I just finished this book last night. Maybe it's because of my personal interactions and acquaintances with several of the people featured in it, but I found I had to read it all right away.
The Men Who Loved Trains, by Rush Loving, Jr.
There was a section of this work featured in this month's Trains. Loving takes us from the early '50s Young/Perlman New York Central era and the much covered PC disaster, through the creation/evolution of Amtrak, Conrail, CSX and NS up to the present situation -- mostly from the perspective of Jim McClellan, a guy who participated materially in many of those events. I learned many details about all of this that I had never known before.
There are great personal insights into people like Watkins, Fishwick, Hagen, Crane, Perlman, Newman, LeVan, Snow, and Goode -- just to name a few personalities who were heavily involved and influential in this era.
If you're into what really happened in the development of railroads in the last part of the 20th Century, you should go for this book. I found a few minor errors, but nothing that really detracts from the story.
The Men Who Loved Trains, by Rush Loving, Jr.
There was a section of this work featured in this month's Trains. Loving takes us from the early '50s Young/Perlman New York Central era and the much covered PC disaster, through the creation/evolution of Amtrak, Conrail, CSX and NS up to the present situation -- mostly from the perspective of Jim McClellan, a guy who participated materially in many of those events. I learned many details about all of this that I had never known before.
There are great personal insights into people like Watkins, Fishwick, Hagen, Crane, Perlman, Newman, LeVan, Snow, and Goode -- just to name a few personalities who were heavily involved and influential in this era.
If you're into what really happened in the development of railroads in the last part of the 20th Century, you should go for this book. I found a few minor errors, but nothing that really detracts from the story.
