Book Recommendation… (books arriving)

Steam loco encyclopedia and diesel loco encyclopedia is probably what you are looking for.

Each book starts with small yard switchers up to the largest road power. Has both drawings and pictures. From Kalmbach.

Or, the Diesel Spotter's Guide.

"I don't need an in-depth research document.  Rather, a visual overview of locomotives, detailed enough that my son and I will be able to recognize the various model and real locos we come across."

   There's a lot of online info and photos of modern locos so just about anything you see can be identified with a little search. If you can snap a photo when you get home you can search the web for the loco as many are posted on the photo sites like RRpicturearchieves.net indexed by road number. It's also interesting to find the various locos your local railroad uses then print a photo of each type and go out searching for one when watching trains.....DaveB

A search for a loco roster list for your favorite RR would be a good place to see numbers, and variances to look for.

Following up on Tom's/Number 90's suggestion above, the Diesel Spotter's Guide, first published during the 60s and updated a number of times since, provides details useful in identifying locomotive types. Accompanied by photographs, the book would prove very useful to you and son based upon your initial post. A newly updated edition has been published this year and includes many color photographs so it will be a useful companion as you look to learn more about contemporary locomotives seen in service today. Starting out with the most recent release, you can then begin seeking out the older editions for more information on vintage locomotives. Copies of previous guides are readily available at resonable prices.

Here's the publisher's webpage showing the 2015 edition:

http://www.dieselera.com/#!pro...orary-diesel-spotter's-guide-2008-2015

Good luck,

Bob

I've loaded this in my favorites years ago, and it's still active.

www.northeast.railfan.net/prr_

You got em all to view, along with back ground for all of the Pennsylvania Locomotives steam/diesel/electric/industrial/motor cars.

Locomotives Class "A" > "T"

I think this is a good view especially if your a Pennsy Fan!............Brandy

I know what you are looking for and I have never seen one specifically written on U.S. locomotives. Now, if you don't mind a book on world wide locomotives, see if you can find a copy of "The Great Book of Trains" by Brian Hollingsworth.

It is just the type of book that you describe. Mostly foreign, but, some of the more popular U.S. passenger type locos. I will say that even though this would qualify as a "Coffee Table" book, reading about the European steamers bears out some interesting facts. I'm glad that it is in my library!

Thanks for the suggestions folks and the online resources.

As I understand it, the Diesel spotting guides are smaller format books yes? I'm hoping for something larger that my son will really get into.  

What do you all think of this one?

http://www.amazon.com/Locomoti...d+electric+reference

This new edition is not coming out til September, but I wonder if it would be a good compromise between a big format coffee table book and a true reference?  If it is, I'd be willing to wait until then and in the meantime keep myself and my boy entertained by picking up a few of the massive coffee table books that are a bit less current and comprehensive, but have the virtue of being available on amazon for a couple of bucks each.

These caught my eye.

Railroads Across North America: An Illustrated History by Claude Wiatrowski

The Encyclopedia of Trains and Locomotives: From 1804 to the Present Day  by David Ross

The Encyclopedia of Trains & Locomotives  by C.J. Riley

Thanks to Big Jim I found Hollingsworth's I found "The Great Book of Trains" to also be in the same price range so I'll add that to my order.  There appear to be several editions.  Are there any major differences between them besides publisher or are they true updates?

I really have no idea. It appears as though the only difference is in the dust cover, buty, who knows?

Thanks,

      I couldn't find much more info, but it looks like there's an '87 edition and then a '98 edition and the page number differs a bit so maybe there was change.  However, the editions after '98 are only a couple of years apart and have the same cover so I assume they are just a reprint based on the change in publisher.

I'm going to wait on McDonnel's Locomotives: The Diesel and Electric Reference until the new edition comes out but I went ahead and ordered the other four including a '98 edition of "The Great Book of Trains".  Altogether the 4 cost me $27 shipped, and my son's head is probably going to explode when they arrive!   Amazon is pretty amazing for picking up big cheap reference/coffee-table books.

The First of the batch arrived yesterday.

The Encyclopedia of Trains & Locomotives  by CJ Riley

Definitely popular level and outdated (1995) However, it's encyclopedia format makes it easy to look through and it has something of an international scope.  I learned quite a bit about Australian railways last night. Though I call it "popular" the text is quite informative, moreso than one might expect.  Lots of pics for the kid also.  

The Appendices, one of which has the tallies of locomotives produced are particularly interesting.

On the downside, though very informative, it is not comprehensive.  For example, Amtrak comes up in many entries, but there is no Amtrak entry!

However, at $7 shipped there's almost no reason not to add it too the library.

Eilif - If you don't mind something published in 1996, you can try A Field Guide to Trains of North America by Gerald Foster.  No color pictures...just illustrations.  Fits in your back pocket.

Don't mind the date, but I'm leaning toward big colorful books my 4 yo will also enjoyed.  However, I just looked it up on amazon and given the bargain price, I'll probably add it and the diesel spotter's guide to my next order. 

Yes, Eilif.

The spotter's guide has always been printed in a compact format to make the book easier to carry "in the field." The new edition was published in a vertical format measuring approximately 6 X 9 inches.

Bob 

Railroads Across North America: An Illustrated History

Arrived today.  A real coffee table book.  Aimed at the layman with considerably less text and information than Riley's.  Also it lacks a table of contents that would clearly tell you where to find the pages for each "railroad".  Nonetheless, this is a book to get for the pictures.  Really gorgeous photos, illustrations, ads, etc.  

This is a book for leafing through, not hardcore reading.  However being even cheaper than the previous arrival, I can't imagine not buying it just for the viewing pleasure.

Eilif,

This is the Rails Across America that you should have purchased.

Thanks Big Jim,

     I've added it to my shopping list.   Another one that it looks like it'd be silly not to buy.

Eilif:

Here's another one you might want to pick up. It is a big, heavy book with excellent color photography and there are many copies priced inexpensively on Amazon. I would think the pictures will hold your son's attention quite well.

http://www.amazon.com/Modern-L...6-2000/dp/0785826815

Bob

I had lunch with Paul Withers ,the publisher yesterday, they just started shipping a totally update Guide. I think the price is $34.95.

Brad

Looks great! Added to my "wish list".

Thanks, I'll keep en eye out for it.

I have a book entitled "Steam Locomotives -- The Gatefold Collection" which contains 36 pull-out gatefold illustrations. US and European engines are represented. The author is Antony J. Lambert, published by Chartwell Books. The ISBN is 0-7858-1982-7. It was published in 1997 and reprinted in 2005

The last two books arrived today and they are what I was looking for originally.

The Great Book of Trains has a preference for steam and only advances as far as aobut 1990.  However, it has the lovely large color plates that I was looking for and multiple pictures of almost every entry.  It is a smaller in scope with about 300 entries, but makes up for it with generally larger entries, especially in the steam section. is Chronological split into Steam and Modern sections in such a way that it appears that the two sections are separate books. Each section is

The Encyclopedia of Trains and Locomotives: From 1804 to the Present Day

Makes much better strides towards being comprehensive with 900 entries.  It has far fewer of the color plates with most entries getting one photo and sometimes no pictures/art at all. Still, it feels more complete and is one book arranged chronologically going all the way to 2006.  This makes it among the most modern and complete of the large bargain (priced less than the $3.99 shipping cost) train books.  Though the size of the entries will not be enough for hardcore train buffs, of all the books I've acquired so far, this one feels the most like a real "reference" volume.

Both of the books above have an adequate index allowing you to search for the locomotives by name despite the chronological arrangement. They both also have a few minor sections describing the various eras of development, though while the "Encyclopedia" is otherwise just trains and locos, the "Great book" attempts to explain a few other aspects of railroading.