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For many years it was the rule on most railroads that trains which were not on the regular schedule were, for safety reasons, identified with white flags flown from the front of the locomotive. Over the years there were many thousands (tens of thousands) of these "extras" including chartered trains, private trains and specials. This book reviews and describes some of the more interesting ones beginning with the iconic circus trains and including political trains, funeral trains, advertising trains, Christmas trains, event celebration trains, military and wartime trains, royal trains, and much more. Loaded with more than two hundred illustrations, the book includes a detailed index and an extensive bibliography.

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121 Pages

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India operates today the third largest national rail network in the world with only the United States and China having more than its 59,640 route miles.  Built largely to the broad 5-foot 6-inch gauge, India also includes a substantial mileage of meter gauge, 30-inch gauge, and even 24-inch gauge track.  Built in a nation with a huge population and with geography that varies from jungle and desert to Himalayan mountain tops, the story of the Indian railways is a fascinating one.   This brief summary is respectful of the reader’s time, but also gives a comprehensive introduction and a bibliography gives sources for further reading for those who wish it.

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258 Pages

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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.

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89 Pages

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The original of this book was privately printed and privately distributed in very small quantities in 1892.  It is among the first efforts made on American soil to take account of wind resistance in the design of a train and thus among the first American attempts at what would later be known as streamlining.  While Adams’ ideas didn’t receive general acceptance, he did find some sympathy and his work ultimately resulted in the Baltimore & Ohio Windsplitter, a train that was actually built to Adams’ design and actually operated briefly on B&O tracks.  This book is thus of no small historic value, a harbinger of things to come.

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84 Pages

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There are thousands of museums in the USA, almost all of interest and almost all a source of learning but, after a while, they tend to blur together.  How many stuffed buffalo are enough?  How many re-created country stores?  How many gun collections?  This book lists and describes seventy-seven American museums (including a few non-museum attractions) that definitely stand out due to their uniqueness and the depth to which they document their subject.  Many are small and only lightly promoted, some are in out-of-the-way places, some are quirky or even odd, but all are memorable and well worth a visit.

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173 Pages

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How often have you been driving, say on a cross- country trip, and have flashed by a sign that says, Historical Marker, 1 mile?  How often have you stopped to read the sign?  How often have  you wondered what you would have discovered if you had stopped?

Well, if you’re like me, the answers are: often, almost never, and almost always.  There never seems to be time, the markers, although announced, can be hard to find, and then there’s the question of where to park and how to get from the car to the marker and back safely.  One doubts that it’s worthwhile.  But yet there’s that nagging feeling that maybe it would be fascinating.

This book is a sampling of two hundred eighty four of the thousands of real-life markers that exist today.  Its writing served to satisfy my curiosity about what I might have learned.  It’s very likely it will satisfy yours too.

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Great Railroad Museums of the USA

188 Pages

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Great Railroad Museums of the USA is a guide for the devoted railfan.  It details the sixty-seven largest, most interesting and most important railroad museums in the country, which are classified into good, really good, great and really great groups.  Individually the museums are discussed and highlights of their collections are listed.  All are rated on their size, the rarity and antiquity of their collections, the quality of their work, the scope of their collections and their presentation to the public.  The book is indexed and a map shows the museums' geographic locations.  A special index lists more than a hundred-sixty especially interesting cars and locomotives and describes where they can be found; ninety photographs provide illustration.  

Bonus chapters list and describe the six best museum rail rides in the country and nineteen instances of significant rail preservation outside of traditional railroad museums.

Jan Young is old enough to remember seeing working steam locomotives when he was a boy, but young enough to travel extensively.  He has visited most of the museums in this book and looks forward to seeing the rest in the coming years.

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Studebaker was in the vehicle business for 114 years and has a fascinating history that has been told numerous times by a variety of authors.  This book does not retell the grand sweep of the company’s history, but instead it fills in the corners, illuminating Studebaker’s history with anecdotes, stories and interesting details that other authors either missed or omitted.  For instance, it includes biographies of twenty-seven other companies that Studebaker and the Studebaker family were involved in.  It extensively traces the growth and development of Studebaker in New York City, arguably the company’s most important market.  It tells the story of a dog fancier.  It covers more than fifteen stories of crimes committed with or involving Studebaker cars.  And it includes much more, all related to the years between 1852 and 1930, the company’s early years.

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Studebaker and the Railroads Vol 1

236 Pages

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Studebaker and the Railroads Vol 2

178 Pages

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Now in a new, expanded second edition.

The author grew up playing with toy trains and riding in his Grandmother’s Studebaker.  He eventually learned how to drive in her Stude (which he still owns) and became a serious railfan.

Studebaker and the Railroads, the result of these twin passions, is a history of the Studebaker Corporation and of the railroads that served it in and around the city of South Bend, Indiana.  Both Studebaker and the railroads of northern Indiana have extensive and dramatic histories and there are many connections between the two.  Studebaker lovers and railfans will equally enjoy the stories and facts reported.

Divided into two volumes, Studebaker and the Railroads comprises over four hundred pages and contains over three hundred fifty photographs, drawings, maps and diagrams.  It is the result of more than fifteen years of research, writing and collecting.

Volume 1 covers the history of Studebaker and the so-called steam railroads that once decorated South Bend.  Volume 2 covers the extensive electric railroad history of the area and includes a history of Studebaker’s private in-plant railroad, the Chicago & South Bend, together with several additional topics linking Studebaker and railroading.  Both volumes feature detailed indexes.  Volume 2 includes an extensive bibliography, numerous maps, and corporate history charts.

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159 Pages  

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Turning Wheels Index - Volume 2

158 pages  

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323 pages

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121 Pages

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Updated to include 2021.

TW Index is a complete and detailed index of everything that has appeared in the SDC Turning Wheels magazine since its inception in 1972.  Of greatest importance are the advice items that are indexed by subject (engines, brakes, steering, etc.) including all individual letters that appear in the Co-Operator column.  Historical items are also indexed by subject as well as by the vehicle (model and year) they relate to.  If you own, for instance, a 1959 Hawk, TW Index will give you instant access to everything that has been published about your car and much more

Indexed by model, year, AND subject matter, TW Index is detailed and comprehensive, making it easy to find the information you need.  Each listing, of course, refers you to the specific issue of "Turning Wheels" and cites the page on which the item begins.  To see a sample page, click here

TW Index is, in effect, the organization you have always wanted to do, but have never gotten around to.  With TW Index, both technical and non-technical information is at your fingertips and the incredible array of expertise that appears monthly in Turning Wheels is suddenly accessible.  All Co-operator letters are detailed in an "advice" section. Rated "excellent" by Fred Fox and Bob Palma.  It's almost like having the Turning Wheels editorial staff at your shoulder.  

Volume 1 of the Turning Wheels Index includes issues of Turning Wheels from 1972 through 1992 by subject, model, and year.

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Volume 2 of the Turning Wheels Index includes issues of Turning Wheels from 1993 through 2009 by subject, model, and year. Volume 2 contains 9,995 references on 158 pages.

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Volumes 1 and 2 can also be purchased as a single integrated book, giving the reader one place to look for information rather than two.

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Volume 3 includes issues of Turning Wheels from 2010 through 2021.  It contains 7,588 references on 121 pages.

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98 Pages

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Albert Erskine came to the Studebaker Corporation from Underwood Typewriter in 1911.  In 1915 he was named President and, in 1918, following the death of the last of the company’s founders, John Mohler Studebaker, he wrote and published this book, a history of the company.

Studebaker boomed under Erskine.  Sales in 1918 amounted to $52 million and by 1923 had climbed to $166 million, more than tripling.  Erskine’s book, by then long out of print, was recognized as a valuable promotion tool, so he undertook a revision and significant expansion, which was published in 1924.  The 1918 version had been printed as a memento for the Studebaker family and selected employees, stockholders, suppliers and dealers.  The 1924 version was printed in much larger quantities for much broader distribution.  As a result, it is relatively easy to find today.  The 1918 version reprinted here is much harder to find and can be much more expensive when it does turn up. 

Because of its early publication date, and because the author knew the company so well, most historians view this book as authoritative.  In it, you will find a history of the early years, the wagon and carriage businesses, the transition to the automotive business and selected corporate financial information.  In addition, there are forty illustrations of vehicles, plants, and the most important personalities.

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120 Pages

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The Studebaker History Corner is a collection of anecdotes and short stories covering the entire span of Studebaker’s history from 1852 through 1966.  Including both the famous and the obscure, it provides perspective, adds detail to existing histories, and entertains with facts you haven’t heard before, accompanied by authenticated and corrected versions of some of the stories you most likely have heard.

For instance, the Studebaker History Corner includes an article on the Studebaker Electrics, setting them in the context of the rest of the electric auto industry.  Studebaker, we learn, was an important manufacturer, but neither the largest nor the longest-lived.  The book also includes the story of the Selden patent and Studebaker’s place in it, the fascinating story of a theft from the Studebaker administration building, the history of Studebaker’s unionization, an account of the relationship between Studebaker and Trans International Airlines and much more.  In total, it fills 125 pages with 116 different articles.

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Updated to include issues from 2022.

The same treatment given to SDC's Turning Wheels, given to the Antique Studebaker Club's Antique Studebaker Review.  Contains over 4,600 entries on 66 pages.  Covers all issues of the magazine through and including 2022.

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The Studebaker Bibliography was developed with the intent of cataloging as much as possible of the available Studebaker literature.  Our goal was to make information accessible to current and future historians as well as casual readers.  The bibliography lists 321 books (both fiction and nonfiction), 1,784 magazine articles and 2,768 newspaper articles.  All are related to the Studebaker Corporation, its founders, officers, employees, dealers, subsidiaries, or vehicles, and nearly all of it is available free (or inexpensively) from your local library’s interlibrary loan program!

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The Life of Clement Studebaker

188 Pages

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The Life of Clement Studebaker is a typewritten manuscript held in the collection of the St. Joseph County Library in South Bend, Indiana.  Written after his death in 1901, it was never published.  Although the writer is anonymous, it was certainly done by either a relative or a close family friend some time between 1908 and 1914.

Although Clement died just at the dawn of the automobile age, the company that he and his four brothers founded, the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company, was later to play an important role in the early years of the automobile after it made the transition to the Studebaker Corporation.  Clement, especially, together with his brother John Mohler Studebaker, established the character of the business and hand-picked the successors who introduced the company’s first cars and guided it through the formative years of the 1920s.  Clement, therefore, is an important precursor to the history of the automobile industry.

“The Life of Clement Studebaker” is a biography.  It is not limited to his business, but also covers his political life, his family life, his church life, and his connections with other businesses and other people in South Bend.  It illuminates the man and gives insight.  It specifically says, for example, that Clement was not opposed to the development of a Studebaker automobile, but was not in a hurry, preferring to let others do expensive experimentation.

This fascinating 188-page biography belongs on the shelf of everyone interested in the history of the Studebaker Corporation, the city of South Bend, the automobile industry, or life in the late 19^th century.

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David Beecroft was editor of the magazine The Automobile in the years before World War I and was later president of the Society of Automotive Engineers. Between October 1915 and August 1916 he wrote a history of the automobile industry and published it in his magazine in serial form. Beecroft intended to publish the history in book form after completing the magazine serial, but he died in 1943 and to our knowledge, the book was never printed.

It might seem that in 1915 the automobile industry would have had little history, but Beecroft’s work shows us that isn’t true. As a contemporary of the pioneers, and as editor of an influential industry publication, Beecroft had access to many sources that are not available today and his work shows that he didn’t hesitate to use them. The result is a fascinating and authoritative essay that validates stories we have heard from other sources and brings out others that are now little known, especially in the areas of the development of the gasoline engine and the pneumatic tire.

One problem with Beecroft’s work, from the perspective of today, is that it is fragmented across more than forty issues of a publication that is now hard to find. As a result, it is infrequently seen and little used. However, we were able to gain access to the entire series.  We are pleased to reprint it in one publication and thus to make it easily available to the automotive community. A few typos in the original have been corrected, but it otherwise remains exactly as Beecroft published it including his original illustrations.

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