Train: The Definitive Visual History

My seven year old grandson just can't get enough train stuff. This is a Christmas gift so he hasn't seen it yet. The pages are beautifully designed with photos and narratives of the history of trains. I know he will love and my father will be proud to give this to his great grandson!

Perfect gift for my nephew who loves trains and loves to look at the pictures in books.

A lovely picture book that is well laid out. I liked the little shadows under each train against the white page to add a sense of weight. I did this on the 10 inch tablet and the print was just big enough for these old eyes, so wouldn't recommend the digital version on anything smaller. The layout is retained from the print book so you can't pop out the pictures to full screen, but pinching and sliding works well enough.Many pages feature half a dozen or more trains with a little heading paragraph about the category and some information about each one. This is more of a picture book than a reference book on these pages which form most of the book. There are expanded sections about individual trains and lines that are quite interesting with a fair amount of text and lots of lovely pictures.This is a take your time book that does require lots of zooming on the digital version. Worth the time and effort for a pleasant experience.

I got this for a train lover in the family. Not only does it have great images, but very thorough information about trains from all over the world. My young nephew even seems to love it. A great gift for a train fan, or anyone curious to learn more.

I first read this book from the local library when I was 12 and than got it as a gift from my grandpa but I lost it like 2 years ago and bought it againThis book taught me alot about how trains work and the different trains around the worldBut I did notice it skipped over or talked very little aboutsome countries that had a bunch of trains like South Africa & Mexico

Purchased for an advanced 7 year old who loves trains.

Bought this to entertain my grandson from afar. We look at it together via video chat and it keeps him enthralled. Just the thing for a little guy who loves everything train.

It’s hard to give this book anything less than a 5-star review because we absolutely love trains, and this book has so much to offer, but like another reviewer mentioned, it’s heavy on the European trains. Buy it if you’re into each detail about those trains. Just not for us, and I will be returning. Just didn’t excite us like I was certain it would. I actually really love another Smithsonian book called “Cars, Trains, Ships, and Planes: A Visual Encyclopedia of Every Vehicle” much better, and it only has a small section about trains, but everyone in my family (and we are huge train fans) agreed that that small section was awesome and what we were looking for in this Train book. And it has so much more to offer about all modes of transportation, so that’s a huge plus. I’m including images of the table of contents, so you can see if you would enjoy this book. Wish that had been available to view before we purchased it. Also including images of the pages we did enjoy, like the London Tube (really cool full spread photo!), the Rocket (any Thomas fans? Stephen?) and lastly, the two included collector prints....eh, not exciting at all. Including a picture of those as well, and they are located in a sleeve in the back cover, in case you are trying to find them.

An instant hit for our retired grandfather. He enjoyed hours of showing pages to his 5yo grandson, reliving railroad memories.

A really nice book but the description states that it comes with 2 collectable prints. There is also a sticker which says '2 collectible prints inside'. Unfortunately the prints were not with the book. It's a gift, so now as soon as he opens it I'll have to explain to the recipient that the prints didn't come. Not too happy about this so only gave it 2 stars.REVISION: I gave this book to my Dad as a birthday gift and apologized for the missing collectible prints. Later that night he emailed me the following:"It was after I had finished the initial browsing and I was closing up the book that I noticed that the back cover seemed to stand off a little from the rest of the book. On investigation I found a pouch on the inside of the back cover. Inside the pouch were the missing collectible prints"For any of the other purchasers who are missing the prints, check the back inside cover of the book. You will find a hidden pocket there and the prints are inside. I am attaching a photo to show the pocket.

This book is FULL of knowledge and wonderful pictures! My son is a huge Thomas and Friends fan and he loves trains. So I decided to buy him this book - little did I know a lot of the Thomas and friends characters were from real life trains! Super cool!

I bought this book for my Partner, who grew up in a small town with trains, which became a big part of his Life. This is a well-designed book, as I am picky, being a trained Book Typesetter myself. I know that I will end up reading this as well. You can't go wrong with Smithsonian books!

Bought as a gift for my father, who is a train nut. He went through it in a single day. Absolutely loved it. The photos are gorgeous.