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Rail Power by Steve Barry 2006 192 pages indexed Color photos Soft Cover
Rail Power by Steve Barry 2006 192 pages indexed Color photos Soft Cover
For almost two centuries, railroads have been intertwined with the history and development of North America. The westward growth of the United States was pushed by rail; British Columbia wouldn't become a Canadian province until twin ribbons of steel were in place across the Rocky Mountains.
From the start, there has been more than a little romanticism blended in with this history, and much of it lay in the magic of the locomotive. While boxcars and passenger coaches made the money, hauling goods and people from town to town, it was the locomotive that captured the imagination. Steam locomotives, which dominated the railroads for more than a century, were particularly romantic. Up close, they were powerful, noisy machines that seemed to be only barely controlled by the engineer. But from a distance, the mournful sound of a steam whistle echoing through the night captured the imagination of any dreamer.
Railroading seemed to lose a little of its romance with the passing of steam in the 1950s, but for anyone who cared to look, there was still a lot of excitement. Diesel locomotives, while not as imposing as their predecessors, became more and more powerful and their colorful paint schemes divided the railroad world into a rainbow it didn't have in the days of mostly black steam power. Meanwhile, electric locomotives became the epitome of high speed as they whisked trains between major metropolitan areas.
The most powerful man on any train is the conductor. It is he who dictates when a train moves and is responsible for ensuring the safe arrival of passengers and goods. But any boy who was asked what he wanted to be when he grew up-especially in the early twentieth century-would reply that he wanted to be an engineer. Taming the wild beast to obey your commands was the ultimate dream and the ultimate lure of rail power.
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