I can't respond specifically to the concerns about Arcadia, except to say that I think the authors submit and the printer prints. Input and corrections from the publisher probably varies a lot from company to company. We took great pains with the recent AC&Y book from Morning Sun. Nevertheless, a few errors crept in. Fortunately, none of them was too serious. The photo on the back cover has a misidentified loco number, which is easily seen; the name of the town of Carey, Ohio is misspelled (Cary) in one place; and A&BB caboose number 100 was retired in 1940, not 1949. Those of us involved in that project were disappointed that we missed those; but we were happy that we got so much right.
I get frustrated with obviously incorrect info, and I get especially frustrated when the info is available and the error is obvious and avoidable. But the experience of working on that book has taught me to be a bit sympathetic to authors who try hard and slip up here and there. The last time I was accused of being perfect, I was told I was a perfect __________.
Tom
Roger
This is perceptive, accurate and well-said. This problem will only get worse the older you get. You will absolutely know what you recently read just 'taint so'.And it won't be limited to railroad subjects. ~ John A. Swearingen
When I find a gross error in a book or magazine I feel that the rest of the publication is so suspect that i tend to totally ignore it.
I used to subscribe to a magazine that covered all things Scientific in America and devoured every article and felt that I knew a lot about many scientific subjects... from nuclear to biology to ... well anything. Then they had an article about a subject that I already knew a lot about, being it was my line of work... "Computers". The errors were so gross I was aghast. For one thing they said that newer computers (this was ages ago) no longer work in Binary but use Octal because it is faster! (Octal is just a way for humans to remember strings of binary digits more easily... "3132351" is easier to convey to another human than "011001011010011101001" [hexadecimal is even easier with "CB4E9"]... inside the computer it is still just 1's and 0's.)
If that is the quality of the information about the other subjects I had read in that magazine, I then must assume I know NOTHING about subjects from nuclear to biology to... well anything, if I read it in that magazine. I dropped the subscription and have not even bought another one from the newstand and I laugh at anyone that expounds on any subject with what they read in that magazine.
I also read lots of books about Steam Locomotives and one (I wish I could remember the title) I threw away after I read an explanation of the purpose of the "combination lever" of Walschaerts valve gear The book said that as the steam pressure of boilers inproved over the years that it became difficult for the valve linkage to move the valve, so that link was added to get additional power to move the valve. WRONG! If you look at the size of that lever you will see that it is much too lightly made to impart much "power" to move the valve, it would bend first! It really is to advance the timing of the valve by combining the angle of the valve link with the angle of the drive wheels. (If only the angle of the valve link were adjusted to advance the timing then that would retard the timing in reverse, by combining the angles of the valve link with that of the drive wheel you get a timing advance in both forward and reverse.)
The point is, if you screw-up the fundamentals, what truth could possibly be in your details? Neither of my examples could be attritubed to "Typos" or slipping a line in interpreting a table or chart, or just confusing a date or name.
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
Quoting semper vaporo: "It really is to advance the timing of the valve by combining the angle of the valve link with the angle of the drive wheels."
Always Steam, thanks for that explanation; I had long wondered why it is called "combination lever"--had I not The Locomotive Uo To Date carefully enough?
Johnny
Is the Richard Prince book about the N&Ws Y series accurate? Beside the very high price I would hope it is very true. It is known that Iam a fan of those great engines , have seen several of them on rt.23 in Ohio heading to Columbus Ohio in my younger years double heading with a long train of coal.
Respectfully, Cannonball
Y6bs evergreen in my mind
switch7frgIs the Richard Prince book about the N&Ws Y series accurate?
.
Prince wrote several books on various railroads on the Southeast. All of them are highly regarded, and highly collectible.
Big Jim and Tom, thank you for the reply to my Question.This book must be a classic, because I have looked in all the book stores that are still around( big name stores). They tell me "it is out of print " or " we don't carry railroad books (no demand for them).
Respectfully, switch7frg
Ok...nobody's helping you. Go to ABEBOOKS http://www.abebooks.com/
Search "Prince, Richard E."
Knock yourself out!
switch7frgThis book must be a classic, because I have looked in all the book stores that are still around( big name stores). They tell me "it is out of print " or " we don't carry railroad books (no demand for them).
If you're looking for out-of-print railbooks let me suggest an outfit called "The Outer Station Project, 1335 Railroad Road, Dauberville PA 19533.
Phone 610-780-4640. E-mail OSPpublications@aol.com.
He's also purchased the inventory of the old "Rails-N-Shafts" railbook seller.
I've met the current proprietor at several train meets and gotten a number of books from him. Nice young man worthy of your patronage.
switch7frgThis book must be a classic,
The only thing that I can think of right now that the Prince book has that others don't is a very well researched list of every N&W locomotive build number, date of build and date of retirement, etc. information. Did you know that over the years the N&W had a locomotive class for every letter in the alphabet?
If you are a book "collector", don't care what is between the covers and just want to spend big bucks to say you have such and such rare book on the shelf, by all means go for it.
Big Jim, once again thanks for the new insight . To Flying Crow, thanks for your opinion also. Iam not a collector of books(railroad).My book bucks go for fact not fiction. I only met one hogger from N&W in Portsmouth bythe name of Collins. Just to stand by one of the "As" or a Y series was a sight not ever forgotten.
There's a difference between a railfan and a rail historian. One is a hobby. The other is an academic pursuit. Don't let minutiae kill the enjoyment of railfanning. Books for railfans are produced by railfans.
Even noted cyclopedic writers such as Jerry Pinkepank warn us about being too literal in the description of, say, an EMD F7. Grills, fans, and other identifiers were ported from one locomotive to another without care for what it might be called in the end. Railroads themselves are surprisingly lax about such designations. They basically don't give a damn, as long as they know the horsepower and traction of a locomotive and the weight of a car. When I worked on the Frisco, there was a GP35 that had written above the windshield, inside the cab, "GP30." I mentioned it one time, and you'd have thought I just called the Pope a Catholic, or said that a bear does his business in the woods. The response was something like "So?"
That's the way I feel about most corrections, especially in forums, if the focal point is not what was being corrected. For instance, if someone says "Those Geeps were bringing the Super Chief into Albuquerque after the F unit hit a car in Amarillo," and someone says emphatically "that second unit is an SD9, not a Geep!" well, that's a little too finnicky for my blood. If the post had said "this is what a GP9 looks like," and someone else corrected it as an SD9, I'd agree, but at least would hope that they said "indeed, they LOOK like that, but that particular one is an SD9." Conversation should be informed, but doesn't have to be encyclopedic.
Shooshie
Morning Sun's Color Guides to Freight and Passenger Equipment have been of immeasurable help to me. I'm selling a large collection of HO scale rolling stock on ebay. In the description of each car, I like to include a bit of history on the 1:1 scale equipment such as who built the car (where and when), commodities hauled, where it was commonly found, approximate time such cars were retired, etc. When I cross reference items in the Color Guides with other sources, I've found few errors. Although Morning Sun indeed deserve kudos for countless wonderful books, this is, in no small part, due to due dilligence on the part of the authors.
Yes, Morning Sun, TLC, and others rely on their authors to provide accurate information, and the final products reflect that. Errors sometimes get published. However, IMHO Arcadia is the one that seems to exercise the least control and influence, and errors very frequently seem to creep into their publications. When I buy them at all it's usually for the photos, and the photo reproduction isn't often very great. I'm very hesitant to rely on the accuracy of captions and text in an Arcadia book. Their Auto Train book is downright laughable. Wish it weren't so.
S.Kip Farrington, Jr. wrote several books about first hand prototype railroading starting with operations during WWII continuing through the 50s. All are great reads!
One of the best railroad fiction books ever written is One Way to Eldorado, a novel of railroading in the high Sierras, by the late Hollister Noble, published by Doubleday in 1954. The story takes place in early December and is current to the time the book was written. Noble uses his own fictional Great Western Ry. that crosses the Sierras south of SP's Donner Pass line.
Well written and based on prototype operations. It can be found on the Abe Books site.
The Morning Sun Books "Santa Fe in Color" series is littered with factual errors.
Where author Lloyd Stagner is "quoting" horsepower and/or tractive effort figures for the major late classes of Santa Fe steam power, the quotes are inaccurate.
He correctly lists S. Kip Farrington's "The Santa Fe's Big Three" as one of his sources in the bibliography. It was an excellent work that included actual Santa Fe test data--and Mr. Farrington was there when the tests were conducted.
Unfortunately, Mr. Stagner seems to often misquote the horsepower figures in his Santa Fe books for Morning Sun. The fact checking was not there, and now, folks are using those publications as being "reliable" sources when in fact they are not.
Respectfully submitted--
John
UP 4-14-2: I only have two Morning Sun books in my collection. Northern Pacific Equipment and Through Passenger Service. They have a wealth of photos and this is the only reason why I purchased them. MS books are great for a ride down the right of way of memories as well as modelers and when you consider the number of photos in a 128 page book are a bargan in their own right. I imigine most railfans and model railroaders alike obtain theirs from the many discount book dealers which makes them the best deal available on the market today.
Indeed, they lack the facts and should never be used as reference when doing any research. Most Baby Boomers remember the Classics Illustrated comic books in the 1950s that cost 15 cents at the corner drugstore and helped many a kid in school (mostly boys probably) write that last minute book report the day before it was due. Sharp eyed teachers could tell when a student hadn't read the book but hey, even getting a D on the paper was still a passing grade, right?
In fairness to Morning Sun, I'd like to point out that the publisher doesn't have the staff to do the kind of fact checking we'd all like. He relies on his authors for that. Some authors are better in that regard than others.
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