Fashion in Steel

The art deco extravagance of the streamlined steam locomotive epitomizes one of the most important periods of railroad history in North America. Ranging from elegant to outlandish, the designs marked the beginning of the end of passenger service on the privately-owned railroads and the start of their transition to an all-freight existence. This book collects and describes every known North American streamlined - or semi-streamlined - steam locomotive with photographs of every class and every significant design variation and it packages those descriptions with information about the locomotives' origins, service lives and ultimate destinies. In total, 1,851 locomotives in eighty-eight classes on thirty-three railroads are covered with a hundred forty-one illustrations and thirty-seven maps.