Cotton Belt Locomotives

The first and only complete study of the Southwest's most successful railway is back in print! This book documents a proud history with diagrams, maps, and over 300 photographs. Includes a roster of every steam and diesel locomotive owned by the Cotton Belt and its predecessors up to 1977. A must-have for any locomotive enthusiast.

According to his parents, Joe Strapac has been watching trains ever since he has been old enough to look out of windows. Raised within earshot of the Southern Pacific's San Pedro branch and the Pacific Electric's Southern District, he began a serious interest in locomotives and railroading in 1953. In the years since, he has accumulated a collection of information and photographs pertaining to locomotives in the West, with a particular emphasis upon those of the Southern Pacific and its associates. Over the past decades, he created and refined the "motive power annual" type of publication, preparing successive editions on the current diesel fleet of the Southern Pacific. In addition, he has contributed locomotive information to a number of books on railroading as well as writing many magazine articles.

1. History

2. Shortlines Absorbed

3. Narrow-Gauge Locomotives

4. Steam Switchers

5. Eight-Wheelers

6. Atlantics

7. Moguls

8. Ten-Wheelers

9. Consolidations

10. Mountains

11. Northerns

12. Motor Cars

13. Diesel Passenger

14. Freight Cab Units

15. Diesel Swetchers

16. Freight Hood Units

17. The Roster