QUOTE: Originally posted by CANADIANPACIFIC2816 Keep in mind that the Sioux Valley Model Engineers Society meets every Tuesday night and that visitors are always welcome. Furthermore, the club will be hosting it's fourth annual "Trains at Christmas" show and swap meet during the weekend of November 19th and 20th. The swap meet will be held in the old National Guard Armory. If you live just a block north of McKennan Park, then I live not far from you, within a matter of blocks. While I won't give you my exact address right away, I will describe my neighborhood. The Ellis & Eastern's mainline is one block west of my house. I cross it every time I go to Sunshine on 2nd ave for groceries or just about anywhere else, such as the post office, a ten minute walk from my house. To the east of me, one block away is the yard lead for the southern end of the BNSF's yard trackage which runs past Howes Oil Company and Sioux Falls Construction. If the Sioux Falls Credit Union were not blocking my view I would be able to see Howes Oil from my front door and even catch a glimpse of the BNSF switch crew at work. Now that I have given you a few pieces of the puzzle, you can kind of figure out the approximate location of where I live. Have a good day at work, Murphy Siding!
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
QUOTE: Originally posted by MP173 Ed's Amateur Book Review #2 Steam Steel & Stars by O. Winston Link and Harry N. Abrams ISBN 0-8109-2587-7 My two favorite photographers, Link and Ansel Adams had similarities. Both obviously were known for their use of black and white film and for rich compositions of subjects. Sometimes I wonder if we have it all wrong. With today's technologies (and high train frequencies) one can easily justify a quickly composed photograph with the focus only on the train...and usually the locomotives. Link, thankfully, used his skills as an industrial photographer to get it right. His composition was carefully planned and then executed using dozens of flash bulbs and hundreds of feet of wire. His photographs reveal the human and mechanical sides of life. Not only is Norfolk and Western steam featured, but just as importantly the Appalachian culture is exposed in a respectful manner. Observe, if you will, the pride in the faces of the railroaders. Note the attention to detail...be it the young boy sitting on his suitcase as Train 2 arrives at the station, James Harless gathering wood for his hearth in 12 degree temperatures as freight 96 passes, the general store scene in Vesuvius as K2a 127 passes by outside. Where else can one find the use of a gravity gas pump and the attendent W. A. Miller the main focus as passenger Train 2 passes? My favorite shots are those of Luray Crossing Watchman Archie Stover, pipe in his hand and mouth as his guard shanty feels the power of yet another train passing. As a bonus, the final chapter shows a photo from behind the scene...allowing the reader in on the secret of how the photograph was executed. Link's work is a regional, no make that a national treasure. Too often we railfans are concerned only with the train...or at least I know I am...and not the background subjects. Link had the ability to bring out all, the train, the environment, and most importantly the people. My only negetive about this book is the binding. I purchased this at Tamarack in West Virginia on vacation several years ago. The price was right, about $25 (a steal) but it was obviously mass produced for wide distribution. The book is coming apart, no doubt from poor quality, but also I must add from constant use. All in all, a minor point. Pick up the book and get lost in the romance of the era and walk away with an idea of how to make your next photograph just a little better. Remember, I am just a decal salesman, not a writer. ed
QUOTE: Originally posted by MP173 I would have to think that Morgan's Mohawk is the best railroad book written. Previously I had mentioned Fred Frailey's Blue Streak Merchandise, but...The Mohawk that Refused defines what the written word and photo journalism should stand for. The title short story stills sends shivers up my spine when reading it. Currently I am reading Confessions of a Train Watcher, Four Decades of railroad writing by David P. Morgan. It is a collection of articles he penned for Trains. I believe his last article written for Trains was my favorite, Early on one frosty mornin'. In it Morgan recounts his encounter with NYC 5403, a 4-6-4 Hudson west of Mattoon, Illinois in 1954 as steam was becoming more and more rare. The cover of the book depicts Morgan inspecting the rarity, as painted by Ted Rose. Thirty four years later Morgan returns to Mattoon and finds the NYC line removed..."the Illinois prairie was erasing the Big Four just as surely as the North Atlantic had smoothed over the wake of the Mauretania and Rex and Ile de France. Transportation may be built for the ages, but more than most agencies and works of man, it had best be enjoyed at the moment, never assumed, ever considered an expendable experience. Look away, look away." Within 2 years at age 62, Morgan would die. In re-reading that article, one understands that he is not only coming to grips with the passing of his photographer friend Hastings, the loss of the NYC main, and how time is so precious and fleeting. He wraps things up quite nicely with that last paragraph. Substitute "Human existance" for "Transportation" in that paragraph and one comes up with a pretty good philosophy for living. Enjoy the moment. ed
QUOTE: Originally posted by MP173 In order to try and keep up with everyone, I have recently ordered four books: Two Official Guides from the 50's. Both were cheap...$10 plus shipping. That brings me up to about 26 or so. For $10, these things are a steal. I also received a catalog and ordered Jim Boyd's Monday Morning Rail (about the IC). This was only $20 it had been $50. Also purchased the O Winston Link The Last Steam Railroad in America which was about $20. Not bad, two books for $40 plus a couple bucks shipping. Reviews to follow...in fact, once I get Boyd's book on the IC, I might do an expanded review on four IC books I have...Limiteds Along the Lakeshore, Illinois Central: Main Line of Mid-America, and Illinois Central in Color. ed
QUOTE: Originally posted by MP173 I was going to write a review on Blue Streak Merchandise today, but didnt get to it. In my opinion, that is a very interesting book. It covers the history of not only the BSM, but the changing of the complexion of freight trains. Originally a train for LCL freight forwarders between ESt Louis and Texas, the train pushed westward and rode the California gold rush of the 20th century. The train became the HOT method of transporting auto parts to the west coast. SP became obsessed with this train, with other trains and schedules being pushed aside just to make time for the BSM. Frailey discusses the shift in routing from the Cotton Belt to the MoPac/Rock Island routing to Tucumcari (Golden State Route). One can easily follow the transition of freight from boxcars to trailers to stacks by reading this book. The photography is good, particularly the older prints from the 40's and 50's. An excellent book on the history of freight railroading told by perhaps our best rail reporter of this era, as seen thru one freight train. ed
QUOTE: Originally posted by MP173 I am reading Erie Lackawanna...The Death of an American Railroad. Also, I just ordered a 1942 Official Guide. Just called the carpenter to get an estimate to knock out a wall and add a library. ed
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