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Reviews
| The Birth of California Narrow Gauge: A Regional Study of the Technology of Thomas and Martin Carter. By Bruce MacGregor. Palo Alto, Calif.: Stanford Univ. Press, 2003. x+673 pp., illus., charts, maps, diags., appends., notes, index. $79.95 hb (ISBN 0-8047-3550-6).
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Books on railway history all too often do not field questions that really explore the nature of railroads as social, economic, or political institutions. Volume after volume deals with the engineering triumphs of the railroad: the great locomotives, the famous bridges, the grand depots, and terminals. Occasionally books will also feature a famous business personality and eulogize already-legendary figures in the historical record. These works do not really convey the true complexity and imperfection that are inherent whenever human beings have engaged in industrial or business pursuits. In The Birth of California Narrow Gauge, Bruce MacGregor has provided a case study of railroads in a particular region at a particular time, and he has done an excellent job of conveying both the complexity and the imperfection of the history he has chosen to examine.
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MacGregor details the development of narrow-gauge railroading in California in the late-19th century. In addition to discussing the development of narrow-gauge railroads in terms of routes and equipment, or in terms of business strategy, MacGregor discusses in great detail the backgrounds and accomplishments of several personalities involved with these railroads and their suppliers. His account centers on Thomas Carter, an Irish carpenter who became one of the best-known car builders on the West Coast during the period that the narrow gauge railroad movement was a force. By building locally funded, independent, narrow-gauge lines from farming and mining communities to tidewater ports, Carter and others were at the forefront of a movement to compete with the standard-gauge railroad companies that held a monopoly on shipping in California.
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MacGregor begins with an introduction that summarizes the impact of Carter's life on the psyche and economy of the local region. Carter has become quite a storied individual, and over the years people have attributed to him things that he did not necessarily do. In his introduction, MacGregor begins to explore Carter's life. As he reveals more and more evidence during the book, he deconstructs some of the myths surrounding Carter in order to present a more accurate picture. After briefly reviewing the accomplishments of Carter and his brother Martin, MacGregor outlines his intent: "to explain the surprising success of Thomas and [his brother] Martin Carter in a time of wrenching dislocation in the social and economic fabric of California" (p. 8).
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Moving from this, MacGregor chronicles the trials, successes, and failures of these individuals and their business ventures by telling a basic story to which he adds more and more detail as the book progresses. The first chapter is a biography of Carter's early life, discussing many of the influences that would eventually lead him to a career in railroad car building in California. The second chapter sketches some of the early developments in narrow gauge railroading, particularly the activities of John Carroll, who built some of the first rolling stock for the new railway ventures and who would become Carter's employer. The chapter then focuses on Carter's own early ventures into the car building business.
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MacGregor uses the remaining 10 chapters to chronicle the growth and development of the Carter Brothers firm and the parallel development of California narrow gauge railroads. MacGregor discusses the chronological growth of the railroads, but he also discusses the relationship of the Carters' car-building firm to its suppliers and to these railroads and shows how they formed mutually beneficial business relationships that gave the Carters' firm a considerable degree of manufacturing flexibility. He discusses the issues that led to hardship for the narrow gauge lines, including competition from the large railroad companies and ever-present safety issues. MacGregor focuses especially on the way that Carter Brothers developed manufacturing systems that combined field assembly and the fixed factory system to provide a more flexible arrangement for its customers, the narrow gauge railroads. To that end, the book is filled with technical information, but it is also rich with biographical information and business analysis.
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MacGregor's sources are many and varied, and he makes good use of them in building his story. A great deal of the biographical information on Carter comes from newspaper clippings and some correspondence, and MacGregor uses some works on Irish immigration and California history to extrapolate general theories about Carter's experience and mindset. MacGregor derives the history of the railroads and the Carter Brothers firm from newspaper clippings, various railroad archival materials and correspondence, personal diaries, car builders' technical journals and books, and the works of several railroad historians.
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The book has many high-quality illustrations. The numerous illustrations are mainly black-and-white photographs and maps, but they also include line drawings and engravings, and two sections that illustrate the construction of cars and a locomotive typical to the region. These sections are beautiful and well done, using three-dimensional computer diagrams to show construction processes from start to finish. They are complemented by numerous historic engineering drawings and specifications, including paint sample cards.
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Reading the book can be cumbersome at times, simply because there is so much information. Despite being spread out over nearly 570 of the book's 673 pages, the text is still quite dense, and in places it may become confusing. This is a minor obstacle for those who like to read casually. The book is clear, containing very few grammatical errors, and is well organized. In spite of its density, readers will find in the end that the point gets across in an interesting and informative way.
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While odes to great personalities, places, and things have their place, it is refreshing to see a book written by an author who draws connections between human personalities and the things that they do, and who examines business in its context. White, a former transportation curator at the Smithsonian, is known for the breadth and depth of his work on the technological history of railroads in the United States. White's histories of American locomotives and rolling stock reached a degree of professionalism, detail, and accuracy that did not generally exist before in railroad history literature and has rarely since been approached. MacGregor has produced a work that is very similar in its scope of content and analysis to White's works.
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| In The Birth of California Narrow Gauge, MacGregor has explored for us not only the business transactions, the rolling stock, and the routes that constituted the railroads of a region, but he also examines the human beings who had a hand in their often-imperfect success and their relationship to the larger context. His use of the Carter Brothers firm as a demonstrative case study is successful because it is intimately tied to the history and economy of the region. MacGregor has produced a work that is complete, well researched, and enjoyable to read. It should be a welcome addition to any library. |
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