Western Railroad Discussion > Guide to North American Locomotives, Jeff Wilson

This new full size 302 page book is out. It covers nearly everything in the old Kalmbach Diesel Spotters Guide as well as complete locomotive rosters from all railroads you have likely ever heard.

The book starts out with a primer of how diesel electric and other locomotives work and a quick over view of all North American manufacturers. Ancillary and auxiliary systems are also covered. After those 40 pages there are about 100 pages of each diesel model from 1905 through the C4 and T4 models of current production (2017) models. The last half of the book is full of railroad diesel rosters.

The only shortcomings I see at first is there are no dimensional data like wheelbase, overall length and weights of the models nor descriptions of various phases of each model. The phases are largely railfan created with no manufacturer support so that might be excused.

For $27.99 this full color and black and white publication is an outstanding reference material. The unique model timeline in graphical format should prove a useful way for model railroaders to determine which units should be on a layout during any given time frame. This is trade paperback format with a soft cover.

This book is a bargin, put it on your Christmas List then behave. Expect Santa to dogear some of the corners a bit.

Your post doesn't say where to get it ... so I checked Amazon.ca (Canadian arm of Amazon) ... I got it for $29.53 Canadian, plus tax.
If I had ordered it from Kambach, it would have been quite a bit more due to the exchange rate.

Will MacKenzie
Dundas, ON

Mine came through the local hobby shop. I am not sure if it came from Walthers or Kalmbach.

It is definately the bible of diesel locomotives

I just got my copy. First impressions are it's very basic and there are lots of roster discrepencies or ommisions but for the price ( I got mine for 23 bucks on Amazon) it is a great introduction for those getting to know North American Locomotives.
Andrew

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