After years of research, When Steam was King is now available. This new book is about Sierra, Pickering and West Side Lumber Company's logging railroad operations from 1897 until 1970's.
Written by photographer and author Gerald L. French, who worked in the woods for Pickering Lumber Company in 1958 as a bridge carpenter. There are exclusive photos of Shay steam locomotives operating, and maps of Pickering that have never been published. The Pickering chapter alone is worth the price of the book.
When Steam was King is a 250 page, hardbound, color cover with over 260 photos, maps and drawings. Majority of the stories, photos and maps are published for the first time. There are many double page photographic spreads.
Also included are: Empire City Railroad, CA State RR Museum, Railtown 1897, Roaring Camp and Big Trees, Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad, Midwest Central RR. Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad, and Cass Scenic Railroad. And the Authors Favorite Railroads: Grand Canyon Railway, The Cumbres & Tolect Scenic Railroad, and The Sierra Madres Express into Mexico's Copper Canyon. There's a chapter on Ephraim Shay who invented his steam logging engine in 1873.
This book is a "must" for rail fans and model railroaders.