On Railways Far Away

The photographer shares over 200 images from his sixty-year career covering railroad tourism across the world, plus the stories behind them.

In this lavishly illustrated memoir, William D. Middleton invites readers to climb aboard and share with him sixty years of railroad tourism around the globe. Middleton's award-winning photography has recorded events such as the final days of American Civil War locomotives in Morocco and the start up of the world's first high-speed railway in Japan. He has photographed such great civil works as Scotland's Firth of Forth Bridge and the splendid railway station at Haydarpasa on the Asian side of the Bosporus, while closer to home he has been recognized for his significant contribution to the photographic interpretation of North America's railroading history. On Railways Far Away presents over 200 of Middleton's favorite photographs and the personal stories behind the images. It is a book that will delight both armchair travelers and those for whom the railroads still hold romance.

Praise for On Railroads Far Away

"Few American chroniclers of the international railroad scene have shown the versatility and insight of William D. Middleton. As an author and a photographer (not to mention a professional engineer), he demonstrated an uncanny ability to connect all the dots in railroading, from all corners of the world. In this book he does it with an inimitable personal touch." —Kevin P. Keefe, publisher, Classic Trains magazine


"Middleton will go down as the only producer of popular railroad history . . . who was able to present such a broad coverage of railways during his lifetime. . . . There has never been a person with his wide range of talents (as a researcher, writer, and photographer), his personal discipline to be a steady producer of historical publications, and his unrivaled zeal to record railroad activity in interesting spots around the globe. Many have excelled in one or even two of these categories, but no one has ever come close to his overall record. It will take a generation for the breadth, depth, and significance of his total contribution to be appreciated." —J. Parker Lamb, author of Railroads of Meridian