Pere Marquette Railway Bibliography
(A-G)

Updated: 28-MAY-2024
The books listed below contain prototype information useful to the PM enthusiast and the PM modeler. These, coupled with articles in back-issues of PM Tracks and PM Rails and the Chesapeake and Ohio Historical Magazine provide a good base of information on the Pere Marquette and were useful in assembling this guide.

PMHS Editor Fred Herr  and PMHS Business Manager Bob VandeVusse have assembled an index to PM-related articles published in the COHS' C&O Historical Magazine. Until the creation of the PMHS, the COHS was the sole publication which regularly carried articles related to the PM.

Since this is a "work in progress", if you know of any other books that we have overlooked here which contain significant amounts of information about the Pere Marquette, please let us know via e-mail to .

 

Index (by title)


All Aboard! A History of Railroading in Michigan by Willis Dunbar
(Eerdmans Publishing, 1969). This book relates the history of railroading in the state of Michigan, necessarily covering the Pere Marquette, its predecessors and successors. Most of the information regarding the PM concerns the construction of its predecessor lines. This book is out of print and scarce. Published in both hard and softcover versions.

Best of Live Steam: Volume I
(Wildwood Publications, 1985) This book contains a reprint of a 12-page article on the PM's Pacifics, including dimensional data and diagrams. Sufficient data is provided for purposes of building an operating live steam model. A few damaged copies are still available for $20.00 + $2.50 s/h from Wildwood Publications, PO Box 629, Traverse City, MI 49684. The 4 parts of this article were originally published in the October, 1969 to January, 1970 issues of Live Steam.

B&O/C&O Cabooses - Display and Private Owner Cars, Volume 1 by Dwight Jones
(B&O Caboose Publishers, 2001). A profusely-illustrated 80-page black and white softbound photo essay depicting preserved B&O, C&O and PM wood and steel cabooses. This volume contains 13 photos of former PM cabooses, including preserved representatives of the A300- A500-, A600-, A800-, A900- and A950-series.

B&O/C&O Cabooses - Display and Private Owner Cars, Volume 2 by Dwight Jones
(B&O Caboose Publishers, 2002). The second volume in this series. It too is an 80-page softbound photo essay of preserved B&O, C&O and PM . This volume contains a dozen photos of PM cabooses and information on cabooses not covered in the previous volume, plus a couple of updates on the cabooses covered in Volume One.

B&O/C&O Cabooses - Display and Private Owner Cars, Volume 3 by Dwight Jones
(B&O Caboose Publishers, 2003). The third volume in this series. This volume contains photos and information on eight PM cabooses.

B&O/C&O Cabooses - Display and Private Owner Cars, Volume 4 by Dwight Jones
(B&O Caboose Publishers, 2011). The fourth volume in this series. This volume contains photos and information on five PM cabooses.

Chesapeake and Ohio 2-10-2 Santa Fe Type Steam Locomotives by Bill Harouff and Frank Bongiovanni
(C&O Historical Society [COHS], 2019). This examination of the C&O's 2-10-2s includes fifteen pages of photos and data on the PM's SF- and SF-6-Class 2-10-2s, primarily from a post-merger perspective..

Chesapeake and Ohio BL-2 Diesels by John Paton
(C&O Historical Society [COHS], 1991). This book covers everything anyone would want to know about the most unique production-model to come out of LaGrange, from their introduction on the C&O to their trade-in against GP-30s. This is included here since the PM actually placed the order for these locomotives and this book includes useful information regarding operations on the former PM lines in the period immediately following the merger.

Chesapeake and Ohio Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Cars by David Hickox
(Morning Sun Books, 1998). This 128-page hardcover book contains nearly 325 color photos of C&O and PM freight and passenger cars. Of these photos, about three dozen are of PM equipment in either PM paint, or after being repainted into C&O colors. Many photos were shot along the former PM in Michigan.

Chesapeake and Ohio Color Pictorial by Harry Stegmeier
(Four Ways West, 1998). As the name states, this is an all-color treatment of the C&O's equipment, from the late 1940s to the 1960s. For the PM enthusiast, this volume contains seven or eight photos of PM steam(!), and several shots of PM E7s and C&O 1850-series switchers (in PM-inspired paint). 128 pages.

Chesapeake and Ohio Color Pictorial, Volume 2 by Harry Stegmeier
(Four Ways West, 2005) Volume 2 of Stegmaier's color treatment of the C&O concerns itself exclusively with the post-merger era, and features numerous shots of ex-PM E7As in C&O paint working for the C&O and the B&O. Many of the photos of the C&O's first- and second-generation diesels were taken in former PM territory, as well. 128 pages.

Chesapeake and Ohio Diesel Locomotives by Carl W. Shaver and David L. Gilliland
(COHS, 1994). This hardcover volume is the updated version of the Chesapeake & Ohio Diesel Review. In fact, the last 163 pages are a reprint of the Chesapeake & Ohio Diesel Review, less the tribute to the U25B that appeared in the original edition. While this is another extremely well-done book by the COHS, for the PM enthusiast, this book offers little that was not in the original, or in Pere Marquette Power. The binding on this volume is considerably nicer and much more durable.

Chesapeake & Ohio Diesel Review by Carl Shaver
(COHS, 1982). This book contains a run-down of the diesels used by the C&O, including those inherited from the PM, M&NE and FSUD. Locomotive specifications, utilization and disposition data is included. This contains the only published photo I have seen showing the arrangement of the nose details on a PM 70-tonner. Out of print and difficult to find. Most of this book was reprinted in 1994 as part of Chesapeake and Ohio Diesel Locomotives.

Chesapeake & Ohio E7 and E8 Diesel Passenger Locomotives 1946-1971 by Thomas W. Dixon, Jr.
(COHS, 2014). The sixth volume in the Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Society's Chesapeake & Ohio Railway History Series covers the PM's E7s well, documenting the various modifications they underwent, the paint schemes they wore, and how they were used. The most comprehensive work on this subject, to date.

Chesapeake & Ohio Early Diesels by Thomas W. Dixon, Jr.
(Andover Jct. Publications, 1988). The majority of this book deals with the first diesels the C&O purchased. While there are only about a half dozen black and white photos of diesels in PM paint, one is a rare shot of E-7 #105 painted gold pulling a General Motors executive special. Unfortunately, it only shows the nose.

Chesapeake & Ohio Facilities, The Midwest - Volume I by Dr. Eugene Huddleston.
(Morning Sun Books, 2008). An all-color book shifting the focus away from locomotives and rolling stock to cover the bridges, buildings and other structures that supported the PM and later the C&O. This volume contains many unusual structure photos not seen elsewhere.

C&O History Magazine - The Digital Collection, 1969-2008
(C&OHS, 2008). Forty years of the C&O Historical Society's Newsletter and Magazine on a DVD data disc (personal computer required for viewing). The C&OHS has published many articles on the PM over the years. This disc is available through the C&OHS' Chessie Shop web site.

The Chesapeake & Ohio in Color 1950-1975 by Thomas Dixon
(TLC Publishing, 1992). While the majority of this photo book concerns itself with the C&O proper, it includes about a dozen pages of photos shot on the former PM, including color pictures of PM E-7s in C&O-modified paint, and SW-1 #11 still in PM blue and yellow. Most of the photos useful to the PM enthusiast depict passenger trains. Of note are the several photographs which show the streamlined baggage and baggage/mail cars as they looked after their corrugated siding was removed and the skirting modified.

Chesapeake and Ohio Lightweight Passenger Equipment 1946-1972 by H.H. Harwood, Jr.
(COHS, 1971). This pamphlet, last run in the 1970s, summarizes the streamlined passenger equipment ordered for the C&O by Robert Young, as well as the cars ordered for the Pere Marquette streamliner in 1946. It contains photos and a few drawings, along with disposition information for that equipment actually used by the C&O. The PM car photos did not reproduce particularly well- these same photos are printed much more clearly in The Official Pullman Standard Library, Volume 11, and Chesapeake and Ohio Streamliners: Second to None, described below. If you have Chesapeake and Ohio Streamliners..., you do not need this pamphlet.
 
The text concerning the cars used on the Pere Marquette trains, along with car department diagrams, is currently available in an inexpensive ($5.00) packet of plans from the C&O Historical Society, their item #3051 PM Lightweight Diagram Book. This packet also includes diagrams for the cars originally ordered for the Chessie streamliner but used on PM District runs from Grand Rapids and Muskegon to Chicago. No photos are included in this packet.

Chesapeake and Ohio Passenger Cars in Color by Harry Stegmaier
(TLC Publishing, Inc., 2001).  This volume nicely complements Chesapeake & Ohio Streamliners: Second to None without duplicating any appreciable number of photographs and still providing well-chosen coverage of the C&O's passenger car fleet in the "tri-color era." Most notable for the subject matter of the photos, this book contains a good number of photos produced by the C&O to promote its passenger services, even including some previously unseen views of car interiors. There are over a dozen photos of Pere Marquette or ex-Pere Marquette cars, plus numerous other shots of C&O cars (including their RoadRailers) which were notably used in Michigan.

C&O Power by Philip Shuster, Eugene Huddleston and Alvin Staufer
(Alvin Staufer, 1965). This essential treatment of the C&O locomotives covers the steam locomotives inherited from the PM by the C&O.

The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway by Patrick Dorin
(Superior Books, 1981). This book, though about the C&O, includes photos shot mostly in Michigan along the former PM lines and a small collection of photos of PM freight cars and locomotives.

Chesapeake and Ohio Railway in Color, Volume 2 by Jeremy F. Plant and William G. McClure III
(Morning Sun Books, 2003). This volume is entirely devoted to the former PM lines in Michigan and Ontario, with a strong emphasis on the locomotives in use during the 1960s and the early Chessie era. There are 21 color photos of "purely" Pere Marquette subjects, which is surprising for a railroad that was being merged at just the time that color photography was in its infancy. This book provides coverage of the ferry fleet as well, and is organized by location.

The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway - West End: PM District, Chicago District, Cincinnati & Russell Divisions by Kevin N. EuDaly and Eugene L. Huddleston
(White River Productions, Inc., 1999). This book, though about the C&O, includes 34 pages of color photos shot along the former PM lines in Michigan, Ontario and Illinois. While all of the photos are from after the merger (mainly the 1960s), and there are no photos of PM-lettered equipment, the photos include shots of many recognizable locations along the former PM, and the captions include a few pieces of information not generally known about the C&O's operations in the post-merger era (would you believe SD18s assigned to Detroit?). The cover plate is a nice shot of a 5700-series GP7 pulling a freight past a BL2 waiting in Grand Ledge.

Chesapeake and Ohio Streamliners: Second to None, Volume I by James Kemper Millard
(COHS, 1994). This impressive hardcover book picks up where Chesapeake and Ohio Lightweight Passenger Equipment 1946-1972 left off. This volume is greatly improved over the earlier work, with up-to-date disposition information, and a few color photographs. It contains the same PM diagrams and photos as the earlier book (in much higher quality), but also a much more complete history of the Pere Marquette streamliners, with a few more shots of the trains in action. The historical information is very good. For the fan of the C&O era, the diagrams are top-notch, and the coverage of the Chessie streamliner (the cars of which briefly ran on the ex-PM lines in Michigan) is unmatched, including car diagrams not previously published, and a large collection of interior photos. This book is a "must-have" for any PM or C&O passenger car enthusiast.

Chesapeake and Ohio - Superpower to Diesels by Thomas W. Dixon, Jr.
(Carstens, 1984). Thirteen pages of fairly useful photos at the rear of the book briefly cover the PM's motive power and carferries.

The Great Lakes Car Ferries by George W. Hilton
(Howell-North, 1962). This book covers the car ferry services across the Great Lakes, and the Detroit River. The section on the Pere Marquette/C&O chronicles ferry services at Detroit, Port Huron and Ludington, as well as the affiliated Marquette and Bessemer ferry line across Lake Erie.
This book has been reissued by Montevallo Historical Press, with a new addendum by Dr. Hilton.

Index (by title)

 

 
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