The Model Railroader’s Guide to Freight Cars by Jeff Wilson

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The Model Railroader’s Guide to Freight Cars by Jeff Wilson, 96 pages, Kalmbach Publishing Co., 2005

This book provides brief histories of each type of Freight car development starting from USRA standard designs to the present, using many pictures. Types of car are shown as the index below. Tracks and brake systems are also explained in a chapter. Still more provided are the columns explaining details such as letterings, boxcar doors, ends and roofs.

Accordingly, we can identify the type of a particular rolling stock which we are going to model. From the point of view of the thinness of this book, I think it is magnificent.

The contents are:
04: Introduction
05: Boxcars
21: Tank Cars
32: Covered Hoppers
43: Refrigerator Cars
51: Hoppers and Gondolas
63: Flat Cars
71: Intermodal Equipment
79: Car Components
89: Appendix


本書は北米における貨車の概説書である。貨車の種類毎に、その歴史的変遷を多くの図版を用いて解説する。台車や制動装置については別に章立てて説明している。妻板や扉などの部材についてはコラムで解説する。著者が序章で述べているように、大方の貨車について、この一冊でメーカーなどおおよそ分かるようになっていて重宝。この薄さにしてこれを可能にするところが本書編集の妙だろうか。