by Michael Leavy

A full generation has passed since a New York Central emblem dashed across the countryside on a railroad car, but few could ever forget "the greatest railroad in the world." The New York Central System brings back to life the fading steam whistle, the ticking of the station clock, the click of the conductor's ticket punch, and the bellowing of the line's mammoth locomotives. Using more than 200 rare images, author and historian Michael Leavy takes readers on an unforgettable journey beginning in the 1850s to the railroad's undignified end in the 1970s.

IMAGES: 200
PAGES: 128
DIMENSIONS: 6.5 (w) x 9.25 (h)

In stock

SKU 1-1822

Description / Images of Rail: The New York Central System Book

by Michael Leavy

A full generation has passed since a New York Central emblem dashed across the countryside on a railroad car, but few could ever forget "the greatest railroad in the world." The New York Central System brings back to life the fading steam whistle, the ticking of the station clock, the click of the conductor's ticket punch, and the bellowing of the line's mammoth locomotives. Using more than 200 rare images, author and historian Michael Leavy takes readers on an unforgettable journey beginning in the 1850s to the railroad's undignified end in the 1970s.

IMAGES: 200
PAGES: 128
DIMENSIONS: 6.5 (w) x 9.25 (h)

What's The Story

The New York Central System grew from an amalgamation of smaller lines stretching from Albany to Buffalo in the 1830s. Twenty years later, the lines were gathered into a single company. Its phenomenal success did not go unnoticed by Cornelius "Commodore" Vanderbilt, who merged the New York Central with his Hudson River Railroad. The Commodore and his son William, the foremost rail barons of their age, forged ahead with one of the most dynamic future-directed endeavors in the world-a railroad empire that traversed 11 states and 2 Canadian provinces.

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