The American Railroad Freight Car: From the Wood-Car Era to the Coming of Steel

From the former Curator of Transportation at the Smithsonian Institution Illustrated with 530 photographs, drawings, and engravings Includes plans, diagrams, and detailed specifications for model-builders 665 oversized pages in a handsomely jacketed hardcover or specially priced paperback edition In this sequel to his best-selling American Railroad Passenger Car, John White forever changes the freight car's lowly image. Including hundreds of historical photographs and detailed blueprints, The American Railroad Freight Car establishes the sophistication and expertise that marked the development of freight cars in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Along with an overview of freight transportation's historical importance, White offers detailed accounts of technological developments and examines lesser known aspects of everyday freight service such as yard management, train operations, and the origins of the interchange system.