Locomotive: Building an Eight-Wheeler

In this companion volume to his Superpower: The Making of a Steam Locomotive, Weitzman turns to an earlier train--a wood-burning eight-wheeler made in the 1870s--and once again presents the process of its crafting through informative text and meticulous illustrations. Weitzman takes readers behind the scenes at the drafting room, where a master mechanic creates the custom plan for the locomotive on paper; the factory machine shop, where drill presses, lathes and planers bring the bulk of the locomotive's parts to life; the forge, the boiler shop and the foundry, where the locomotive's iron pieces are made; and the erecting shop, where hundreds of men take a week to bring all of the locomotive's components together into a working machine. Black-and-white pen-and-ink and pencil illustrations are painstakingly rendered, almost to a fault; their precise lines and lack of backgrounds could come across as stiff or remote to some young readers. While Weitzman's text is often engaging, the level of detail he provides (as well as the many locomotive terms he leaves undefined) makes his book best suited to those already struck by train-love. Ages 8-12. (Sept.)