I agree that Brian Solomon is a very good photographer.
Regards - Steve
My introduction to H. Roger Grant was his masterpiece Erie Lackawanna: The Death of an American Railroad, 1938-1992. Now any of the EL faithful know the road existed from the merger in 1960 to the abomination of ConRail in 1976. How could the title be so wrong? Turns out he covers the corporate history of the Erie from the emergence from bankruptcy to the end of it's corporate existence in the 90s (and does so that makes the loss of our beloved EL a little more tolerable).
Editor Emeritus, This Week at Amtrak
I just finished reading the book. First the good, then the bad.
The good--lots of very good information and lots of nice photos.
The bad--too many grammatical errors--missing words, etc. It didn't appear to have been proofread. Two obvious factual errors--he said that B23-7s have 16 cylinder engines, they are 12. Twice, he mentioned Mingo Junction but placed it in West Virginia, not Ohio, where it is. Solomon should've widened his photograph search since the vast majority of the photos are by him or his father with a heavy emphasis on New England and New York and almost nothing west of Pittsburgh.
Still, I rate it as a very good book if you want a good overview of Conrail.
It's hard to believe that Conrail has been gone for 21+ years.
Received the book but havent had time to read it.
The layout and the photos are appealing. It should be a very good addition for the modern railroading bookshelf.
Ed
If it's Brian Solomon, it's usually a good buy for the pictures alone.
What he writes tends to be aimed a bit more at casual audiences (And I've spotted an occasional mistake), so many of us might not learn much we didn't already know.
But of the half dozen or more Brian Solomon authored books I have, I don't regret any of the purchases. He's a very good photographer and it's from his own files that he typically draws upon to illustrate his books.
Ithaca and Owegofrom https://kalmbachhobbystore.com/product/book/01309: "It began operations on April 1, 1976 and combined rails of the New York Central; Pennsylvania; New Haven; Boston & Albany; Delaware, Lackawanna & Western; and the Erie." !! The NYC, PRR and NH were already Penn Central, the DL&W & Erie had merged 16 years earlier, the Boston & Albany had been merged into the NYC and then Conrail -- and no mention of the LV, L&HR, CNJ, Reading. I hope Solomon's book is more accurate than this mis-statement.
I mean, even today, we still call those Pennsy rails, RDG rails, or NYC rails. They're the ones that built them, so it is their legacy. I think you are taking that statement too literal.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.
BackshopIt appears Heimburger may have went out of business,
Right, I read in the hobby press a year or two ago, maybe "Classic Toy Trains," that Don Heimburger was retiring and closing the business. One of the things published by Heimburger was "S-Gaugeian" magazine.
It appears Heimburger may have went out of business, but I'm not sure. One Google search led me to a basic page that said they only had a few books left and thanking everyone for their years of support. Yet, another had a whole list of books, by them and other publishers. In a "coincidence" a book they were selling on the history of the DSS&A had a blurb about the history of the DM&IR...strange.
Overmod Of course, the offending paragraph is not part of the book, it's a review (and in my opinion it wouldn't be sporting to review your own product, so Kalmbach went to a different publisher) by Don Heimburger. Even more amusing, he lists six railroads and apparently lost count because he then keeps referring to seven railroads. Thing is, he knows there are seven, but he started with famous names and once he had both NYC and PRR listed, he was never going to get the math to come out right. I'm not familiar with anything Don Heimburger Publications has produced. Someone might see how good it is...
Of course, the offending paragraph is not part of the book, it's a review (and in my opinion it wouldn't be sporting to review your own product, so Kalmbach went to a different publisher) by Don Heimburger.
Even more amusing, he lists six railroads and apparently lost count because he then keeps referring to seven railroads. Thing is, he knows there are seven, but he started with famous names and once he had both NYC and PRR listed, he was never going to get the math to come out right.
I'm not familiar with anything Don Heimburger Publications has produced. Someone might see how good it is...
I have a few Heimberger published books. Very good books IMO. I would put the accuracy of their books are as good, if not better than Kalmbach publications. But again, the publisher may not be within control of what an author writes.
I think if one reads the "Description" blurb, it lists that there are brief histories of the NYC, PRR and others. It may be that the historical sketches go farther than the immediate predecessors of PC, E-L, et al. Possibly the sketches of NYC and PRR overwhelm the direct predecessor PC. That's why the review reads like it does.
Jeff
We get that in the fire service, especially where drawings are involved. All too often, the fire apparatus is either fanciful, or of Euro prototype - in a book about US firefighting.
Of course, we see that on railroading, too - US mainline railroading? Then why an image of a Brit narrow-guage locomotive?
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
Sometimes it's even worse than that Johnny. Ever hear of Patrick O'Brians "Aubrey-Maturan" series of novels about the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars? One was made into the Russell Crowe film "Master and Commander."
Anyway, the wife and I were in a Barnes and Noble when I noticed one of those novels and something hit me right away that was VERY WRONG about the cover art. I showed it to Lady Firestorm and asked "What's wrong with this cover?"
"How would I know?" says she. "Look again" I said. She did.
"Oh brother, that ship's running in a heavy sea with it's lower gunports wide open! It'd flood and sink in a matter of seconds!"
She knows more than she thinks she does, especially about ships. She is a Newfoundland fishing skippers granddaughter after all! She certainly knew more than the cover artist did!
Wayne
Those who illustrate paper backs can be just as ignorant. In one of his novels (Shalako), Louis Lamour described the main character as wearing a black hat with a flat crown--the cover showed a man with a hat of the shape and color that is often associated with cowboys--and he gave the man's shirt the wrong color. I could continue with descriptions of ingnorance evinced on the covers of the books that portray Horatio Hornblower's adventures
Johnny
It probably is. Typically the people who write the blurbs aren't the same as the ones who write the books.
Sometimes I wonder if the blurb-writers have even read the books.
from https://kalmbachhobbystore.com/product/book/01309: "It began operations on April 1, 1976 and combined rails of the New York Central; Pennsylvania; New Haven; Boston & Albany; Delaware, Lackawanna & Western; and the Erie." !! The NYC, PRR and NH were already Penn Central, the DL&W & Erie had merged 16 years earlier, the Boston & Albany had been merged into the NYC and then Conrail -- and no mention of the LV, L&HR, CNJ, Reading. I hope Solomon's book is more accurate than this mis-statement.
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