and either purposely or accidentally preserved in adaptive reuse. Some of these carbodies are then shown in their third careers as parts of the collections of railroad museums when they were no longer needed for their second incarnations. So, we are also provided with a capsule history of the evolution of railroad museums as they found, moved, and preserved these cars (to a greater or lesser extent) over the past 45 years. Finally, the rebirth of the 500 class cars as models for the new Waterfront Red Car line and the new line itself are covered, a shorter history but as contextually rich in its chapter as the rest of the book covers the longer history of the original. As an experiment, I passed this book along to a friend I work with who has no interest in railways but is from Southern California and likes architectural history. He was a bit lost in the rail jargon, but captivated by the images and contextual information to the extent that he took the book home to share with his young children, and they are now planning a specific visit to the new waterfront line to ride the cars during their upcoming holiday family reunion trip. This book has a wider audience than just railfans. --Dave Lathrop-- Railway Preservation News website ✔︎ Helpful Review?
WPLives 24th Jul 2021		Book Anthony W. Thompson - Pacific Fruit Express (1992)	Review From Scientific American Thorough research has yielded much information and is well synthesized into a whole. The company, operations, and freight cars have been given their due. This is the finest book of its kind ever published. From The New Yorker A giant subsidiary of two major railroads, usually only referred to as a sidelight, has been thoroughly researcheed and accurately presented. An exceptional book. Review This book is comprehensive, carefully researched, and abundantly illustrated. It is an indispensable resource for scale modelers as well as historians. -- Richard Hendrickson, Railroad Model Craftsman magazine ✔︎ Helpful Review?
WPLives 23rd Jul 2021		Book Anthony W. Thompson - Southern Pacific's Coast Line Pictorial (1999)	Review This new book is a wonderful addition to the history of the line, in that it fleshes out the visual coverage, and adds small pieces of history unable to be fit into the previous book. One of the best aspects of this new book is the many pictures reproduced from the camera of Richard Steinheimer. There are 85 such photos in the book, almost 15% of the total...As with all of John Signor's other works, it is a very well done piece of railroad history; and Thompson's historical touch adds measurably to it as well. -- Jeff Saxton, in Model Railroad News, March 2000 ✔︎ Helpful Review?
WPLives 23rd Jul 2021		Book Anthony W. Thompson - Southern Pacific's Coast Line Pictorial (1999)	Review The book is a treasure trove. Other railroad publications seldom even come close to providing such detailed and comprehensive photo coverage of a single rail line, the territory it served, and the trains that ran there. -- Richard Hendrickson, in Railroad Model Craftsman magazine, June, 2000 ✔︎ Helpful Review?
WPLives 23rd Jul 2021		Book William D. Middleton - The Interurban Era (1961)	Review Great Coffee Table Book Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2012 This tribute to a bygone era was published half a century ago and holds up very well even if the printing is starting to fade. Interesting narrative enhances photographs of an America, chiefly midwest, that was emerging into the modern era. For example, Middleton describes how Interurban and Trolley Companies would build amusement parks on ther routes so that the public would have a reason to ride their cars on weekends and holidays. If you have the time it will transport you back. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
WPLives 23rd Jul 2021		Book Kevin W. Hecteman - Sacramento Southern Railroad (2009)	Review Review Title: Sacramento Southern Railroad Author: Juliet Farmer Publisher: BC Culture Date: 5/9/09 I was born and raised in Sacramento, California (not including four years in and around Portland, Oregon, when I was in third through sixth grades). I'm pretty sure that while I was learning about Lewis and Clark, my Sacramento peers were learning about the Sacramento Southern Railroad and how it changed the city I call home. I'm not a railroad buff. I've always assumed this was more of a "guy" thing, as my grandfather and my own father, as well as practically every man I've ever met, is fascinated by trains. To me, they are/were a way to get from point "A" to point "B". Then I had the opportunity to read Kevin W. Hecteman's book, Sacramento Southern Railroad, which enlightened me about what I've been missing, as well as filled me in on some of Sacramento's interesting back story. (Although there was text, the book is heavy on photos with accompanying descriptions, which makes the reading both light and entertaining.) I live within walking distance of the southern end of the American River Bike Trail, which includes the leg from Miller Park to 25th Avenue and Riverside Blvd. I've run, biked, and walked this route many times, but I never before knew what the sign for "Baths" referred to, nor did I realize the significance of Miller Park itself and its role in Sacramento's railroad history. Baths was a railroad stop for the Riverside baths, a popular local swimming pool frequented in the early 1900s. In the '30s, the enclosed pool's roof was removed, and it was renamed the Land Park Plunge. This property is now partly occupied by B'nai Israel Synagogue and Interstate 5. Then there are "the tracks" (as I call them), a truss bridge above Riverside Blvd. just south of William Land Park's west side, which was built in 1907 for the train. Sacramento Depot, which is now an Amtrak station, opened in 1926. Miller Park was named for Alice Miller, who died in 1942. She bequeathed 38 acres to the City of Sacramento to use as a park and marina. Miller Park opened in 1958 and was a junction of the railroad until 1976, when it was abandoned, which also led to the abandonment of the Hood junction to Isleton in 1977. In its heyday, the line was about 31 miles long and served the communities of Freeport, Hood, Locke, Walnut Grove, and Isleton. Trains -- on what became known as the Walnut Grove Branch -- hauled pears, sugar beets, asparagus, and other products. The last Southern Pacific train journeyed to Hood Junction on October 10, 1978. The California State Railroad Museum opened in 1976, and the first steam powered excursion train set out from Old Sacramento to Miller Park on June 2, 1984. (This route was extended to include Baths years later.) Today, the California State Railroad Museum's excursion railroad, the Sacramento Southern Railroad, is in operation from mid-April through September, when excursion trains depart every hour on the hour in Old Sacramento on the weekends (Hecteman himself is a crew member). The train features a combination of vintage closed coaches with comfortable seats, and open-air "gondolas" with bench style seating. Since 1984, more than one million guests have taken a ride aboard the Sacramento Southern Railroad, served by all-volunteer crews fully trained and certified under Federal Railroad Administration regulations. Along the six-mile, 40-minute roundtrip excursion the train crosses Capitol Mall at Tower Bridge, passes under Pioneer Bridge, and rolls alongside the Miller Park Marina before stopping at Baths. At Baths, the steam engine uncouples from the front of the train, "runs around" the train on a sidetrack, and couples onto the other end of the train before sounding its whistle to begin the return trip to Old Sacramento. It's a sight to behold. Thanks to Hecteman's Sacramento Southern Railroad, I plan to check it out very soon. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
WPLives 7th Jul 2021		Book John Van Der Zee - Welcome Iron Steed (1998)	Review David A Gilbertson Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2017 Interesting Read! Really enjoyed this book! It was a little smaller than I thought it would be and it could use an update with more details. But it's the only book I'm aware of that details the history of the railroad in this area. With the Smart Train on the horizon and a proposal to make the Healdsburg Freight Depot into a train museum, this would be a good time for a second edition! ✔︎ Helpful Review?
WPLives 7th Jul 2021		Book Steve Crise - Pacific Electric Railway (2011)	Review Donald M O'Hanley RAILWAYS, FREEWAYS AND THE DECLINE OF A CITY Reviewed in the United States on January 1, 2014 Authors Crise and Patris have combined to produce a book tha contrasts the Los Angeles area of a half-cetury and more ago versus the asphalt and auto dominated metro area by presenting an excellent collection of period photographs. Once vibrant downtown Los Angeles has given way to shopping mall dominated suburbia thanks to the loss of the Pacific Electric Railway,once described as the largest electric railway system in the world, operating 1,000 miles of standard trolley lines. Its two great terminals in the downtown no longer witness the lawful and useful comings and goings of many thousands of passengers daily. One is now given to office space and the other a residential loft building. Pacific Electric Railway, Then and Now, offers a graphic view of the pleasantly remembered past to all who enjoy travel down memory lane. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
WPLives 7th Jul 2021		Book Steve Crise - Pacific Electric Railway (2011)	Review Paul Sahlin LA's Pacific Electric Interurban lines, one foot in history and the other today Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2013 There are a number of excellent coffee table picture books extant to chronicle the rise and fall of the once great interurban rail system called the PE that the greater LA basin had in operation. An April, 1938 timetable I checked listed 36 separate carlines running a total of 2,160 scheduled trains daily. Routes were a mixture of PE-owned right of way and streetcar lines runing on city streets. The system operated a total of 901 miles of track and was carrying upwards of 180,000,000 passengers a year at its peak in almost 500 big red passenger cars, some modified to also carry USMail, Express and LCL freight. It was formed by merging traction companies in 1911 under the SP and ceased operating in the late 1950's. Over 7,000 employees worked at the PE at its peak. This book has photos all over the LA basin of PE cars in operation then jumps to the same photo site taken in the past year or so. Very interesting. ✔︎ Helpful Review?

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