Magnetic North: Canadian Steam in Twilight
by Roger Cook, Karl Zimmermann
Category: Transportation

Magnetic North is an inspiring chronicle of the brief, bright moment when steam locomotives ran their final miles in Eastern Canada, a time when the certainty of their demise made their presence all the sweeter. From the moment Karl Zimmermann and Roger Cook packed their bags in May of 1958 and boarded a sleeper for Montreal, they were hooked on Canadian steam. They arrived just in time to see and record the end of an era. In a sense, Zimmermann and Cook have been collaborating on this book for 40 years. In carefully wrought essays and in photographs selected from among many hundreds made by the authors and other outstanding railway photographers, this book is a vision of classic steam railroading rendered with first-person immediacy. Exerpt from Magnetic North "With armstrong turntable, bucket coaling station, and two-stall enginehouse, La Malbaie reeked of small-time, steam-powered style; it was the epitome of old-fashioned railroading, still rich in humanity. It was labor-intensive to a fault, with stations sprouting train-order boards (and, inside, the operators or station agents to set them) and engine terminals where locomotives sometimes were turned by men with strong backs and strong arms and sometimes were fueled using derricks to wrestle hulking buckets to tender-top. If labor-intensive, it was also irresistible."