An American Portrait

Alco, Vulcan, Baldwin and Porter, these are just some of the names that dominated America’s steam locomotive manufacturing industry. Their fame, however, was not simply limited to the United States, for the products from these makers were to be seen pulling huge freight trains, steaming through the bush, effortlessly performing their industrial duties, and pounding the main lines of railways throughout the world. Today, twenty years after the fires were finally dropped in America, those stalwarts from the country’s foundries remain hard at work across the world.

From the freezing climes of Arctic Finland to the steamy plantation of South America, this book is packed with color pictures of mighty Pacifics, Mikados and the ingenious Fireless engines, both at work and at rest in their overgrown scrapyards. Here is the story, told in words and pictures of the American Iron Horse that to this day continues to serve the transport needs of many of the world’s nations.