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A recent release in the Images of Rail series from Arcadia Publishing is Washington & Old Dominion Railroad by David A. Guil- laudeu. The author traces the history of this northern Virginia short line from its begin- nings as the Alexandria, Loudon & Hamp- shire to its control by the U.S. Military Rail- road during the Civil War and its many corporate identities through 1886, when the Richmond & Danville acquired it. The line became the Southern Railway’s Bluemont Branch in 1894. The parallel development in 1900 of the Great Falls & Old Dominion in- terurban, which became the Washington & Old Dominion Railway in 1911 and the W&OD Railroad in 1936, is also described. In 1912 the W&OD leased the Bluemont Branch from the Southern and later electri- fied it. After ending passenger service and the electrification in 1941, the road restored passenger trains in 1943 using a second- hand two-unit Budd lightweight motorcar and two ex-New York Central gas-electrics. The line was finally sold to the Chesapeake & Ohio in 1956. The book is packed with generally well- reproduced b&w photos that cover the line from the Civil War era up through the C&O days. Several interesting photo sets show the C&O’s bridge replacement projects, and there are quite a few aerial photos, although the details are difficult to pick out due to their size. Photos include several nice Civil War era steam locomotives, a portable sub- station, an Evans Auto-Railer, many hand- some interurbans, the Budd motor cars and the gas-electrics, and the road’s Whitcomb switchers and small General Electric diesels. W&OD had two home-built box mo- tors; Nos. 25 and 26 were literally rebuilt from boxcars using the trucks and electrical gear from scrapped interurbans. No. 26 was truly unique with its large porthole win- dows, peaked center section, arched cab roofs, and side doors. W&OD steeplecab No. 50 lives on today at the Iowa Traction in Ma- son City, Iowa. This 128-page, 6¹/₂″×9¹/₄″ softcover sells for $21.99 plus shipping from Arcadia Publishing, 420 Wando Park Blvd., Mount Pleasant, SC 29464;
www.arcadia
publishing.com;
888/313-2665. It’s also
available at local bookstores. Wood and Steel Signatures — Line Side Structures of the NYO&W Ry. by Malcolm H. Houck, with pen and ink sketches by Carl A. Ohlson, is available from the Ontario & Western Railway Historical
Society.
This publication reproduces dozens of origi- nal NYO&W engineering drawings includ- ing standard roadbed cross sections for sin- gle and double track; the cross sections, fishplates, and tie plates for several weights of rail; track switches and frogs; the Ellis bumping post; tool houses; a watchman’s house; motor car house; Massey concrete telephone booths; trackside signage; the Barker mail crane; and O&W standard board, wire, and snow fence. Other items in- clude the standard cattle guard; tie pile; highway crossings; stone box culverts; high switch target; telltales; wooden phone box; three water tanks and a pump house; Mans-
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RAILFAN.COM
field and Sheffield water cranes; an ice house; and a mail cart. This spiral bound 11″×8¹/₂″ b&w softcover is nicely printed on glossy paper and sells for $25.00 plus $7.00 shipping (add $5.00 for foreign orders) from Ontario & Western Railway Historical Soci- ety, P.O. Box 713, Middletown, NY 10940- 0713;
www.nyow.org.
BOOK REVIEW
Baltimore & Ohio Rails Across the Heartland By David P. Oroszi, Stephen J. Salamon, and David P. Ori. Published by The Railroad Press, P.O. Box 444-R, Hanover, PA 17331; www.
alco628.com. Hard cover, full color, 144 8¹/₂″×11″ pages. $59.95 postpaid in the U.S.; e-mail
trp@alco628.com for shipping rates outside the U.S.
This book is the third in a series, the first two volumes (Balti- more & Ohio Reflec- tions on the Capitol Dome and Baltimore & Ohio Sunburst Trail to Chicago) having been pub- lished in the ’90s by Old Line Graphics. Oroszi, Salamon, and Ori also wrote the
earlier books, but this latest volume has been published by The Railroad Press, since Old Line Graphics no longer publishes hard- cover books. The cover design has been re- tained to blend in with the earlier volumes. B&O Rails Across the Heartland covers
the Toledo Division between Toledo, Dayton, and Cincinnati, Ohio, as well as the line from Union City through Dayton to Mussel- man in the 1960s and ’70s. A large map on the front endpapers shows how the division fit into the B&O system and a second map on page 4 shows it in greater detail along with connecting railroads. An in-depth his- tory traces the line’s roots back to the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton, which was taken over by the B&O in 1916. The CH&D was the shortest line between the Southern railroads at Cincinnati and the Northern lines serving the heavy industrial area be- tween Toledo and Detroit and so, under B&O ownership it enjoyed heavy freight traffic. Auto parts and raw materials moved north- ward to Detroit, while finished automobiles and auto parts moved south. The northern terminus of Toledo is de- scribed in great detail along with the Toledo Terminal Railroad, a belt line which con- nected the B&O, Chesapeake & Ohio, and New York Central along with the Nickel Plate, Wabash, Ann Arbor, and Pennsylva- nia. A detailed yet easy to understand map, lays it all out for the reader. Lima and Day- ton, Ohio, are also represented cartographi- cally and photographically. The book covers the “transition period” between the blue B&O and the Chessie Sys- tem image and discusses at some length the freight and passenger traffic that traversed the route over the years. While a nice shot of the Cincinnatian behind a streamlined Pa- cific opens the Introduction, the rest of the
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