Book Review: Logging Railroads of the West

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Logging Railroads of the West by Kramer Adams (4 stars) was one of those "Amazon 1 cent books" as I'm starting to call them.  At the time I bought it for $0.01 plus $3.99 shipping with really no expectations of what it contained.

Given the price I was pleasantly surprised when I opened it and found that on just about every of the 144 pages in the book there is at least one photo.  The photos aren't the miniature kind either; many of them take up a whole half page.



The book is composed of 9 chapters plus five appendices which I'll cover in a second.  The book is organized thematically and doesn't focused on any one specific logging railroad for too long (in fact, sometimes Adams will mention 2 or 3 lines in a single paragraph).  Instead the book explores various topics about logging railroads which aren't entierly obvious by simply looking at the chapter titles:

1. Whistle in the Woods (11)
2. The Uncommon Carrier (21)
3. The Scenery Inspectors (41)
4. Pushing Steel (47)
5. The Up and Down Railroads (57)
6. Tracks to the Timber (63)
7. Hogs and Iron Oxen (71)
8. Joining the Birds (111)
9. The Slow Bell (123)

Chapter 1 "Whistle in the Woods" starts out with a general introduction to loggin' in the west, as expected.  Chapter 2 is when the interesting bits of the book began to come out as the author explores the relationship between logging railroads and common carriers and why and how some logging railroads became common carriers (for better or worse).

  

Chapter 3 continues with the progressive demand for technology in the woods and the "Scenery Inspectors" who were the work force behind these improvements.

"Pushing Steel", chapter 4, begins the first chapter on the physical plant of logging railroads, while chapter 5 covers inclines, and chapter 6 covers track.  "Hogs and Iron Oxen" give some background on the source of locomotives for many of the logging lines and describes some of the early history of Shay, Climax, and Heisler, along with the other lesser known geared locomotive manufacturers.

Chapter 8 is focused on the wrecks and disasters that were common to logging lines and as expected chapter 9, "The Slow Bell" ends with the eventual defeat of logging railroads to trucks.

Unlike most appendices in railroad history books, I actually found the ones in Logging Railroads of the West to be worthwhile.  They include:

• Whistle Signals (137)
• The Last of the Steam Locomotives (138)
• Glossary and English-Loggers Dictionary (140)
• Bibliography and References (142)
• Listing of Logging Railroads of the West (144)

Overall, and especially considering the low price this book can be had for, I think this was a decent book to add to my collection.  I only spend 2 or 3 evenings reading it but I have a feeling I might be referring back to it from time to time.