This book is a little dense to get through as a "sit down" read because it has an abundance of information about the elevated railway. I would say that this is a good resource if you are a train enthusiast, teacher, or doing any kind of research on the elevated railway. The book does what it is supposed to do as far as informing people about this type of public transportation. ( )

This very thoroughly-researched book is clearly a labor of love, and would be interesting to anyone interested in the history of New York City and/or public transportation. The "just the facts" writing style made it a less compelling read that it could have been; there's not much contextualization or analysis. But that doesn't seem to be the book's purpose. I learned a good deal about an aspect of 19th century NYC life that I didn't know about before. ( )

I’m neither a New Yorker nor a railroad buff, but this history of the elevated railway in Manhattan held my interest, and appeared well researched and impartial. The impartiality is important, since the author is related to the central figure in the book, Col. Frank K. Hain, who managed the company through most of its existence. The author refrains from making this a paean to his ancestor, detailing his flaws as well as his virtues. The flaws of the Manhattan Railway and Col. Hain were enumerated exhaustively by the New York Times at the time. Its commentary on the Railway are recorded alongside the statements by the Railway, giving a balanced view of the never-popular operation of a major rapid transit system. The stress of navigating between a Board of Directors composed of some of the biggest names in the financial world and, on the other hand, millions of passengers, with all the media of New York looking on is hard to imagine. Indeed, at the end, Hain succumbed to the stress, tragically.

If I had edited this book, I would likely have counseled that it would have been wise to place some of the “drier” material, such as financial statements and engine specifications, in an appendix where they would be available to view without stalling the narrative. As a reader, this is a minor quibble, since I’m able to skip over details that don’t excite me. More importantly, I’d also have urged the inclusion of maps of the system for benighted readers like me who have only a rudimentary understanding of the New York street system and the distances covered by the routes discussed. All in all, though, it’s an interesting tale, and well told. ( )

This book is a nice addition to the history of public transportation in New York City. Transit has a complicated history in New York, with not a great deal of coordination between the modes, the boroughs, or indivula entities. However, the presence of strong leaders like Frank Hain made transportation in the city viable at a fairly early age. The earliest rapid tranist lines did not utilize electric propulsion and were elevated rather than underground because of the smoke generated by locomotives. The cmpletion of electrification did not occur until 1903, seven years after Hain's death. At about the same time, the Manhattan Ry became part of the Interborough Rapid Transit (IRT) (the numbered subway lines in New York today). But all the elevated lines in Manhattan were torn down by 1956, and it is only now that a new Second Avenue subway line is being built. This will bring back to rapid tranist lines to the Upper Eastside.
A nice aspect of this book is there is enough history leading into the Manhattan Ry and coming out of it (with the beginning of subways) to set it into the context into the development of the New York. What is missing is a map of the lines. ( )

This is a reasonably well-written biography. That is, don't expect something with the flair of a professional biographer, but this is a cut above the work of a typical amateur.

The subject is one which was of crucial importance over a century ago but now largely forgotten: how New York City got its elevated trains, and perhaps more important, how they were kept running despite obstacles financial, technological, and physical. The key to the narrative is the person of Col. Frank K. Hain, who was also in no small part the key to that success.

The material is comprehensive and, for the most part, written in an interesting and lively style. There are the occasional paragraphs of unleavened statistics, and many of the jumps from one subject to the next could have been smoother, but the book is never boring.

It also seems to be even-handed. Though written by the great-grandnephew of the subject, this biography does not whitewash the less attractive parts of Col. Hain's personality or career.

I was reminded often of Caro's biography of Robert Moses, another larger-than-life figure who built a later generation of essential NY infrastructure, trading extreme local social cost in exchange for enabling the city as a whole to grow and thrive.

Finally, I would like to remark that the book itself is carefully produced and, despite a small type size, a pleasure to hold and to read. ( )