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| Hailed since its publication as the definitive - and most opulent - book on the subject, The American Railroad Passenger Car is now made available in an unabridged two-part softcover edition. With 387 photographs and 385 line drawings, The American Railroad Passenger Car recaptures the lost but not-too-distant past in which 98 percent of all intercity travel in the United States was by rail. John H. White, Jr., Curator of Transportation at the Smithsonian Institution, documents in extraordinary detail the joys and splendors of first-class travel during the railroads' heyday without ever forgetting that the majority of passengers occupied simple coach seats, were forced to sit up at night, and had to contend with incessant rattle and clatter, dust, and cinders. With clarity and precision, White explains the methods of construction of wood, iron, steel, and aluminum cars. He traces the evolution of wheels and brakes, dining cars and sleeping compartments. And he follows the revolutions in taste and technology that dramatically altered the appearance of the railroad passenger car over the century and a half that it dominated American travel. |
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