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Pavonia Yard & Shops: Southern New Jer- sey’s Freight Yard 1883-2013 by Christopher J. Young, Jr., and William J. Coxey; West Jer- sey Chapter NRHS, P.O. Box 647, Palmyra, NJ 08065-0647; www.westjersey-nrhs.org; 64 pages, 112 photos and 14 maps and track dia- grams; $20.00 plus $4.50 shipping. Pavonia Yard near Camden, N.J., has long been the focal point of railroad op- erations in southern New Jersey. This well-illustrated book takes us on a histor- ical tour of the facili- ty, starting with the very early days. The first chapter


covers 1883-1899, when the Pennsyl-


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vania Railroad first built the yard and then expanded it. We move into the 20th century in Chapter 2, which covers 1900-29. The PRR embarked on a vast improvement project in the Camden area, increasing the importance of Pavonia. Chapter 3 covers 1930-45, which introduces us to the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines, a combination of PRR and Reading facilities in South Jersey. Things change a lot in Chapter 4, as steam gives way to diesels and the PRR is absorbed into Penn Central. Electrification makes its way into Pavonia, and this chapter is a real photo- graphic treat as we see PRR and PRSL steam, the PRSL’s Baldwins, and Pennsy GG1s and other electric motors. Chapter 5 takes us from 1976 to 2013, where the PRSL and Pennsy are absorbed into Conrail. Much of the old power vanishes (as does the electrification), but we get introduced to New Jersey Transit’s diesel-powered light rail RiverLine. This is a very comprehensive and well-done


book. The covers feature color photos, while the interior of the book is all black & white; the reproduction is excellent throughout, with nary a muddy photo to be found. It’s an ex- cellent value and is highly recommended for anyone interested in the PRR, PRSL, or yard operations in general. — STEVE BARRY


E-Book Review


CSX: Five Years of Change in the Rust Belt 1985-1990 by David Baer; Morning Sun Books, 9 Pheasant Lane, Scotch Plains, NJ 08076; 908/755-5454; www.morningsunbooks.com. $19.95 digital download e-book. In keeping with our “1980s Nos- talgia” theme of recent reviews, I submit to you this most inter- esting and color- ful review of CSX action in of west- ern Pennsylvania


and eastern Ohio during the tumultuous sec- ond half of the decade. Your editor and I were fortunate enough to


make a few trips to Pittsburgh during the ear- ly to mid-1980s, and I’m really glad we did. Next to Chicago, Pittsburgh was my very fa- vorite place to visit. The action was nonstop,


coal, ore, and steel trains were seemingly everywhere, and several of the massive steel mills like Aliquippa Works and Homestead Works were still in full production. Yet you could sense a change in the air on


each return trip we made. Every year another steel mill would close down. Homestead Works went from open to shuttered to demolished in as many annual visits and I remember being shocked at how fast the fall came. The Pitts- burgh & Lake Erie had fewer trains running and more motive power stored each time we saw it. Conrail was busy pruning lines and ripping up trackage as fast as it could. The story seemed to repeat itself every winter we visited the City that Steel Built, and yet there still was so much action to view. It really felt like we were bearing witness to the end of an era of America and its industrial might. This digital e-book covers that time period


from a CSX perspective, and it does a fine job doing just that. We start out in the pre-CSX months of early 1986 as the Chessie System goes about its business. Heavy coal trains with helpers, cabooses on the end of every train, open towers, and train order offices all com- bine to make for some really colorful action to enjoy as we get started on our digital tour. Next we see the summer of 1986 with the


first few Seaboard Coast Line and Family Line units starting to show up here and there. We then move on into early 1987 and see our first CSX repaints and some action at Center Street in Youngstown Ohio with the steel mill there still standing. As we go through this e-book, we see a reoccurring (and sad) trend start to appear. Every photo shows more yard trackage out of service, more steel mills being demolished, hump yards like McKees Rocks on the P&LE and Connellsville on the B&O being closed, and more and more and more lines of roll- ing stock and motive power being retired, stored, and scrapped. It is staggering to see how much heavy industry and the railroading that served it just fade away into the sunset so, so quickly. It’s very humbling to think of all the jobs and homes that were lost during this time. Now as morbid as all this might sound, this


e-book is still loaded with interesting, color- ful, and exciting action well worth your time. We see Chessie System units get renumbered into CSX, and more and more Family Lines and Seaboard System power mix in, along with some of the earliest units to be repainted in CSX, as each month passes. We also watch as the P&LE first retrench-


es and then vanishes, and we’re there as CSX spins off its former Buffalo & Pittsburgh lines to the new B&P. We even see New York, Susquehanna & Western power show up. There’s something interesting to see and


new information to read about on just about every page. And, at a massive 302 pages, I say that sincerely! If you want to see what the end of the


Chessie System and the early years of CSX looked like, this is the digital download for you. Throw in all the steel mills and related heavy industry that vanish right before our eyes and you have quite the visual feast. The Pittsburgh & Lake Erie swan song photos are serious “icing” on a sometimes bitter (but always entertaining) photographic journey


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