from: Boston Mills Press
Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 779.962510973
EAN num: 9781550463316
ISBN number: 1550463314
Label: Boston Mills Press
Manufacturer: Boston Mills Press
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 176
Printing Date: October 01, 2001
Publishing house: Boston Mills Press
Sale Popularity Level: 1573874
Studio: Boston Mills Press
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Product Description:
The second book in the Boston Mills Press Masters of Railroad Photography series presents the work of J. Parker Lamb -- from heart-stopping pans of Gulf, Mobile & Ohio FAs loping through the backwoods of Mississippi, to dramatic images of Missabi Road 2-8-8-4s slogging through the rain in their eleventh hour, and artful time exposures of slant-nosed Seaboard Es in the North Carolina night. Lamb is one of America's most talented and respected railroad photographers. His remarkable images have recorded early diesels in Alabama, Mississippi and the Carolinas, the end of steam in the American Midwest, and contemporary railroading from his home state of Texas to New England, California and Canada.
From Steel Wheels Rolling: Chapter 2, The Dawn of Diesel
It was during a visit to the Boligee depot that I very first encountered a locomotive of a different kind. The shiny, purple and white Southern streamliner that called on Boligee that memorable 1939 day didn't smoke like regular engines. In fact, the shovel-nosed motor car and trailer assigned to the Meridian-Birmingham Vulcan was like nothing I'd seen before...The mysterious newcomer was the subject of great interest and prompted considerable discussion. My father's words that day echo still. 'Son, someday all locomotives may be like this one.'
(200311)
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Rated by buyers 
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Today there are more than one hundred restored steam-powered trains on the tracks ready to satisfy the kid in all of us. As a child, I took the annual train trip to Washington, D.C. from Knoxvillle, Tennessee, for granted. Now, part of the current interest in 'riding the rails' is nostalgia for the old days when time moved slower and there was no hurry to get somewhere. On my trips, there really wasn't much to see except clothes hanging on the lines in backyards, until you reached a Virginia historic town and as you glide through the town, some marvelous building could be seen. Usually, I chose to travel at night.
One of the joys of an overnight train trip is the brilliant night sky, dense with twinkling stars and roaming satellites miles above (keeping watch). Much more can be seen when the city lights fade in the distance for vast stretches between towns. Riding the train is only part of the experience. Many train stations have been turned into museums, where memories and memorabilia of a bygone era of railway travel are stored. At the Southern Railway station, where my trips departed, there are some restored passenger cars on the premises replenished as a historic museum with actual things used back then. It has been lovingly collected and fitted for the train passenger of the past to re-live the things they took for granted. Nothing lasts forever. Parker Lamb tells how he loved to hang around the railroad yards in his Mississippi hometown as a child. In the third grade at John Sevier School, I sold most of my Girl Scout cookies to the men at the Roundhouse down the hill from the school. He says, "Children like the machines, and they like big things. Steam engines make lots of noise. They're hot and even a bit scary. For a kid, they're even better than fire trucks."
Trains still carry passengers from depot to depot, though not like in the Fifties and earlier, just as they did in their heyday. Amtrack is the only long distance carrier at present. This book shows in pictures and text the mass transit history of America before cars took over. The diesel engine shown on the cover became popular and quicker, but now for a short run, the steam engine has reappeared in its glory. In Knoxville, we have the Rambler to take tourists to the place where the three rivers converge to turn into the Tennessee River, just a few miles out of town. Last year, due to the popular movie, 'The Polar Express' they took advantage of the concept and added special Christmas-time excursions with that theme. A popular newsman is this year's host to read parts of the book to the children who think they are in a movie -- before he 'moves up' to the Atlanta t.v. market. Farewell, Ted Hall! Kids love the noise and the sideways rolling of the cars on the rumbling wheels along the track. That shrill (too loud) train whistle continues throughout the return trip to advertise that the train is running today. The Great Smoky Mountains Railroad offers excursions through the western North Carolina section of the National Park.
Parker Lamb, the author and photographer of this book says it all, "There is something special and timeless about trains." He is a retired professor at the University of Texas at Austin, has been writing about trains since 1960 and taking pictures of them since 1949. He followed up this one with CLASSIC DIESELS OF THE SOUTH (2003). Earlier he wrote PERFECTING THE AMERICAN STEAM LOCOMOTIVE and KATY DIESELS TO THE GULF. My dad was a railroad man, so I think he would no doubt agree that they are special in many ways, not just nostalgia.
Rated by buyers 
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The second volume in the Boston Mills Press "Masters of Railroad Photography", Steel Wheels Rolling: A Personal Journey Of Railroad Photography by railroading expert and photographer J. Parker Lamp is a simply fascinating collection of black-and-white photographs of railroad successes over the course of five decades. From pictures of the last of the American Midwest steam engines through the arrival of the diesel engine and much more, Steel Wheels Rolling captures mass transit history in America in unforgettable impressions. Very brief text captions round out this gorgeous showcase of exceptional railroad photography. Also very highly recommended is the very first titles in the "Masters of Railroad Photography" series, Ted Benson's One Track Mind: Photographic Essays On Western Railroading...
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