Railroad Dining Car China by Douglas W. McIntyre (1994, Hardcover)

I purchase this book a number of years ago when I first started selling on Ebay. It has been very useful to me over the years as I have an interest in restaurant-ware china, and railroad china. I have a particular interest in Syracuse China as that is where I live. The book was written by Doug McIntyre. McIntyre is a long time collector himself of Railroad Dining China. He sweetly dedicates the book to his mother! Whether you have a new found interest like I did when I first purchased the book or are an avid collector I think you will find the book interesting as well as informative. McIntyre covers a lot of ground in a few over 200 pages. My book also came with a spiral bound Updates 1&2. The book also gives you an address to sign up to receive future updates. The book offers information on over 600 North American Railroad china patterns. Besides a detailed description of each design, there are photos of the china's logos, borders as well as backstamps. The pictures are all important to collectors or wanna be collectors. There are close to 300 full color photos. The full color are my favorite. Even when you have the photos right in front of you, being in black & white gives you a different perspective on the designs. A few of the rail companies you will find represented are Great Northern, Chicago Rock Island & Pacific, Missouri Pacific, Delaware & Hudson, NY Central, Union Pacific, Pennsylvania RR, Seaboard Airline, and many many more. There are complete listings in the back of the book for all the railroads by name, all the companies that made the china, as well as an index of all the pattern names. The author gives a brief description of each company that produced the china as well as datecode information. You will find info on Syracuse China, Buffalo China, Hall, Homer Laughlin, Walker China & More. There is a section on Station Restaurants & Eating Houses as well as a section on fantasy or reproduction railroad china. McIntyre gives a rating on a rarity scale for each design as well as some pricing information. This does give you some idea of rarity & availability, but if you buy or sell on EBAY you know the market varies at different times. One week you may get much more or much less money for an item then you might the next week. Same goes for buying, you might catch a real deal one week & things may sem overpriced a short time later. The book has definately helped me in identifying pattern names, corresponding railroads, age and rarity of pieces. If you are a seller it can certainly be helpful for research. Good Luck with your collecting and or selling if you decide to purchase the book!