The definitive work on the narrow-gauge common carrier railroads of the United States. It does not cover the use of narrow-gauge railroads for industrial purposes, although roads that offered even a minimal degree of common carriage are included.

Hilton is an economist by profession, and his hard-headed analysis of the narrow-gauge phenomenon is a cutting one, demonstrating how poor an economic prospect most narrow-gauge lines were even when they were constructed. This is not a book to indulge one's nostalgia!

The book is divided into two major parts. The first covers the narrow-gauge movement in general terms, from its genesis and philosophy, its overall history, and its technology and equipment. The second goes state-by-state gazetteer-style, covering every common-carrier narrow-gauge railroad with at least a small writeup, while the more important railroads get perhaps a few pages of coverage. Of railroads that were only common-carrier roads for a short time, most of the coverage is for that period.

This is an excellent overall, overview work on narrow-gauge roads; it will not give enough information on individual roads to satisfy the enthusiast of those roads, but that's not it's intended purpose. ( )