Title: An excellent reference but very dry reading
Product review: ...George Hilton's "American Narrow Gauge Railroads" is an excellent encyclopedic reference for hardcore railroad buffs. However, casual readers should be aware that this work is first and foremost an academic analysis of transportation economics, and completely free of the glossy nostalgia characteristic of most railroad lore. His descriptions of individual railroads and the narrow-gauge phenomenon in general focus on economics (I now have a newfound respect for the word "receivership"), rather than the equipment and the frontier atmosphere that attract many railroad enthusiasts. Nevertheless, the hard work pays off in the end: I now understand why common-carrier narrow gauge railroads were largely doomed to failure.
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