Railroad Engineering


Book Description

A revision of the classic text on railroad engineering, considered the ``bible'' of the field for three decades. Presents railroad engineering principles quantitatively but without excessive resort to mathematics, and applies these principles to day-by-day design, construction, operation, and maintenance. Relates practice to principles in an orderly, sequential pattern (subgrade, ballast, ties, rails). Applicable to both conventional railroads and rapid transit systems.




Railway Engineering Design & Operation


Book Description

Originating from presentations at the 17th International Conference on Railway Engineering Design and Operation, this volume contains selected research works on the topic. It is important to continue to update the use of advanced systems by promoting general awareness throughout the management, design, manufacture and operation of railways and other emerging passenger, freight and transit systems. The included papers help to facilitate this goal and place a key focus on the applications of computer systems in advanced railway engineering. These research studies will be of interest to all those involved in the development of railways, including managers, consultants, railway engineers, designers of advanced train control systems and computer specialists.







The Pennsylvania Railroad, Volume 1


Book Description

"Do not think of the Pennsylvania Railroad as a business enterprise," Forbes magazine informed its readers in May 1936. "Think of it as a nation." At the end of the nineteenth century, the Pennsylvania Railroad was the largest privately owned business corporation in the world. In 1914, the PRR employed more than two hundred thousand people—more than double the number of soldiers in the United States Army. As the self-proclaimed "Standard Railroad of the World," this colossal corporate body underwrote American industrial expansion and shaped the economic, political, and social environment of the United States. In turn, the PRR was fundamentally shaped by the American landscape, adapting to geography as well as shifts in competitive economics and public policy. Albert J. Churella's masterful account, certain to become the authoritative history of the Pennsylvania Railroad, illuminates broad themes in American history, from the development of managerial practices and labor relations to the relationship between business and government to advances in technology and transportation. Churella situates exhaustive archival research on the Pennsylvania Railroad within the social, economic, and technological changes of nineteenth- and twentieth-century America, chronicling the epic history of the PRR intertwined with that of a developing nation. This first volume opens with the development of the Main Line of Public Works, devised by Pennsylvanians in the 1820s to compete with the Erie Canal. Though a public rather than a private enterprise, the Main Line foreshadowed the establishment of the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1846. Over the next decades, as the nation weathered the Civil War, industrial expansion, and labor unrest, the PRR expanded despite competition with rival railroads and disputes with such figures as Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller. The dawn of the twentieth century brought a measure of stability to the railroad industry, enabling the creation of such architectural monuments as Pennsylvania Station in New York City. The volume closes at the threshold of American involvement in World War I, as the strategies that PRR executives had perfected in previous decades proved less effective at guiding the company through increasingly tumultuous economic and political waters.




Handbook of Transportation Engineering


Book Description

This is a comprehensive, problem-solving engineering guide on the strategic planning, development, and maintenance of public and private transportation systems. Covering all modes of transportation on land, air, and water, the Handbook shows how to solve specific problems, such as facility improvement, cost reduction, or operations optimization at local, regional, national, and international levels. * Extensive sections on road construction and maintenance, bridge construction and repair, and mass transit systems * Examines airline traffic control systems, airline schedule planning, and airline ground operation * Covers marine, rail, and freight transportation







Practical Railway Engineering


Book Description

This textbook covers the very wide spectrum of all aspects of railway engineering for all engineering disciplines, in a 'broad brush' way giving a good overall knowledge of what is involved in planning, designing, constructing and maintaining a railway. It covers all types of railway systems including light rail and metro as well as main line. The first edition has proved very popular both with students new to railways and with practicing engineers who need to work in this newly expanding area.In the second edition, the illustrations have been improved and brought up to date, particularly with the introduction of 30 colour pages which include many newly taken photographs. The text has been reviewed for present day accuracy and, where necessary, has been modified or expanded to include reference to recent trends or developments. New topics include automatic train control, level crossings, dot matrix indicators, measures for the mobility impaired, reinforced earth structures, air conditioning, etc. Recent railway experience, both technical and political, has also been reflected in the commentary.




Grand Central Terminal


Book Description

“Looks behind the facade to see the hidden engineering marvels . . . will deepen anyone’s appreciation for New York’s most magnificent interior space.” —The New York Times Book Review Winner of the Professional/Scholarly Publishing Award in Architecture from the Association of American Publishers Grand Central Terminal, one of New York City’s preeminent buildings, stands as a magnificent Beaux-Arts monument to America’s Railway Age, and it remains a vital part of city life today. Completed in 1913 after ten years of construction, the terminal became the city’s most important transportation hub, linking long-distance and commuter trains to New York’s network of subways, elevated trains, and streetcars. Its soaring Grand Concourse still offers passengers a majestic gateway to the wonders beyond 42nd Street. In Grand Central Terminal, Kurt C. Schlichting traces the history of this spectacular building, detailing the colorful personalities, bitter conflicts, and Herculean feats of engineering that lie behind its construction. Schlichting begins with Cornelius Vanderbilt—“The Commodore”—whose railroad empire demanded an appropriately palatial passenger terminal in the heart of New York City. Completed in 1871, the first Grand Central was the largest rail facility in the world and yet—cramped and overburdened—soon proved thoroughly inadequate for the needs of this rapidly expanding city. William Wilgus, chief engineer of the New York Central Railroad, conceived of a new Grand Central Terminal, one that would fully meet the needs of the New York Central line. Grand Central became a monument to the creativity and daring of a remarkable age. More than a history of a train station, this book is the story of a city and an age as reflected in a building aptly described as a secular cathedral.







Locomotive Engineering


Book Description