We Took the Train

In this illustrated collection, H. Roger Grant, one of America’s leading railroad historians, brings together a rich assortment of personal accounts of train travel in the United States since the dawn of railroading. The twenty-one accounts included here tell of the excitement, the romance, the difficulties, and sometimes the danger of traveling by train. Together they present a lively picture of the great changes that have taken place since the 1830s. Some describe wild rides on high-speed raceways, while others recount arduous trips on rickety branch lines. Rail travel at its most luxurious is recreated-the elegant Pullman sleeping berths, the fine parlor and observation cars-as are some of the more grim journeys of troops, itinerant workers, and prisoners of war in squalid boxcars. Binding these accounts together is an enduring fascination with the rails.