American steam locomotives : design and development, 1880-1960 /

This posthumous book by Withuhn--a longtime curator of transportation at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History and a familiar name to railroad enthusiasts--is an outstanding, authoritative history of the steam locomotive from the late 1800s to the 1960s. Picking up where American Locomotives: An Engineering History, 1830--1880 (1997) left off, Withuhn's work carries the story of these machines though to their demise as the diesel assumed the position of railroad locomotive (a sobering chapter, "Counterpoint: Why the Diesel," summarizes this topic). His writing will appeal to both novices and experts as he describes and explains the finer points of steam locomotive theory, design, and use, including such topics as fireboxes, counterbalancing, superheating, streamlining, and aesthetics (and the people behind these developments). The chapter endnotes, richly annotated, further enhance the text as do the many black-and-white photographs. Readers curious about the last hurrah of steam power locomotives will enjoy the chapter on the odd and rare steam turbine electrics. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels. --Bruce C. Sarjeant, Northern Michigan University