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The Cars of Pullman
by Joe Welsh, Bill Howes, Kevin J Holland

Hotels on wheels—incorporated in 1867 as the Pullman Palace Car Company, New York cabinetmaker George Mortimer Pullman’s eponymous railroad cars crisscrossed North America for 102 years. They became a household word, so much so that especially sleeping cars were often generically referred to as Pullmans regardless of who made or ran them. Entire trains, if their owners could afford it, boasted they were “all-Pullman”—sleeper, lounge, parlor, restaurant, and observation cars (later also freight cars). In its heyday more than 100,000 people a night found a place to bed down en route, all thanks to George Pullman’s own disappointment—and discomfort—at having to spend one night too many sleeping in his seat on a train trip.

Talk about having the right idea at the right time: in the 40 years following the company’s founding, railroad track mileage grew from 39,000 to 229,000 miles.

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The Art of the Engineer
by Ken Baynes and Francis Pugh

Nothing as powerful as a revolution happens without a plan. A “plan” in the most literal sense is what made the Industrial Revolution possible. Plan in the context of this book refers to the scientific and technical illustrations that precede the actual building of things. Rooted in the Renaissance and refined in the architectural and naval draftsmanship of the 16th and 17th centuries, the engineering drawing reached new heights of accuracy, both in terms of meaning as well as in execution, during the Industrial Revolution.

Sadly, many, if not most, of the architects of such plans have been lost to anonymity and obscurity. Only late in the 20th century have there been attempts to rediscover the work of our industrial and pre-industrial forebears and examine not only the impact of their work but how they actually went about their work. Precious few volumes have been devoted to the subject of the engineering drawing and it seems that nothing on the scope or scale of this book existed prior to the 1978–79 landmark exhibition by the Welsh Arts Council of working drawings. Indeed it was that exhibition that provided the impetus for this book, rich with expertly photographed drawings from the 13th century to the present.

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Chicago Stations & Trains
by John Kelly

Railroad stations were once the focal center of every city. Local commuter trains and cross-country passenger service intersected to provide a mass transit system that efficiently moved people across town and across the country. In Chicago Stations & Trains, author John Kelly writes, “No other American city had such a fascinating group of railroad passenger stations as Chicago.” His book goes on to detail Chicago’s six major railroad stations and some of the classic trains that served them. Each station had its own architecture, some in the Romanesque, some in Beaux-Arts and many in the Moderne or Art Deco style that reflected the late 1800s and early 1900s when they were built.

Kelly grew up in Eau Claire, Wisconsin where his father’s best friend was an engineer of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad. This family friend instilled in Kelly a lifelong interest in railroads and he has been collecting photographs, timetables and dining car menus for more than 20 years. As a part of the Iconografix Photo Archive series, Chicago Stations & Trains puts that collection of photos to good use. The book is filled with high quality black and white images of trains and stations, along with maps, advertisements and just about everything else having to do with Chicago’s major urban rail stations.

The architecture of these old rail stations was nothing short of magnificent. Huge passenger halls, maintenance facilities, baggage storage rooms, commissary food service for dining cars, newsrooms, lunchrooms, newsstands, washrooms and passenger seating all wrapped in marble glass and steel with sleek lines and smooth reflective surfaces. They were one of the finest examples of art matching functionality in the service of the public.

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The Allison Engine Catalog 1915–2007
by John Leonard

As the title suggests, Allison products are arranged chronologically in catalog style, with each product occupying one page. For readers who enjoy engineering excellence, this book is a must. Outside of its own product line, Allison did contract work for numerous customers including the GM Research Laboratory, US Army, US Navy, and US Department of Energy. Their product range covered engines for airships, fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft, rockets, automobiles, armored vehicles, busses, locomotives, boats, generators, and auxiliary power units. Some were multi-fueled, some burned coal, and one even burned wood and another one was nuclear powered!

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