The Great Trains


Book Description




The Great Book of Trains


Book Description

Illustrations and descriptions of more than 300 locomotives from the early steam pioneers of the 1830s to modern electric and diesel locomotives and proposed locomotives for the 1990s and beyond.




The Great Railroad Revolution


Book Description

America was made by the railroads. The opening of the Baltimore & Ohio line -- the first American railroad -- in the 1830s sparked a national revolution in the way that people lived thanks to the speed and convenience of train travel. Promoted by visionaries and built through heroic effort, the American railroad network was bigger in every sense than Europe's, and facilitated everything from long-distance travel to commuting and transporting goods to waging war. It united far-flung parts of the country, boosted economic development, and was the catalyst for America's rise to world-power status. Every American town, great or small, aspired to be connected to a railroad and by the turn of the century, almost every American lived within easy access of a station. By the early 1900s, the United States was covered in a latticework of more than 200,000 miles of railroad track and a series of magisterial termini, all built and controlled by the biggest corporations in the land. The railroads dominated the American landscape for more than a hundred years but by the middle of the twentieth century, the automobile, the truck, and the airplane had eclipsed the railroads and the nation started to forget them. In The Great Railroad Revolution, renowned railroad expert Christian Wolmar tells the extraordinary story of the rise and the fall of the greatest of all American endeavors, and argues that the time has come for America to reclaim and celebrate its often-overlooked rail heritage.




The Great Railway Bazaar


Book Description

The acclaimed author recounts his epic journey across Europe and Asia in this international bestselling classic of travel literature: “Compulsive reading” (Graham Greene). In 1973, Paul Theroux embarked on a four-month journey by train from the United Kingdom through Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. In The Great Railway Bazaar, he records in vivid detail and penetrating insight the many fascinating incidents, adventures, and encounters of his grand, intercontinental tour. Asia's fabled trains—the Orient Express, the Khyber Pass Local, the Frontier Mail, the Golden Arrow to Kuala Lumpur, the Mandalay Express, the Trans-Siberian Express—are the stars of a journey that takes Theroux on a loop eastbound from London's Victoria Station to Tokyo Central, then back from Japan on the Trans-Siberian. Brimming with Theroux's signature humor and wry observations, this engrossing chronicle is essential reading for both the ardent adventurer and the armchair traveler.




Twilight of the Great Trains


Book Description

Drawing upon a lifetime of experience as a reporter and editor, Frailey uncovers the reasons behind the disappearance of the great passenger trains, and explains how eleven railroad systems withstood or welcomed, fought or embraced the inevitable decline of their passenger services.




Amazing Train Journeys


Book Description

Experience 60 of the world’s greatest and most unforgettable train journeys, from classic long-distance trips like Western Canada’s Rocky Mountaineer and Darwin to Adelaide’s The Ghan, to little-known gems on regular commuting lines. We’ve always had a soft spot for trains. We know the moment a train pulls out of a station bound for somewhere fantastic is when the adventure truly starts. Amazing Train Journeys is the culmination of asking more than 200 travel writers for their absolute favourites. Some are epic international adventures, others short suburban routes along stunning coastline. There are incredible feats of engineering, trains that snake their way through mountain peaks, and even those which have achieved Unesco World Heritage status. Each profile contains practical information including ticket options, timetables and stops, plus inspiring photos and illustrated maps. Journeys include: Africa & the Middle East: Johannesburg to Cape Town (South Africa) Andimeshk to Dorud (Iran) Bulawayo to Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe) The Americas: The California Zephyr (USA) Perurail’s Lake Titicaca Railway (Peru) The Serra Verde Express (Brazil) Asia: The Darjeeling Toy Train (India) The Reunification Express (Vietnam) Beijing to Shanghai by High-Speed Rail (China) Europe: The Glacier Express (Switzerland) Belgrade-to-Bar Railway (Serbia & Montenegro) London to Fort William on the Caledonian Sleeper (UK) Oceania: South Coast Line (Australia) The TranzAlpine (New Zealand) The Northern Explorer (New Zealand) About Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company and the world’s number one travel guidebook brand, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveller since 1973. Over the past four decades, we’ve printed over 145 million guidebooks and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travellers. You’ll also find our content online, on mobile, video and in 14 languages, 12 international magazines, armchair and lifestyle books, ebooks, and more. Important Notice: The digital edition of this book may not contain all of the images found in the physical edition.




The Great Train Robbery


Book Description

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Jurassic Park comes classic historical thriller about Victorian London’s most notorious gold heist. London, 1855, when lavish wealth and appalling poverty exist side by side, one mysterious man navigates both worlds with perfect ease. Edward Pierce preys on the most prominent of the well-to-do as he cunningly orchestrates the crime of his century. Who would suspect that a gentleman of breeding could mastermind the extraordinary robbery aboard the pride of England’s industrial era, the mighty steam locomotive? Based on fact, but studded with all the suspense and style of fiction, here is a classic historical thriller, set a decade before the age of dynamite—yet nonetheless explosive…




Ghost Train to the Eastern Star


Book Description

National Bestseller In Ghost Train to the Eastern Star, Theroux recreates an epic journey he took thirty years ago, a giant loop by train (mostly) through Eastern Europe, Turkey, the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Indian Subcontinent, China, Japan, and Siberia. In short, he traverses all of Asia top to bottom, and end to end. In the three decades since he first travelled this route, Asia has undergone phenomenal change. The Soviet Union has collapsed, China has risen, India booms, Burma slowly smothers, and Vietnam prospers despite the havoc unleashed upon it the last time Theroux passed through. He witnesses all this and more in a 25,000 mile journey, travelling as the locals do, by train, car, bus, and foot. His odyssey takes him from Eastern Europe, still hungover from Communism, through tense but thriving Turkey, into the Caucasus, where Georgia limps back toward feudalism while its neighbour Azerbaijan revels in oil-driven capitalism. As he penetrates deeper into Asia’s heart, his encounters take on an otherworldly cast. The two chapters that follow show us Turkmenistan, a profoundly isolated society at the mercy of an almost comically egotistical dictator, and Uzbekistan, a ruthless authoritarian state. From there, he retraces his steps through India, Mayanmar, China, and Japan, providing his penetrating observations on the changes these countries have undergone. Brilliant, caustic, and totally addictive, Ghost Train to the Eastern Star is Theroux at his very best.




My Best Book of Trains


Book Description

Examines trains and railway systems from all over the world, from the super-sleek bullet train of Japan to the remote mountain railways of Mexico. 6 yrs+




The Big Book of Trains


Book Description

From the first locomotive built in 1804 to the high-speed bullet train, The Big Book of Trains is the perfect ebook for kids who love trains. Includes amazing facts and photographs of trains around the world, The Big Book of Trains covers the history of trains and train travel. Different types of trains are featured on their own spreads, and each page features multiple images to give a close-up view as well as informative text about each train. See the differences among monorails, passenger trains, and TGVs. Learn about pistons, fireboxes, boilers, and coupling rods, and find out exactly what they do to help the train travel down on the tracks. See key features of each train model and discover the difference between steam trains and diesels. Find out how trains are designed for certain jobs and tasks, including mountain trains, snow trains, and freight trains. Look at the biggest and fastest trains in the world. With incredible pictures and informative text, The Big Book of Trains is the essential ebook for young readers who want to know everything about trains.




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