The new book, “Trains: Photography of A. Aubrey Bodine,” documents an era with iconic images of steam and diesel locomotives. This coffee table book is an exquisite monograph chronicling transportation in the middle of the twentieth century. This book is not just for rail fans but anyone who loves iconic photography, history, and Maryland.

A. Aubrey Bodine was a newspaper photographer, modernist and pictorialist; he was a Baltimore Sun feature photographer from 1924-1970. This is the fourth Bodine picture book curated by his daughter, Jennifer. The other books include “Bodine’s Chesapeake Bay Country,”“Bodine’s City,” and“Bodine’s Industry.”

The forward is written by Baltimore Sun reporter Fred Rasmussen who starts with the charter of the Baltimore and Ohio in 1827. By the end of the nineteenth century, railroads were covering the entire state of Maryland. One of Bodine’s freelance assignments was accompanying Sunday Sun editor Harold A. Williams, who was writing “The Western Maryland Railway Story: A Chronicle of the First Century 1852-1952.”

Raised in Plainfield, New Jersey, Rasmussen’s earliest memories are of watching trains of the Central Railroad of New Jersey, the Baltimore & Ohio, and the Reading Co. speed to and from Jersey City.

Rasmussen concludes his forward, “So get your ticket out so the conductor can punch it and ride the line one more time aboard the trains that Bodine so artfully chronicled in black and white.”

Jennifer Bodine’s passion for trains is apparent in her introduction. “I love trains. I have loved trains since I was a little kids. The train to Philadelphia, the sleeper train to Cincinnati, the hugeness of the steam and diesel locomotives pulling into the train station picking me up or delivering friends…”

Jennifer Bodine has preserved an important part of Maryland and railroad history. This book is a must own contribution to this history.