ARMOURED TRAINS: An Illustrated Encyclopedia 1825-2016

1-213350

Oversized at 9.5x11.25 inches, this completely revised and expanded edition since its French publication covers armored trains 1825-2016.

Military forces around the world were quick to see the advantages of railways in warfare, whether for the rapid deployment of men or the movement of heavy equipment like artillery. From this realization, it was a short step to making the train a potent weapon in its own right -- a mobile fort or a battleship on rails. Armed and armored, they became the first practical self-propelled war machines. As demonstrated in the American Civil War, these trains were able to make a significant contribution to battlefield success.

Thereafter, almost every belligerent nation with a railway system made some use of armored rolling stock, ranging from low-intensity colonial policing to the massive employment of armored trains during the Russian Civil War. Although they were somewhat eclipsed as front-line weapons by the development of the tank and other armored fighting vehicles, armored trains retained a role as late as the civil wars in the former republic of Yugoslavia.

Covers the range of fighting equipment that rode the rails country by country. Includes a vast array of photographs and the author's meticulous drawings.