The amount of work which went into this work is incredible -- Robertson has not only listed every California railroad, but he has also accumulated huge lists of every engine that ran on most of these roads. To give the entries more context, he has included details about U.S. and California history. The only flaw is that he sometimes sends you to other books in the set for details on important California Roads like the AT&SF. Most railfans will appreciate what he has offered, nonetheless!

This book is a great resource for finding facts of fallen northwestern shortlines and predecessor railroads. I have found the facts to be mostly accurate, though they do not always match to some of the more well-read books about the larger railroads in the region. The biggest complaint is that it is visually unappealing, and could be a little more 'polished': no color pictures, and fairly few black and white pictures. Still, it is packed with charts, graphs and valuable company stats and info.