Free Downloads

American Locomotives In Historic Photographs: 1858 To 1949 (Dover Transportation)

This rare collection of 126 "builder portraits" of American locomotives offers an exciting cavalcade of images that chronicle the momentous rise of steam locomotive power in America. Builder portraits are especially prized by railway historians because they are the exacting official photographs of new models taken before repairs, alterations, and weathering altered their original appearance. The builder portraits reprinted here were selected from the William A. Rogers collection, a priceless archive of images documenting the history of American steam locomotion from the pre–Civil War era to the mid-20th century. While the accent in this book is on the oldest and rarest photographs in the Rogers collection, many modern portraits are included as well to demonstrate how highly developed the American steam locomotive had become before the advent of dieselization. Among the engines depicted are the España, a diminutive model built for the Spanish government in 1858; engine no. 216 of the Pennsylvania Railroad, a "fearsome apparition of Gothic character" built in 1861; the Chimbote Emilia, an inspection engine built for railroad company officials in 1868 that is considered a masterpiece of the engine builder's art; and a Union Pacific 1940s' "Big Boy," the largest and heaviest type of steam locomotive ever built.Clearly, builder portraits are the most revealing record possible of the evolution of the American steam locomotive. This rich selection offers railroading historians and enthusiasts a peerless record of a great age in railway history. Railroading expert Ron Zeil's introduction and captions provide readers with a brief railroading background, a commentary on the art of the builder portrait and key details on each locomotive depicted.

File Size: 21896 KB

Print Length: 140 pages

Publisher: Dover Publications (January 16, 2013)

Publication Date: January 16, 2013

Sold by:  Digital Services LLC

Language: English

ASIN: B00A73FQM2

Text-to-Speech: Enabled

X-Ray: Not Enabled

Word Wise: Not Enabled

Lending: Not Enabled

Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #1,048,206 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store) #51 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Antiques & Collectibles > Transportation #135 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Engineering & Transportation > Transportation > Railroads #391 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Antiques & Collectibles > Transportation

If you want to acquire a collection of photographs tracing the entire history of American steam locomotive development, this is the book. It is limited to builders' portraits, and has no photos of locomotives "in action". The book is chronologically organized, and photos are chosen to illustrate the different types of engines produced, with many pictures of rare and one-of-a-kind designs, like the 2-8-8-8-4T. Some engines built for foreign railroads are included, as are elevated-railway locomotives. A great picture book.

In the early development of locomotives, few photographs exist prior to the 1860s. Ravages of time and the fragile nature of glass negatives eliminated many photographs and some only exist today as third generation copy negatives, devoid of most details. However, through the collection of Mr. William A. Rogers' builder photographs, we can witness the details of the original locomotives as they rolled of the production line. Historically, builder photographs are important because the photos documents the locomotive "as built" by the locomotive manufacturer. Because almost all locomotives were altered during their lifetimes with the addition of equipment or the repair of equipment with parts from other locomotives, these builder photos represent a snapshot of the original configuration of the manufacturer.The Rogers collection illustrated in "American Locomotives" are "builder portraits." Customarily, one engine from an order was selected as the "official portrait" and was usually a side view or a partial view of the front showing the driving rods in a lowered position and no escaping stream or smoke. According to the author, almost all official portraits were taken in low light or on cloudy days. "American Locomotives" presents both old and rare locomotive builder portraits from the Rogers collection as well as later versions of locomotives that ran in the 1940s and 1950s. The author has managed to research the locomotives illustrated in the book and add a short note describing each locomotive. The one short coming of this book is that the reader is often left begging for additional information about particular locomotives, but that is what the reference section of libraries are for. Overall, the book "American Locomotives" is an outstanding addition to any train buff's collection.

There are a lot of interesting photos shot by the builders. Some of them are real oddities and worth seeing. I prefer real engines in operation as a number of these were modified when put into use and never used as portrayed.

This is a good book for some steam locomotives. Then talkling about steam locomotives, it is so hard to get one book with all the different types. This is like so many others, it fills some gaps the others didn't have.

I really like this book when I consider that this is an illustrated book that does not go very deep about the technology and engineering about steam locomotives. The photos are great and many of them are from the first half of the 20th century so they are of very good quality. The photos of the last steam locomotives are beautiful, those iron monsters were really impressive.

Former railway engineer really enjoyed this one!

American Locomotives in Historic Photographs: 1858 to 1949 (Dover Transportation) American Windmills: An Album of Historic Photographs Great Passenger Ships of the World: 1858-1912 The Scientific Apparatus of Nicholas Callan and Other Historic Instruments (Catalogues of historic scientific instruments in Irish collections) Engineering Economics and Finance for Transportation Infrastructure (Springer Tracts on Transportation and Traffic) The Building of the Panama Canal in Historic Photographs Victorian London Street Life in Historic Photographs Bonhams of Chelsea: Diecast and Tinplate Toys, Live Steam Locomotives, Engines and Models: Thursday 28th March 1996 Detailing Projects for Freight Cars & Locomotives (Modeling & Painting Series) Model Railroader Cyclopedia, Vol. 1: Steam Locomotives The Encyclopedia of Trains & Locomotives Electro-Motive E-Units and F-Units: The Illustrated History of North America's Favorite Locomotives Building Small Steam Locomotives: A Practical Guide to Making Engines for Garden Gauges The Encyclopedia of Trains and Locomotives National Geographic Magazine: December 1949, Vol. Xcvi, No. 6 RARE LOVE 1: COMIC BOOKS WHERE ONLY 1 ISSUE WAS EVER PUBLISHED: 6 COMPLETE CLASSIC ROMANCE COMIC BOOKS FROM 1949-1953 (RARE COMICS) DOC SAVAGE: A Collector's Guide To All 181 Issues: 1933-1949 THE SAINT COMICS, VOL. 2: The Final 6 Issues: The Complete Issues Of The Classic 1949-1952 Comic Books, Vols 7-12 THE SAINT COMICS, VOL. 1: The First 6 Issues: The Complete Issues Of The Classic 1948-1949 Comic Books, Vols 1-6 Goldmine's Price Guide to Collectible Jazz Albums 1949-1969