Now you can be the human Wikipedia page of trains--from locomotives to rolling stock.

No Great American road trip would be complete without seeing trains streaming across wild prairies and through thick forests. All kinds of diesel and even a few steam locomotives can be seen, with everything from boxy frontends to curving streamlined bodies. The containers, flat cars, and boxcars pulled by these locomotives carry diverse freight, and the variety of these cars is wide. Field Guide to Trains: Locomotives and Rolling Stock is the source for easy-to-digest information on locomotives and cars. Model railroaders will also find this book indispensible, as it offers myriad ideas for realistic train systems.

The book is divided by diesel-electric locomotives, self-propelled passenger trains, passenger cars, freight cars, rail transit, and preserved equipment at museums and excursion steam locomotives. It also touches on historic diesels, vintage trams, maintenance trains, snowplow engines, and circus trains. Featuring North American and world examples of trains, Field Guide to Trains includes just about any type of locomotive and train car you are likely to see on the rails today, making this book the only available comprehensive guide to locomotives and rolling stock out there.

Bring Field Guide to Trains: Locomotives and Rolling Stock along on family trips to see what rolls the rails as you're traveling. Make a game of how many locomotives and car types you can identify. Buy locomotives and certain car types for your model layout. This is simply the handiest field guide for families and railroad buffs that you'll ever find.

Brian Solomon is one of today's most accomplished railway historians. He has authored more than thirty books about railroads and locomotive power, and his writing and photography have been featured in the world's top rail publications, including Trains, Railway Age, Passenger Train Journal, and RailNews. He divides his time between Massachusetts and Ireland.