This book (Railroads in the Days of Steam) is all about railroads, and trains from their primitive start to about mid-20th century. The information in the book is just unreal; I had looked in the appendix and found out so much more stuff about railroads. I aberrantly had never really thought of the prominence of the railway system to the development of the United States.
The railways were of great consequence but, it meant different things to different people. To native people it destroyed their way of life, to the rich men who owned the railway system, it meant money, and lots of it, to the outlaws, it meant something to rob, yes this book covers this subject, to many people it meant progress; a way to get goods from here to there to help the family of man.
This book covers a overabundance of everything recurring to the railroad. It has black and white illustrations and some color, many stories, even a glossary of rail- road slang my personal favorite, a cinder dick which was a railroad detective.