In the United States and Canada, there was a time when railroad tunnels and bridges were only dreams in the minds of designers, when the best way to move railroad cars across rivers and lakes was to load them on specialized ships customized for this purpose.

With this functional principle in mind, shipbuilders around the Great Lakes and elsewhere built an amazing variety of vessels to do the job quickly, efficiently, and safely.

George W. Hilton’s book tells the story of these boats and of the hardworking, heroic men who day after day, year after year, battled mechanical problems, ice, and bad weather, to get the cars safely across the water.