This Two book set explains the methods of construction of wood, steel, and aluminum cars with clarity and precision. White traces the evolution of wheels and brakes, dining cars and sleeping compartments.
And no railroad was more crucial than the transcontinental line, that miraculously thin band of iron ribbon tying East to West. Railroad Crossing explores the public's response to the railroad, particularly in California.
Railroad Crossing is the story of what happened to that friendship, particularly in California, and it illuminates the chaos that was industrial America from the middle of the nineteenth century through the first decade of the twentieth.
Recognizing the railroad's importance as both symbol and experience in Victorian America, Amy G. Richter follows women travelers onto trains and considers the consequences of their presence there.