Coal Trains: The History of Railroading and Coal in the United States
For more than a century and a half, coal mining and railroading have been irrevocably linked in the United States. In this illustrated history, Brian Solomon and Patrick Yough examine the railroads and hardware that have brought coal from mine to mill, pier, and power plant.            From the first modest coal trains in the East to today’s high-horsepower unit-train operations in the West, Solomon and Yough present a concise history of American coal haulers illustrated with dozens of period and contemporary photographs depicting dozens of railroads and the drama of very long—and very heavy—trains powering up mountain grades and charging across barren prairies.While exploring topics ranging from the colorful but now defunct anthracite roads of eastern Pennsylvania to today’s AC-traction diesels that work Wyoming’s thriving Powder River Basin, Solomon and Yough show how, for 150 years, the unique demands of coal—and America’s energy consumption—have prompted new railroad technologies.