Rare Books

The train from Katanga : a novel

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Description: "In this swift, suspenseful novel of modern Africa, four white mean, mercenaries hired by the Army of Katange, take a native task force by train into the Congo interior to a little mining town threatened by hostile tribes. The boiling excitement of the story is heightened by the personal gethsemanes of the other white mercenaries. All find their destinies on the train from Katange, whether in death or in new life, or, in the case of Bruce Curry, in the rebirth of himself as a man able to believe again in love"--From dust jacket flap.
Type: Rare Books(Opens in new tab)
Publication date: [1965]
Call number: 644291
Creator: Smith, Wilbur A(Opens in new tab)
Provenance

U.S.S. Mudskipper : the submarine that wrecked a train : a novel

Rare Books

"Commander Tolliver of the U.S. Submarine Mudskipper was cruising off the coast of Hokkaido, the northernmost Japanese island, when he first spied the train on its daily run along the shore line. The Mudskipper had previously taken a tremendous toll of enemy shipping; now for weeks its periscope had searched the horizon in vain. Perhaps the daily freight and passenger train might take the place of a tramp steamer or a destroyer. So Commander Tolliver made plans to wreck the Japanese train. What follows is a story packed with mounting suspense, filled with the throat-gripping tensions of men on a dangerous undersea mission - a realistic novel that in its climax fairly explodes before the reader's eyes"--Dust jacket flap.

644294

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The train from Pittsburgh

Rare Books

"To Tom Bridges, the train that is speeding east from Pittsburgh becomes the symbol of his crisis. All the threads of Tom's life connect during the twenty-four hours before he must meet that train. He must face the challenge involved in his promise to a man who is on the train and who has placed his faith and his future in Tom's uncertain hands. He must search his conscience for the answer to another man's strange request. And he must choose between his fascinating, cruel wife and the mistress with whom he might find peace. For Tom Bridges, who has somehow, in the years since the war, strayed from his convictions and lost the capacity for courage and for love that is more than passion, these crucial hours are the summation of all that he has been and all that he has known"--From dust jacket flap.

644288

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Train orders from Burlington and Santa Fe Railroads

Manuscripts

Prior to the adoption of newer train dispatching methods, train orders were the primary means of providing temporary instructions, or instructions for a specific train. Train orders were issued at stations along the route. If a train crew reported for service at a station, the orders would be received there. At other stations, the orders would be handed up to the train crew members "on the fly". Train orders were of two basic types: Train orders pertaining to authorization of train movements or train orders pertaining to operating or track conditions. Trains orders of the second type usually involved temporary speed restrictions, or maintenance of way personnel on the tracks. One train order is a Santa Fe Form 933 from July 1, 1944. Four are Form 19s from the Burlington Lines from January 1947.

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Southern Pacific train emerging from tunnel, Santa Monica

Visual Materials

Image of a Southern Pacific train emerging from a tunnel, with the Arcadia Hotel in the distance on the right, in Santa Monica, California.

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Shahnameh

Manuscripts

A 17th century Persian copy of Shahnameh or Book of Kings, a Persian epic poem by Firdawsī. With 70 full-page paintings, and 4 chapter-headings in blue and gold heightened with rose.

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The train ride

Rare Books

The anonymous hero whose brutal adventure is the horror at the heart of The Train Ride is a sailor; he has a vile hangover; he is due back on his ship in a few hours. Equipped with a fistful of dirty magazines, he stumbles onto the train. Half-asleep, bored, jaded, he thumbs through the girlie magazines, his appetite both inflamed and frustrated. What could he possibly do on a train? He looks around - and sees a frail little girl with braided blonde hair. It is here that the author begins his tale with a protagonist who is both villain and victim, both abominably sub-human and upsettingly familiar. His personality, his crime, and his desperate attempt to escape, combine to pose a moral problem not unlike that found in The Collector--Adapted from dust jacket flaps.

644286

The train from Katanga : a novel

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U.S.S. Mudskipper : the submarine that wrecked a train : a novel

The train from Pittsburgh

Train orders from Burlington and Santa Fe Railroads

Southern Pacific train emerging from tunnel, Santa Monica

Shahnameh

The train ride