Long Island Rail Road (MBI Railroad Color History) | Stan Fischler

Long Island Rail Road (MBI Railroad Color History) | Stan Fischler | Neither Color nor History

books:

Long Island Rail R...

	Long Island Rail Road (MBI Railroad Color History) Stan Fischler Voyageur Press, 2007 - 160 pages average customer review:based on 4 reviews view larger image
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The illustrated history of the oldest American railway operating under its original name and the busiest commuter railroad on the continent.

Long Island Rail Road

Great book. Stan Fischler is a great storyteller to begin with (his "Confessions of a Brooklyn Trolley Dodger" are a grat personal reminiscence of his childhood growing up in Brookly as well as of the trolleys of the area). The LIRR was a essential element to the growth of Long Island and even the acceleration of its population right after WWII. Great photos and story of the struggles and the sometimes "love-hate" relationships between the Long Island RR and its customers and the Pennsy (which held control till the early 50s). Brings the story of the Rail road closer to the present. Is of the same quality of the other MBI Railroad Books.

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Neither Color nor History

The MBI Rail road Color History series has provided concise histories of selected railroads and a nice selection of photographs, mostly in color. This book on the LIRR is disappointing. The majority of photographs are black & white, although this is not a drawback as the 19th century b&w photos presented are nicely reproduced in a size and quality not previously seen. The history, on the other hand, is disjointed and woefully incomplete. The author spends far too much time on sidebars and anecdotes (although warning that historians have refuted the stories that he is about to relate, he then goes on to include them anyway). A section of photographs on the 1950 wrecks is much too long and includes a completely unnecessary graphic photo of bodies inside a wrecked car. The only maps are on the endpapers and are very nice, but depict the 19th Century system (one is undated, the other is about 10 years off), with no additional maps showing the railroad as it matured. In conclusion, the reasonable price justifies buying the book for the early photographs alone, but don't expect any kind of cogent history of the LIRR.

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