Trains - USA: Books - Railways in the Midwest Region (2/4)

Rock Island Railroad Photo Archive - Travel on the Rockets

Read about the Rock Island Railroad from its original charter by the Illinois Legislature in 1847 to the highly publicized trial of Rock Island's right to construct and use a bridge across navigable waters defended by Abraham Lincoln in 1855.
By 1937 the railroad had its own fleet of Rocket passenger trains to herald the Streamlined Era. Rock Island's stainless steel trains were led by locomotives in ''art-deco'' maroon and red, trimmed with black-edged aluminium stripes.

Photos include the Peoria Rocket, Des Moines Rocket, Quad City Rocket, Texas Rocket, Kansas City Rocket, Twin Star Rocket, Zephyr-Rocket, Rocky Mountain Rocket, the flagship Golden State between Chicago and Los Angeles in partnership with Southern Pacific, and suburban commuter service between Chicago's La Salle Street Station and Joliet, Illinois.
Also included are a system map, timetables, travel brochures and full-colour section of Rock Island depots and stations.

Santa Fe Railway Photo Archive

The name Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway conjures images of bright red and silver Warbonnet diesels pulling gleaming stainless-steel passenger trains across the plains of Kansas and the pine-covered forests of Arizona.
Highlighted in the book are the Chief, Texas Chief, San Francisco Chief, El Capitan and Super Chief (often referred to as Train of the Stars for the movie-stars and celebrities who believed there was only one way, the Super Chief Way, to travel between Los Angles and Chicago).

A full colour chapter on Santa Fe Chief trains is accompanied by vintage travel brochures and advertising. Photos include the California Limited, Chicagoan, Kansas Cityan, Navajo, Ranger, Scout, and Grand Canyon Limited with connecting service to Grand Canyon National Park.
The Santa Fe partnership with Harvey House depot restaurants is shown in picture postcards with the legendary Harvey Girls.

In the mid-20th century, Santa Fe introduced a series of slogans to promote passenger and freight service between Chicago and California. Santa Fe All The Way was first used in 1940, followed by Ship and Travel Santa Fe All The Way in 1947. Combining such words with the red and silver diesel colours and Chico the fictional Native American mascot, Santa Fe effectively created a complete image to help sell railroad passenger and freight transportation.

Union Pacific: America's Premier Railroad for over 150 Years

Founded in 1862, the Union Pacific Railroad originally carried passengers and freight until 1971 when it became a freight-only carrier operating 8,600 locomotives over 32,000 route-miles in 23 states west of Chicago and New Orleans.
No other railroad in this country has retained its historical equipment and honored its history like Union Pacific. The preservation of its fleet speaks to the high value Union Pacific places on its heritage and its role in America's history.

2019 marks the 150th anniversary of the completion of the first transcontinental railroad (May 10, 1869-May 10, 2019) and noted author John Kelly felt this was the perfect time to look back at some of the most important milestones and defining moments in the long UP history.
The author has culled through a huge archive of material to concentrate on six decades that showcase the many important roles UP played in the building of America. Helping bring life to the story is an array of photos with extended captions as well as vintage Union Pacific timetables, travel brochures, dining car menus, postcards, tickets, maps and advertising.

Union Pacific Railroad

One of the giants of American railroading, the Union Pacific Railroad serves a huge swathe of the Mid and Western United States, from the Great Lakes and the Deep South to the Pacific coast.
The vast array of locomotives - over 8,000 - and diversity of loads combined with ever-changing scenery make for fascinating viewing and photography. One minute you can be watching as a fast hotshot double-stack intermodal train carrying as many as 300 containers flies by at over 70 miles an hour; moments later and the local goods is in view, dropping a wagon or two into the local factory complex.

This collection of photographs, mainly from the south-western states, was taken through the lens of a UK-based photographer and attempts to show the reader just a small selection of the scenes and variety that the Union Pacific has to offer.

Union Pacific Railroad - Passenger Trains of the City Fleet Photo Archive

On February 12, 1934, Union Pacific premiered the M-10000, called Tomorrow's Train Today, it was the first lightweight, streamlined passenger train to operate in the United States. The tiny brown & yellow speedster offered hope and promise for America's future during the Great Depression.

Later renamed City of Salina, the train was the beginning of Union Pacific's City Fleet of streamliners including the City of Los Angeles, City of San Francisco, City of Portland, City of Denver and Challenger, departing from Chicago and serving all the West. Union Pacific system maps, timetables, travel brochures, and advertising are featured.

Great Lakes Ore Docks and Ore Cars

The Iron Mining Industry was quite extensive throughout the area known as the Lake Superior Iron Ore District, which included Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Ontario and other prominent iron mining regions to the northeast and east of Lake Superior in Ontario as well Quebec and Labrador. All of the iron ore was transported by rail to a wide number of lake ports on Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, and Lake Huron.

This book lists all of the ore docks constructed on The Great Lakes, as well as their operational life span right up to the present time. Each chapter for each railroad includes the types of ore docks once or currently operated as well as a roster of ore cars from the 1940s to the present time, and includes photos of the ore docks and ore cars, ore car schematics, and pertinent data.
This book provides some new perspectives for historical and future research and can be used for the artwork of model railroading.

Railroads of Wisconsin

NEW

Wisconsin, known affectionately as America's Dairyland, is in the upper Midwest, bordered by Lake Michigan on the east and the Mississippi River to the west. By nature of its geography, Wisconsin has a variety of secondary and branch lines serving an interior of forests and farms, as well as main lines connecting cities like Milwaukee and Minneapolis/St Paul.
Trains traverse 3,253 miles of rail lines in Wisconsin hauling everything from agricultural products, ore, and coal to finished goods in containers. Probably best known as the home of the Milwaukee Road, the state's railroads have continued to go though some amazing transformations over the last few decades. Colourful railroads like Milwaukee Road, Soo Line and Chicago & North Western have transformed into today's Canadian Pacific, Canadian National and Union Pacific, with some dazzling spinoff railroads along the way.

Wisconsin may be well known because of its cheese, beer and Harley-Davidson motorcycles, but with a stunning selection of photographs Mike Danneman ensures the reader doesn't forget about its fascinating railroads.