Besides publishing articles, Railroad History analyzes some 25 to 30 books in each issue. Our reviewers take pride in writing insightful and thoughtful criticism of what a book says, how it says it, and how well its author has succeeded at achieving his or her goal. Examining a broad range of academic and railfan publications, we offer a few feature reviews in each issue for those books we consider to be especially noteworthy, as well as a separate section for books on traction and urban transit. Books for review and other queries about the Book Division should be directed to me at 4741 Spring Creek Rd., Harrisburg, PA 17111.

– Dan Cupper, Books Editor

Former B&O Grafton-Parkersburg line from "When the Railroad Leaves Town."

"When the Railroad Leaves Town: American Communities in the Age of Rail Line Abandonment–Eastern United States"
By Joseph P. Schwieterman. Truman State University Press, 2001. 376 pp. $39.95 clothbound, $24.95 paperbound

After a railroad line is abandoned, many railfans and railroad historians lose track of the line and its towns and what happens afterwards. With no trains to photograph and track usually soon removed, they simply drift away and point their cameras and their attention elsewhere. Now Dr. Joseph P. Schwieterman, associate professor of public services management at De Paul University, chronicles "the rest of the story" by investigating subsequent history after abandonment of railroads in 64 towns situated throughout 27 eastern states.

What he found and reported on might well be described as part line-abandonment catalog, part geography refresher course, and part civics lesson. He estimates that approximately 900 American towns with population of 3,000 or more, about 12 percent of all towns of that size, have completely lost rail service since 1916. The states in the East with the greatest losses are New York (48 towns), Ohio (47), Pennsylvania (37), Florida (35), Massachusetts (23), Illinois (22), Michigan (21), and Missouri (19). He found that the loss of a railroad does not always hurt a town’s economic vitality, although generally that principle holds true.

You’ll read stories that have happy endings, such as that at Monkton, Md., where the restored depot is a rest stop along the highly successful Northern Central Trail. Standing in stark contrast is Thalmann, Ga., one-time gateway from the main line of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad to St. Simons Island, which is virtually deserted, with even its general store gone. In between lies a whole range of creative adaptive reuses, from expected rails-to-trails, to streets, and, in the case of Saranac Lake, N.Y., a reborn railroad, the Adirondack Railway. The towns range from historic (Lexington, Mass.) to exotic (Key West, Fla.) and from large (Amherst, N.Y., population 110,000) to tiny (Dunreith, Ind., population 184).

–Frederic H. Abendschein, Columbia, Pa.

"Rails Across the Mississippi–A History of the St. Louis Bridge"
By Robert W. Jackson. University of Illinois Press, 2001. 280 pp. $34.95 hardbound.

. Eads Bridge stretching across the Mississippi.

Popularly known today as the Eads Bridge, which ties St. Louis with East St. Louis, Ill., this engineering marvel was originally called, simply, the St. Louis Bridge. Robert W. Jackson has written a highly detailed account of the bridge'’s planning and construction, and refers to the structure by its original name. Measuring more than 1,500 feet long, Tthe bridge, completed in 1874 as the first railroad bridge across the Mississippi at St. Louis, today carries thousands of commuters daily on light-rail trains operated by the Bi-State Regional Transportation Authority.

Jackson, an urban planner and historian who has documented bridges for the National Park Service’s Historic American Engineering Record, became intrigued with the bridge and believed that it required its own history, one that would went well beyond the construction aspect. of the bridge.

The author has succeeded in his undertaking. Through painstaking research, Jackson has weaved together the story of the need for the bridge as St. Louis was just beginning to evolve as a railroad center. Because no through rail routes were planned at the time of the structure's inception, the promoters had difficulty in raising financing and obtaining approval of the railroads entering the St. Louis area. This provides a fascinating look at the lengths to which Eads and others went to make the bridge a reality.

Jackson writes about St. Louis'’ growth as a rail center in the larger context of railroad development generally throughout the Midwest. Naturally, competition between not only the rail carriers, but between St. Louis and other Midwestern cities, is well covered. In fact, the book is much more than a look at construction of the Eads Bridge. It covers the entire development of the rail network throughout the region St. Louis area from just before the Civil War to the late 19th century.

–Thomas G. Hoback, President,
Indiana Rail Road