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| Table of contents | Preface (excerpt) | Quotes from reviews | |
| Printable retail order form | Wholesale / dealer information | ||
. By Ernest H. Robl |
Amid the high plains of eastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana, the greatest railroad drama in North America is playing to very small audiences, because few travelers venture into this sparsely populated land.
But, if you're willing to invest a little time and money, and to plan carefully, the trip is well worth the effort.
The area is called the Powder River Basin (PRB), but those same initials could also stand for "power railroading base," where two of America's largest railroads throw their newest and biggest motive power against tough grades with 125-car loaded unit coal trains.
Around the clock and around the year, some thirty mines load a total of as many as a hundred coal trains per day.
This illustrated guidebook helps you with planning a trip and with finding you way around once you are there on the ground.
Though many parts of the PRB are so remote that you can drive two or more hours without finding, food, drink, or fuel for your car, the larger towns offer all basic amenities, including motels belonging to major chains. You just have to know what's there, and what's where.
- Several chapters of background information on the history and development of the area
- A chapter with an overview of railroad operations
- A chapter with a detailed one-week basic itinerary for seeing the most important features of the area
- Two chapters with options and add-ons for the basic itinerary, including bonus information on railroad features in the Denver, Colo., area
- A chapter with detailed information on ten important railroad locations worth visiting
- A chapter outlining possibilities for visiting non-railroad tourist and historic sites in the area
- A chapter on suggested accommodations throughout the area, including names, locations, and reservation telephone numbers
- A wide variety of resources for more in-depth research on specific features and locations, including addresses, telephone numbers, and Web URLs
The guidebook covers the essential information you need, from descriptions of radio use by the railroads (which you can monitor with a scanning receiver) to photography tips and even how to see some of the mines on an aerial tour.
This guidebook will not only help you get to key locations but also to understand what you are seeing when you get there.
- Is a professional photographer and writer specializing in transportation subjects whose railroad photos have been purchased by such clients as Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Union Pacific. His photos have appeared in magazines ranging from BusinessWeek to Railway Age and many popular railroad magazines. He also frequently writes on transportation subjects and is the author of America's Classic Railroad Places, a well-received directory with basic information on several hundred notable railroad sites and routes. (An expanded and updated third edition of America's Classic Railroad Places is tentatively scheduled for mid 2003.)
- Has made photographic documentation of railroad and related activities in the Powder River Basin an ongoing project. He has visited the Powder River Basin and related nearby areas, such as Crawford Hill in Nebraska, on four trips since 1995.
Like America's Classic Railroad Places, this guidebook is supplied as a package of shrink-wrapped 5.5x8.5 inch loose-leaf pages punched for a small ringbinder, which is not included. Appropriate binders are available at office supply stores and allow uses to add their own pages with notes on the area.
- Compact enough to easily carry with you
- Detailed enough to provide essential information
- 210+ pages; black and white illustrations
- $21.95 plus $4.05 shipping and handling; NC residents add 7 per cent sales tax to total.
Publication date: April, 2000. Still available. (Current orders receive a four-page supplement with updated information for 2001 and 2002.)
Please follow this link to a printable retail order form that can be sent with you payment. (As most of my photographic and writing work is for corporate clients, primarily publishers, I do not currently accept credit cards. Thank you for your understanding.)
Dealers and distributors, please read my wholesale policies page.
The following Web pages provide additional information on this book:
- Table of contents
An overview of the chapters- Quotes from reviews
- Preface (excerpt)
How and why this book came about
Are available to reviewers for magazines and newspapers. Please request review copies on your publication's letterhead and mail the letter to
Ernest H. Robl
Review copy request
P.O. Box 3270
Durham, NC 27715-3270
Please be sure to specify which of my currently available titles you are requesting for review.
[rev. 2003/01/20]
The guidebook contains black and white illustrations. To see color images from the Powder River Basin on this Web site, click on the link in this sentence.
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