Relive the early days of train travel with this exciting illustrated story of steam locomotion. Working with great love and skill from builders' specifications, old engravings, and contemporaneous accounts, author Reed Kinert recreates, in exacting detail, illustrations of the earliest locomotives—many of which were built and used before the advent of photography.

More than 100 illustrations, many in color, portray the venerable "iron horses"—from the tiny Tom Thumb (which, early in its career, lost a race to a horse-drawn wagon) to vertical "teakettles" and "grasshoppers," and the streamlined "titans," outfitted with bells, whistles, and lights. Railroading enthusiasts, model rail hobbyists, and Americana buffs will be delighted with this expert pictorial-guided tour through the early days of the "iron horse."