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Yesterday’s Trains Across the Common- wealth is self-published by CSX engineer Dale W. Diacont and covers many inter- esting aspects of Virginia railroading with interesting, well-written text and fine pho- tography, much of it by the author. The time frame ranges from the early sixties through today. Subjects include the operations and equipment of the U.S. Army Transportation Corps railroad at Fort Eustis, the Chesa- peake & Ohio Rivanna Division and the Buckingham Branch, and the Southern Railway’s former Richmond & Danville route. “Short Lines in the Shenandoah” cov- ers the Chesapeake Western and Winches- ter & Western, and the following chapter is devoted to the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac. The Alco-powered Norfolk, Frank- lin & Danville rates a chapter, and the final chapter includes the Eastern Shore Rail- road carfloat operation, the Norfolk & Ports- mouth Belt Line, and Norfolk & Western op- erations at Lamberts Point. Fan trip steam in the form of Savannah & Atlanta No. 750, Southern 630, 4501, and 2716, N&W 1218, Clinchfield No. 1, Chessie Steam Special 2101, and Alleghany Central 1286 also ap- pear in the final chapter, along with Am- trak’s James Whitcomb Riley and the Lone Star Cement operation in Chuckatuck. The book also includes a glossary of railroad terms and an index. Printed on nice, heavy stock, the book’s
layouts are clean, simple, and attractive; the b&w photos are a bit dark but show plenty of detail. This 118-page, 10³/₄″×8¹/₂″ hardcover is available for $40.00 plus $6.00 shipping from Dale W. Diacont Dept. RF, 220 Chan- tilly Drive, Waynesboro, VA 22980-2396; 540/941-2451. VA residents add sales tax. The Canadian Trackside Guide 2012 edit-
ed by Earl W. Roberts and David P. Stremes has been released by the Bytown Railway Society. Long considered to be the most complete compendium of information on Canada’s railways, this 30th Anniversary edition continues the tradition. Thanks to the operations of Canadian National and Canadian Pacific in the United States, the book covers a good chunk of territory south of the 49th parallel as well, including from Chicago to New Orleans and Buffalo to New York and Philadelphia plus the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern in the plains states. You’ll find equipment rosters of main
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line, short line, and preserved locomotives, work equipment including cranes and snow- plows; cabooses; and passenger equipment; maps, station lists and more for every major railroad, short line, tourist road, and pas- senger operation, along with lists of radio frequencies, a list of reporting marks, and charts showing signal indications and track- side signs. Detailed maps are given for ma- jor rail centers including Moncton, Halifax, Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa/Gatineau, Windsor/Detroit, the Niagara region, Hamilton/Burlington, London/St. Thomas, Toronto, Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, Regina, Edmonton, Calgary, and greater Vancouver. Passenger schedules are provided for White Pass & Yukon, Algoma Central, the
BC Rail shuttle between D’Arcy and Lilooet, Ontario Northland, Tshiuetin Rail, and the Rocky Mountaineer, along with general in- formation on 20 tourist and preservation railways. The “Guide to Canadian Railways” section gives mileages and stations for every subdivision operated over or by a Canadian railway in the U.S. as well as Canada, along with many regional maps. In addition, train numbers and their corresponding origin/des- tination pairs are given for Canadian Na- tional and Canadian Pacific. The Guide is nearly 1¹/₄″ thick and con-
tains a staggering amount of information in its uncountable hundreds of 5¹/₂″×8¹/₂″ soft- bound pages. It sells for $26.95 plus $8.00 shipping in U.S. or Canadian funds from By- town Railway Historical Society, Dept. RF, P.O. Box 47046, Ottawa, Ontario K1B 5P9;
www.bytownrailwaysociety.ca. Canadian or- ders must include applicable taxes. Pacific Electric and the Growth of the San Fernando Valley by David Coscia is new from Shade Tree Books, P.O. Box 1539, Bellflower, CA 90707-1539. The author, a Valley native, covers the area’s history from its early settlement by the Spanish to the es- tablishment of the San Fernando Farm and Homestead Association in 1869 through the Valley’s development in the early 1900s after its agricultural potential was unlocked by ir- rigation via the new Los Angeles Water Commission aqueduct. As the population grew, Henry Hunting-
ton’s Pacific Electric Railway expanded into the Valley from Los Angeles to provide transportation for both people and produce, while the Southern Pacific also drove two main lines through the Valley. The book pre- sents an excellent selection of vintage pho- tographs of the railroad’s construction as well as the communities and industries (mostly packing houses) which were estab- lished including Burbank, San Fernando, Hollywood, and Van Nuys. Most photos are b&w but the final chapter embodies many fine color images of PE’s last years, including many that were shot in a Hollywood that bears almost no resemblance to today’s city. A fine endpaper map by Joe Strapac, who al- so designed the book, shows the PE and SP lines in the Valley circa 1927. In addition to the photos, a selection of
smaller maps of individual towns, advertise- ments, and other printed matter adds to the coverage. PE’s freight operations are also covered, including the 1944 conversion of two Northwestern Pacific Brill gas-electrics into PE boxcabs 1648 and 1649, and PE’s General Electric 44-tonners and its diminu- tive Plymouth WLG. Most interesting are the many images that show the evolution of Cahuenga Pass, from the first Los Angeles Pacific track under construction alongside a one-lane dirt road in 1910 to the double- track Pacific Electric being hemmed in on both sides by the eight-lane Mulholland Highway as the automobile asserted its in- fluence after World War II. This 240-page, 8¹/₂″×11″ hardcover features
a full-color dustjacket painting by Larry Fisher showing PE car 595 passing the San Fernando Mission in 1916 and retails for $65.00. It’s available from your favorite bookseller.
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