Alphabetically organized and fully cross-referenced, [this book] is the perfect handbook for any train enthusiast. The most significant innovations in locomotive technology as well as the most important and colorful characters from the history of the 'iron horse' are included....Thrill to the story of Casey Jones and his ill-fated final journey; was he simply trying to stay on schedule or was he determined to die that day? Learn about the difficulties encountered during the construction of the Cape to Cairo railroad, Cecil Rhodes' ambitious and as yet uncompleted dream of a trans-African railway; at one point, for instance, more than twenty railroad builders were devoured by marauding lions. Marvel at the magnetic levitation trains that are capable of traveling at speeds in excess of 200 miles per hour; provided that the appropriate trackage rights can be secured, such high-speed ground travel may become the transportation alternative of the future.