Includes index.

Chapters include: Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe; Baltimore & Ohio; Boston and Maine; Chicago & North Western; Chicago, Burlington & Quincy; Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific; Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific; Denver & Rio Grande Western; Great Northern; Illinois Central; Louisville & Nashville; New York Central; Pennsylvania; Southern Pacific; and Union Pacific. The book chronicles 15 railroads. "Most of them have vanished, having been swept up in a new wave of great mergers that began in the 1960's and reached fever pitch in the 1990's. A few survive with their long-established names, personalities and 'classic' images more or less intact....Read about each railroad's notable accomplishments, its famous passenger trains, its failures as well as successes."