Book excerpt: "In the quiet Indian summer of 1953, two young journalists set out to rediscover the North American steam locomotive on the even of its retirement. it was the first of severl forays tht would span four years and thousands of miles. For writer David P. Morgan and photographer Philip R. Hastings, the mission was to commit to word and photo a mechanical institution caught in an inevitable farewell performance. Their search for steam yielded both drama and diversity: a work-worn Pennsylvania E6 Atlantic in charge of a bedraggled New Jersey local, an antique New York Central Ten-Wheeler plying the weeds of a southern Ontario branch line, and a triumphant Chesapeake & Ohio 2-6-6-6 No. 1624, reprieve from the scrap line in hand, marching up the New River Gorge with 8000 tons of coal." --From inside of book jacket.