Railroading in the Wild West

color laminated hardcover, 7x10, 176 glossy pages, sharp color photos throughout. 2010. "This new pictorial book on the railroads of the western states of the USA and Canada is a glorious photographic celebration of impressive trains traversing some of the most magnificent scenery in the world. In over 200 all-color photographs, author and photographer John Vaughan has compiled an impressive collection of railroad pictures in splendid and hugely varied landscapes during a time of significant change, which has already evolved into a unique but as yet uncelebrated railroad era. "Since the late 1980s the railroads of the USA and Canada have undergone an almost unprecedented period of massive mergers where long-established companies have combined for operational and economic reasons to produce large world-class transport organizations. This has resulted in the creation of 'fallen flag' railroad companies, a plethora of new locomotive liveries and company logos, and new behemoths of the railroad industry - as well as a growing level of interest in the modern railroading scene. " In addition to corporate changes, the past 20 years have also seen the arrival of a new age of motive power where second-generation diesel-electric locomotives with conventional power chains have evolved into third-generation high-tech, high-adhesion, computer-controlled, fuelsaving, low-emission machines that have revolutionized North American railroads. The gradual disappearance of time-honored equipment from established manufacturers and the introduction of new locomotives have had a major impact on the railfan scene, as enthusiasts have scrambled to view and record the passing of the old and the arrival of the new. These changes have until now received scant attention in contemporary railroad books. Railroading in the Wild West is a volume of stunning quality images supported by informative and fact-jammed captions, which redresses that situation and so plugs this gap in the market."