|
| 
 enlarge | Author: Rush Loving
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Category: Book
List Price: $27.95
Buy New: $17.51
You Save: $10.44 (37%)
New (22) Used (16) from $12.21
Avg. Customer Rating:  25 reviews
Sales Rank: 134873
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 360
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.3
ISBN: 0253347572
Dewey Decimal Number: 385.092273
EAN: 9780253347572
ASIN: 0253347572
Publication Date: April 28, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New, Perfect Condition, Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. 100% Money Back Guarantee, Over 1,000,000 customers served.
|
| Customer Reviews:
 Surprisingly Good November 9, 2006
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
This book was recommended to me by several other railfans. I couldn't believe how they raved about a book focusing on corporate mergers. However, once I got into it this was surprisingly interesting, killing many lulls while waiting for trains to appear. The author does an excellent job depicting the lives and times of the men, and the railroads that shaped todays class I carriers. If you have any interest at all in the railroad you will not be disappointed in this read!
 Railroading for Fun and Profit October 17, 2006
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
This is the good story of the last forty years of eastern railroad history, written by an author who saw it all from the outside, but also had access to many on the inside. Dirty tricks, skulduggery, political influence were all qualities historians associate with the nineteenth century railroad robber barons. Well, Rush Loving tells you in readable prose that these qualities did not die out with the turn of the twentieth century--or even the twenty-first!
My own career as a railroad official with an Eastern railroad started just after the Penn Central bankruptcy and lasted until the turn of the century. The events and the characters are all too familiar, and both the events and the characters are well portrtayed in the book.
Mr. Loving obviously had better access to Conrail and Norfolk Southern officials than he did to CSX. One basic reason for this is that most of the people from CSX who know the story are still working, while the Conrail people have been bought off and the Norfolk Southern people have retired.
The books faults are few, but they are enough to keep it from a fifth star. The problem is basically, like military history, you only meet the Supreme Commanders. I encountered few people below the rank of Executive Vice President mentioned by name, other than the book's hero and protagonist, Jim McClellan, who always seemed to be in the right place at the right time with "a few other staffers" to save the day. I spent much of my career among the "few other staffers." I'm not trying to detract from the excellent career of Jim McClellan, but it's easy to understand why everybody on Jim's Christmas present list will probably be receiving this book. Finally, enough sloppy errors creep into the book (Heavy passenger trains do not wear down the rails! Freight does.)as to be annoying, particularly when Mr. Loving gets so much right.
 Surprised September 11, 2006
8 out of 10 found this review helpful
The Men Who Loved Trains is certainly a readable book. What surprised me was the fact that the Indiana University Press would publish a book that is relates solely what named and unnamed people told the author. Based upon the acknowledgements that indicate that the author spoke with many of the major players, the tale of the split of CR between CSX and NS is plausible. The earlier history is more shaky. The PRR & NYC merger into PC is a rehash of what has been written long ago in a number of books and newspapers.
The biggest problem I find is the story of PC becoming Conrail. Having worked at Conrail at that time, I note that this chapter is filled with errors. This is not surprising because, in reviewing those interviewed, there was no one cited who was familiar with the actual operation of the railroad at this time. The operating department run by R.B. Hasselman was very service conscious. In fact Mr. Hasselman and his General Supt. E. A. Priebe developed the intermodal train plan in 1977 that made UPS Conrail's largest customer. This work was handled solely by the operating department - UPS would not even talk to Jordan's marketeers. The great story about the cattle car for Lancaster, PA forgot to mention that the charges for running TV-2, the train that would deliver this car to Lancaster, via Amtrak would have eaten up most of the revenue. The Jordan MBA crowd that came in with the army of consultants were naive and indecisive. Rather than solving the problems, they were largely in the way of progress. It should be noted that when Mr. Crane came he got rid of all these folks and together with R. B. Hasselman and his team and made Conrail quite profitable. Mr. Loving failed to note this obvious fact.
There were a number of simple factual errors, i.e. a standard rail is 39 feet long not 38 feet. A key state for the Wabash RR is Missouri for its Kansas City connections - not Iowa. There also are a few spelling errors. For a guy coming from Fortune, The Men... seemed a rather sloppy piece of work. Still it was entertaining - I was glad to learn that Stuart Saunders spent Thursday afternoons in a hotel with his Main Line girlfriend. It made him seem more lively than one would expect from his rather dreary photographs.
Peter E. Lynch
Old Saybrook, CT
A Far More Definitive Text August 1, 2006
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Best railroad business history book I've ever read. I just re-read The Wreck of the Penn Central and found it dated, sensationalist, and lacking. The Wreck may have been tainted by the authors' direct involvement in breaking a lot of the news coming from Philadelphia financial community, with a certain lack of attention to the business, people and geographies away from that city. The Men Who Loved Trains is far more complete, accurate, and objective. While both books clearly center on the personalities, The Men doesn't attempt to be a hit piece, it is rather a triumph of the positive. While a lot was going wrong with the railroad business in the northeast, the book identifies many of the root causes and concentrates on the solutions, the successes, and the learnings from the setbacks.
From the birth of Penn Central to the break up of Conrail July 30, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Just finished this book, and I'd say it's one of the best books about the corporate end of the industry I've ever read. It starts with the pre-Penn Central merger era and goes all the way to the break up of Conrail by CSX and NS, introducing all of the various personalities of the movers and shakers along the way. Very readable, not dry at all.
I never really got too deep into the story of how Penn Central came to be, and while the break up of Conrail was only a few years ago, I didn't know the real story behind it either. The author gives an excellent history lesson. Hope he writes more on railroading.
|
|
|
Copyright 2008 - RailroadBookstore.com | |
