Catechism of the Locomotive

Matthias N. Forney was the author of the book Catechism of the Locomotive, first published in 1873. This work is recognized as the seminal authority on steam locomotive construction in the late 19th century.

Bob posted on Chaski.org:


 * This is a really great resource for anyone working on historical (pre-1900s) locomotives or models thereof. Cool surfing for the curious, as well.


 * I am not sure how many folks will want to print out the entire 638 pages or so (including the interesting ads at the end), but there is a good table of contents in the front, so it is not too hard to find a topic. And there is an index in the back. Hit the "full screen" tab and you get a more flexible format that includes a "slider" at the bottom, which makes it faster to get to a particular page.

See also The Locomotive Catechism.