Decade of the Trains: The 1940s - Hardcover

Don Ball

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0821207067 ISBN 13: 9780821207062

Publisher: Little Brown & Company, 1977

Synopsis

First they did the impossible - meeting the unprecedented demands of the war, with far less equipment than had been available during the First World War. Then they entered a period of innovation and fierce competition, both from within and without. For the American railroads, the 1940s was the finest hour - an exhilarating, exhausting, inventive time. Rogers Whitaker was a participant as a member of the Army's Transportation Corps. Don Ball (who was taking his first Brownie snapshots of war trains in those days) has collected extraordinary photographic material from the forties. Together, the authors have produced a unique account of the decade - the story of the industry, focusing on the human side, on the people who somehow made it all work. In his lively, flavorful text, Whitaker sketches in the dimensions of the staggering task that faced the railroads after Pearl Harbor Day; in vivid glimpses of the men in the station yards, in the divisional offices, and out on the line, he evokes the spirit of the war years. His look at the "New Era" that followed recalls a time of promise, achievement -and frustration. Don Ball, in his photoessay and informative narrative, fulfills his longtime ambition of telling the behind-the-scenes story of those years. He follows crews through their shifts, details the contributions of America's railroads, presents the magnificent steam locomotives and the glamorous new diesels, and takes a rare look at those stations (grandiose or homey) through which all traffic passed. Splendid contemporary photographs include images by John Vachon, Marion Post Wolcott, Jack Delano. The reader becomes an eyewitness. This trip is necessary - for everyone who remembers the war years, and for every railroad fan. Table of Contents: The iron trail, the home front, out on the line, the station and the depot, the new era.

About this edition

• Publisher: Little Brown & Company
• Publication date: 1977
• ISBN 10: 0821207067
• ISBN 13: 9780821207062
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1