Mason Y Cooper

There are several books on the electrification of the N&W and the primary advantage of this one is a fairly well written portion on the issues that pushed the N&W to go to electrification. The comparison between the N&W and the Virginian certainly helps one to understand the improvement in the technology on the Virginian. Experience and in-service use allowed the Virginian to avoid some of the errors of the early adoption.

The most problematic area was the electric power explanation. I'm still not clear on the differences between 1 phase and 3 phase and the conversion technology in use. The author implies that the 1 phase was less susceptible to damage but that is not clear to me.

I did get one correction to my railroad trivia! It was my understanding that the 100 ton 6 axle gon's better known as 'battleship gon's ' were developed by the N&W and not the Virginian as I had previously thought.

The photos and maps were adequate.

The book is a good one time read and worth retaining for reference purposes.… (más)