James D. Porterfield

Something New!

See my Author Profile Page and bi-weekly blog under any of my railroad book titles at Amazon.com, or click on Author's Blog in the Quick Links box at the lower right of this page.

Welcome . . .

. . . to my web site. I've created it to highlight my work capturing and sharing the culture of railroading with those who have an interest in railroad and industrial history, in historic preservation, in railroad fiction, especially that written by railroaders, and in rail travel. Let me hear from you if you have a story to share or a question I might be able to answer. . .

. . . and thanks for stopping by.

James D. Porterfield, author and columnist, is both an avid rail fan and an accomplished cook. In his newest book, FROM THE DINING CAR: The Recipes and Stories Behind Today's Greatest Rail Dining Experiences (St. Martin's Press, 2004), and an earlier book, DINING BY RAIL: The History and The Recipes of America's Golden Age of Railroad Cuisine (St. Martin's Press, 1993), he combines his two loves to provide a fascinating account of eating on the train, each accompanied by over 300 authentic recipes for dining car specialties. Today Jim is at work on a number of projects, each with railroading and its history at the center.

Jim is completing an introductory essay, glossary, and bibliography to accompany a reprint of perhaps the best railroad novel ever published, Harry Bedwell's THE BOOMER: A Story of the Rails (2006). Collaborating with noted illustrator Angela Trotta Thomas, he is creating a series of books about trains for children ages 6 through 12. His RAILROAD NATION: A Site Guide To American Railroad History (2007), will take readers on a tour of locations across the United States where significant events in rail history occurred that also had an impact on America's history as well. And WHITE TOAST: A Novel of Race and Murder (2007) is to be the first in a series of mysteries.

Meanwhile, Jim's ON THE MENU column about trains and food appears each month in Railfan & Railroad, a magazine for North American railroad enthusiasts. Every June the magazine publishes his pull-out ANNUAL GUIDE TO DINNER TRAINS. Railfan & Railroad also features quarterly an excerpt from his work on extant historic rail sites, and twice a year offers a feature on how today's railroad artists portray a particular rail theme. Elsewhere, he has occasionally reported on and reprinted CLASSIC RAIL FICTION in Vintage Rails and in Classic Trains, has had periodic features in Amtrak Express, an on-board magazine, that included "Scenic Rail Dining," "Special Chefs' Chef's Specials," "Southern Family Reunions," and "Give Gourmet;" for ten years wrote the FOODSTYLES column for Radisson's in-room Voyageur, and for two years did CELEBRITY CHEFS profiles in United Airlines' Hemispheres. Jim edited and introduced Jack Orr's biography of his father, O. P. Orr, entitled SET UP RUNNING: The Life of a Pennsylvania Railroad Engineman, 1904-1949 (The Penn State Press, 2001).

A popular speaker, Jim is welcome at gatherings as diverse as the Tourist Railway Association Inc. (TRAIN) and the American Association of Private Railroad Car Owners, at The Children's Museum of Oak Ridge (Tennessee) and Amtrak's Chef Certification and Training Program, and passengers on the American Orient Express and attendees at the annual Penn State Altoona Railroad Heritage Conference, which he organizes and hosts. He has appeared both locally and nationally on radio and television to talk about railroad history and rail dining.

Jim Porterfield lives in central Pennsylvania. Aside from writing, he is a marketing instructor at The Pennsylvania State University. He has been a loyal patron of Amtrak since 1976, and became a skilled cook testing recipes for his articles and books about food.