Still available through the
Erie Lackawanna Historical Society
VIDEO REVIEWS
Lehigh Valley Transit City Lines John Pechulis Media 129 Hemlock St., Sugar Notch, PA 18706;
www.johnpmedia.com; 570/ 899-0656. 64 Minutes, DVD only; $30.00 plus $5.00 shipping.
The Merchant’s Engines by Jerry Segrue
The history of the Lackawanna Railroad’s Pacific Steam engines with a concentration on the famous “Streamstyled Pacifics”. This 60 page softbound book includes over 50 photographs and separate scale drawings of each of the four streamstyled engines. Also covered is the construction of the DL&W’s several classes of 4-6-2s and their unorthodox numbering. Member price
$2100 plus $8.95 s&h
Non-member price $2495
Erie USRA Heavy Pacifics
by D.G. Biernaki
This 80 page book provides comprehensive coverage of these fascinating locomotives
Member price Non-member price
$1500 plus $8.95 s&h $1800 2014 ELHS Calendar
One of the things I love most about our hobby is the stagger- ing amount of vintage movie footage that has been retouched, reedited and brought up to modern day standards in digital form. Case in point: this absolute gem by John Pechulis Media.
John has been steadily releasing some really excellent material since 2008 and has been in the audio/video business since 1995, spending several years trying to perfect a way to transfer movie footage to broadcast- quality DVD’s. To say that John and his team have succeeded in doing just that is an understatement. This DVD is the first in a two-part series covering the late, great Lehigh Valley Tran- sit and covers LVT’s city lines in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania. We are treated to some really crisp, vivid and well-narrated footage. Covering the Allentown to Bethle- hem, South Bethlehem, Bethlehem to Heller- town, Fullerton Junction to Greenawalds routes, the 6th and 10th Street loops, and the Fairview to Gordon Street route, this DVD takes you on a literal time machine journey back into the 1940s and 1950s. While the LVT trolleys are indeed the
stars of the show, the sheer amount of vin- tage city scenes alone are worth the price. We see the formerly-busy downtowns of Al- lentown and Bethlehem at their glory. Main streets full of stores, shoppers swarming to and fro, cars scrambling for parking spaces and dodging the trolley cars — it’s all here. And when I say “cars”, I mean cars! They’re everywhere and one can’t help but drool over the sheer number of now-treasured col- lectibles that were a dime a dozen back then. Nash, Hudson, Desoto, the list goes on and on, and all in brilliant color to boot. Another highlight of this title is the abili-
Member price $795
14 great photos plus
$4.25 s&h Visit us online at
US Funds Only each additional calendar
Payments in US funds will only be accepted Add $1 shipping
Non-member price $995
www.erielackhs.org Dealer Inquiries Welcome
Order from: ELHS, Department RF Jay Held, 10-10 ELLIS AVE, FAIR LAWN, N.J. 07410 No phone calls will be accepted For information send SASE
N.J., PA & Ohio res. add sales tax. Outside US extra s&h.
ELHS membership at $35 per membership cycle. Cycle includes four issues of our magazine “The Diamond” and four newsletters with modeling
information. Separate check please. Send to: ELHS c/o Randy Dettmer, 290 W. Prospect St., Hudson, OH 44236
50 APRIL 2014 •
RAILFAN.COM
ty to see what fan trips were like back in the day. The local NRHS chapter seemed to run quite a few trips towards the end of the LVT’s traction era and it’s a lot of fun to see railfans running around to get “just the right picture”. Some things never change. The thing I enjoyed the most about this ti-
tle was the way the footage really set the LVT in context, meaning you don’t just see endless runbys of the trolleys themselves. You see views from the front of the cars, you see the motormen taking fares, changing poles, throwing switches, and more. You see automobile traffic literally swerving left and right to keep out of the trolley’s way and you see how important and vibrant medium- sized city downtowns were — this footage being long filmed before the days of shop- ping malls and urban flight. The Doug Peters narration is very inform-
ative and just long enough to tell you what you need to know and not a moment longer. The footage was not filmed with sound, but the light and unobtrusive soundtrack proves to be just the right touch. Several well-done maps help put the entire system into con- text, and are key in making sense of the complex trackwork in both center city Allen- town and Bethlehem. All in all, this title is a winner, hands
down. The amount of time and effort John Pechulis Media put into making this DVD shows in each and every scene. There’s not one bit of footage that is anything less than very good quality and most of it I would rate as excellent. That’s nothing short of out- standing when you consider the age of this material. If you are at all interested in an ex- ceptionally well done tribute to a long-gone transit era, this title is for you. The 64 min- utes will fly by and I’m willing to bet you’ll watch this title over and over. It's simply that good. — FRANK GARON
SP Steam Fan Trips Greg Scholl Video Productions, P.O. Box 123, Batavia, OH 45103-0123;
www.gregscholl
video.com; 513/732-0660. 71 minutes, B&W and color. DVD only, standard definition. $29.95 plus $5.00 shipping in U.S.; to Canada add $1:00; add $1.00 for each additional DVD. OH residents add sales tax. This program makes a nice companion to SP Steam Variety which we reviewed last month. Not all fan trips were hokey — Southern Pacific used regular service rolling stock and locomotives as the steam era wound down in the Golden State between
1951 and 1958. A wide variety of power, large and small, pulled these trips and many interesting routes were used, generally originating in the Bay Area with some trips using more than one locomotive. The program covers 13 excursions; often the cinematographers rode the train, so many shots were taken from the vestibules or at servicing stops or runbys; a few trips were chased and shot from lineside. Movie coverage of some trips is relatively minimal and in any case, no trip is covered from beginning to end. From time to time still images enhance the occasionally limited movie coverage. The first excursion shown ran behind a
pair of 2-8-0s to Placerville, where two Camino, Placerville & Lake Tahoe Shays took over. Altamont Pass was traversed a number of times, first with a 2-6-0 and later a 4-8-4. On a run to Monterey, three different engines were used and on the return trip the train met the Coast Daylight. The return leg of a two-day jaunt from Reno, Nev., to Klamath Falls, Ore., was powered by 2-8-8-4 No. 3809, which steals the show. The return trip over Donner Pass was powered by an AC8 and the shots of Donner Lake, Yuba Pass, and meets with SP F units are quite good. Extensive coverage is given to a 1200-
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