Baltimore & Ohio's Capitol Limited and National Limited (Great Passenger Trains)
by Joe Welsh
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Book Summary Information
Author: Joe WelshEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2007-12-15
ISBN: 0760325332
Number of pages: 160
Publisher: Voyageur Press
Book Reviews of Baltimore & Ohio's Capitol Limited and National Limited (Great Passenger Trains)
Book Review: Nice Book, Needs a Good Editor
Summary: 4 Stars
Joe Welsh is one of the best passenger train writers in the U.S. and there is lots to admire in his "Baltimore and Ohio's Capital Limited and National Limited". The book condenses the stories about these two Chicago/St. Louis trains (and uses some of the same photos) that appear in separate volumes by Harry Stegmaier originally published 15 years ago, in 1993.
Certainly the five-page photo spread (pp. 52-56) of the Capital Limited pulling out of Chicago after a late February 1935 snowstorm are stunning and there are other great photos I hadn't previously seen, including the evocative depiction of the Capital Limited whizzing past a boat along the C&O Canal.
The photos of the African-American porters and dining car waiters are a haunting (and repugnant) reminder of how racial servitude continued well into the 20th century, partly because because of social attitudes and because African-American men had far fewer career choices. I was also struck by the photo of the two doves being released into the frigid Chicago air during a christening of the Capital Limited in November 1938. I wonder how long those doves survived during the rigorous Chicago winter.
What's lacking in Welsh's book is an attentive editor. Silver Spring, Maryland is twice identified as Silver Springs in photo captions. The latter place is in Florida, far south of the route traversed by the B&O. Curiously, Silver Spring is spelled correctly in the text and in the too-frugal index.
I also wish some of the captions were more specific. The two-page spread on pp. 94-95 depicts the Capital Limited chugging across a bridge at what appears to be Harper's Ferry, WV. Couldn't the photo caption specify the locale? And since the book contains lots of images, why didn't the publisher squeeze a B&O route map into the contents?
I like Welsh's short chapter about the B&O's competition, the Pennsylvania Railroad, which also ran trains between New York/Baltimore/Washington and Chicago and St. Louis.
While I don't think Welsh's book supplants Mr. Stegmaier's earlier, more detailed accounts of these great passenger trains, many railroad fans -- especially B&O partisans -- will welcome Welsh's newer, scaled back account.
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