illustrated reference to major North American railroads

This is a recent addition to our library: a handy quick reference book to significant past and present railroads in the USA and Canada (Mexico is rather oddly omitted).  Most of the 100 selected get a two page spread, but the biggest ones get four pages, and most of the predecessors of these are covered separately in addition.

Including "The" before "illustrated encylopedia" rather than "an" is rather pretentious as there have been and are many more railroads than the ones in this book, but the book does cover most of the operators that have a significant number of followers.

The design is appealing with color used throughout (not all the photos are), including a good selection of photos and items of memorabilia.  Some will think that all the info is available on-line and most of it is, plus a lot more; however, that raises the general issue of the appeal of a physical printed book versus a computer screen.  Needless to say, we much prefer the former.    320 pages, 10 x 11 inches, hardcover.