Missouri Pacific's Steam to Diesel Era, 1945 -1955
by Lloyd E. Stagner

Now you can order this book for either your own library or as a gift at the

Published by South Platte Press/Brueggenjohann/Reese, Inc.
First printing November 2002
ISBN 0-942035-62-3
50 pages staple-bound, with a color front cover and all B&W interior and back-cover photos

    I purchased it sight unseen via mail order with only a small cover image on a web page as a reference,
    I bought the book as a modeling reference and, to a fair extent, it is a good reference work for such use.   With my limited expertise, the photo captions all seem to be accurate, and provide useful location and date information, photo credits, and a certain amount of historical data.   In addition, there is a narrative page in the front of the book for each year from 1945-1955, plus an epilogue page, each of which has its own full-page-width captioned photo.   The end of the book contains various useful motive power summaries - by year, by owning affiliate railroad, etc.
    The only two faults I can find with it as a would-be MoPac transition-era modeler is that most of the photographs are three-quarter-head-on shots with only a few straight side shots, and all are black and white images.   I would have preferred a better binding than staple-bound, and would have liked some color diesel photos but, on the whole, I would recommend the book to anyone interested in the MoPac's "transition" era.
    I enjoyed reading it cover to cover the first time, and I suspect I will enjoy it almost as much each time I pick it up in the future for some bit of modeling research or inspiration.
    All in all, a good-looking production.
 
reviewed by Richard W Zellich