Mike Danneman – författare

The 1970 merger of Northern Pacific; Great Northern; Chicago, Burlington & Quincy; and Spokane, Portland & Seattle created a new super railroad spanning the northern and central United States over a 25,000-mile network. For twenty-five years, BN was one of United States’ premier railroads. In its first decade BN had its hands full, paring down duplicate lines and forming a cohesive system from all the predecessor railroads, as well as investing in the explosive growth of Powder River Basin coal shipments. By the early 1980s though, BN had clearly become its own railroad, decked out in uniform Cascade green and black paint. The BN of the 1990s experienced continued growth in intermodal, grain and coal traffic, along with adding more hues to the company colours.With wonderful original photographs, Mike Danneman takes a look at the last dozen years of the Burlington Northern before the merger with Santa Fe to form BNSF in 1995.

As days get shorter and seasons change, winter arrives with snow and ice. No matter how brief the day or severe the weather, railroads continue to haul tonnage and passengers through landscapes cloaked in snowy white. Scenery takes on an added dimension when mercury plunges to uncomfortable temperatures. A crisp winter setting with a train running through it, beautifully lit with low winter sunlight, is just as captivating as a scene of heavily falling snow muffling sights and sounds of a massive train following a white pathway of hidden rails. Even when travel gets tough and the snow gets deep—and it hurts to breathe and your face and hands sting—hardy men and mighty machines keep the tracks clear.Snow season isn’t for everyone, but this stunning collection of original photographs will delight any railway fan whether they be warm at home or braving the elements.

The Midwestern state of Illinois, known as the Prairie State, is not known for its varied topography, but this mostly flat land was indeed very conducive to the construction of railroads. It is located at a place where east meets west as railroads interchange huge amounts of traffic at Chicago, the railroad capital of the nation. Because it hosts smaller industrial cities and huge agricultural areas in the northern and central parts of the state, combined with coal, petroleum and other natural resources in the south, it’s no surprise that today the ‘Land of Lincoln’ is criss-crossed by 7,151 miles of rail lines. Illinois is also at the centre of the nation’s rail network, and an incredible variety of railroad companies can be seen traversing the state.Through a collection of incredible colour photos, Mike Danneman takes the reader on a tour of the railroads of Illinois – from Chicago to Chester, and from the tunnel at East Dubuque to the high bridge at Metropolis.

Wisconsin, known affectionately as America’s Dairyland, is in the upper Midwest, bordered by Lake Michigan on the east and the Mississippi River to the west. By nature of its geography, Wisconsin has a variety of secondary and branch lines serving an interior of forests and farms, as well as main lines connecting cities like Milwaukee and Minneapolis/St Paul. Trains traverse 3,253 miles of rail lines in Wisconsin hauling everything from agricultural products, ore, and coal to finished goods in containers. Probably best known as the home of the Milwaukee Road, the state’s railroads have continued to go though some amazing transformations over the last few decades. Colourful railroads like Milwaukee Road, Soo Line and Chicago & North Western have transformed into today’s Canadian Pacific, Canadian National and Union Pacific, with some dazzling spinoff railroads along the way.Wisconsin may be well known because of its cheese, beer and Harley-Davidson motorcycles, but with a stunning selection of photographs Mike Danneman ensures the reader doesn’t forget about its fascinating railroads.

Electro-Motive Division of General Motors was North America’s leading locomotive builder from 1945 to 1983. After the early years of custom-built motive power and trains, EMD took to the rails in a big way when it built its first freight locomotives in 1939. The FT locomotive put the future of steam locomotion on notice, and the classic bulldog nose styling became an icon of locomotive design. In 1949, the GP (for general purpose) was born of functionalism, with the Geeps morphing into a whole line of purely utilitarian freight locomotives that became staples on nearly every railroad in North America. Railroading’s desire for more horsepower introduced further refined series of locomotives with four-and-six-axle (and traction motor) versions available.Over the years, EMD locomotives have worn just about every colour of the spectrum. Within these pages is a vivid survey of thirty-five years of Mike Danneman photographs illustrating the EMD locomotive.

Windswept vistas. Scorched canyons. Glorious scenes of snow and ice. This book shows the North American landscape in all its breathtaking glory, cleaved by the continent’s powerful locomotives and captured in a series of stunning original photographs by leading railway artist Mike Danneman.Evoking the romance, drama and beauty of the railways, this wonderful collection of images presents the full breadth of jaw-dropping backdrops offered by this vast expanse of land. The contrast between raw motive power and bucolic peace creates scenes that will delight anybody who wants to enjoy the full majesty of North America from their own home.

At one time, it seemed as though every canyon and pass leading into Colorado’s high country was a path laid with 3-foot gauge narrow gauge railroad. Dreams of tapping the riches of mining discoveries in mountain locations made this almost true. But mining can be a fleeting adventure, and as the state matured, so too did the railroads that crisscrossed it. Many railways succumbed to disappearing tonnage, becoming trackless trails among the mountainsides. But on many routes, the railroads of Colorado have flourished and provide necessary transportation avenues for a modern economy. In addition, tucked away in several corners of the state are remnants of Colorado’s narrow gauge past, still steam-powered and now lively to the tune of tourist dollars.Popular state slogan ‘Colorful Colorado’ describes this incredible place well, and is assuredly most appropriate while viewing the wonders of railroading in the spectacular Rocky Mountains of the West.

The slogan ‘The Last Best Place’ certainly describes well the huge state of Montana, which stretches some 630 miles across and is located in the north-western United States. Three railroad main lines once spanned its width, but the unfortunate abandonment of the Milwaukee Road left only the Great Northern and Northern Pacific routes, now Burlington Northern, to move the tonnage. Union Pacific also reached into the state from Utah in the southwest, the earliest line built into the territory by predecessors arriving in mineral-rich Butte in 1881.Today, over 3,000 miles of track cross Montana through ‘Big Sky Country’, climbing magnificent mountain passes and sweeping across the great prairies that prevail in the eastern portion of the territory. Dynamic BNSF dominates the railroad scene, with remarkable Montana Rail Link providing an important link in Montana railroading. UP and several short line operators provide added colour to the trains in the ‘Treasure State,’ making the railroads of Montana a visual gem.