Archibald Thomas Robertson

Robertson’s book is a personal salute to the institution of the branch line railroad. These railroads flourished in the period before the Second World War as a means of moving people and goods to and from all of the small towns in America whose size/location did not warrant Class I railroad connections. Their decline began with the advent of the automobile and the explosive growth of highways and private car ownership in the post WWII period quickly drove the vast majority of them out of business.

Because of their size and the vagaries of the geographical areas they served, the branch line railroads, far more than the big Class I railroads, had to adapt to and accommodate their surroundings. As a result no two were alike which meant that each one provided the passenger with a unique railroading experience.

Mr. Robertson provides the reader with descriptions of many of these now vanished railroads, the people they served, the individuals who worked on them, and first-hand accounts of what it was like to ride them. His writing style is conversational. He crafts excellent word pictures and his prose brings the branch line experience to life for the reader. See Common Knowledge for an example of the writing style. (Text length - 178 pages, Total length - 189 pages, includes appendix and index).… (mere)