“Wow!” and, “Double wow!” I mean, where do I even begin talking
about this magnum opus? The Central Elec- tric Railfans Association (CERA) has yet again raised the bar on their ever-expanding library of top-quality railroad books, and that right there says a lot. For years these guys have been putting out title after title that stands head and shoulders with some of the best books in our field ever published. At 448 pages chock full of PCC car good-
ness and over 600 photos (99.9 percent in col- or), this is the book you want to read if you are even remotely interested in PCC cars, trolleys, mass transit in Chicago, and the like. The authors take us on a tour through the Windy City showing us most of the 600- plus PCC cars that the Chicago Surface Lines and the Chicago Transit Authority owned be- tween 1936 and 1958. The book starts out with an overview of the streetcar’s history in Chicago and then rolls right into the story of how the CSL came to purchase the PCC car back in 1936. Next it’s a whole bunch of news blurbs and publicity ads hailing the new fleet as it began to grace the streets of Chicago. The heart of the book is next on deck —
more than 300 pages worth of color photos and detailed captions as we cover each of the eight lines that these cars ran on. I really en- joyed poring over these photos since they tend to show the PCC cars in context of the city and the era they ran in. We see plenty of classic automobiles and trucks, thriving local neigh- borhoods with small “mom and pop”-type busi- nesses, and plenty of interesting architecture. Page 391 is where an entire fleet of modern inner-city mass transit vehicles is thrown out for the sake of “modernization” and the last PCC says its goodbye. Then it’s on to the few cars fortunate enough to be preserved, along with “tribute cars” painted in CTA colors in Kenosha and San Francisco. We wrap up with some PCC trivia, floor plans of the cars and a very interesting eight-page article on what it took to put the book together and the labor in- volved in restoring so many of these wonderful old photographs. I can’t imagine a part of the PCC legacy in Chicago that these fine gentle- men didn’t cover, so thorough is this book. This tome is quite the large and very en-
joyable read, and it comes at a very fair price. The color and the clarity of the photos alone make it worth the money. If there is ever a Pulitzer Prize for railroad books, this baby is a sure bet for the win. I give it two thumbs up and then some. P.S.: As a special bonus, each book includes
the full-length DVD Chicago Streetcar Mem- ories (by special arrangement with Chicago Transport Memories, LLC). Talk about value for money! — FRANK GARON
Video Review
Cumbres & Toltec Collection from Greg Scholl Video Productions, P.O. Box 123, Bata- via OH, 45103;
www.gregschollvideo.com; DVD or Blu-ray, 7 hours on 5 disks, DVD set $75.00 or Blu-ray set $90.00 plus $5.00 domestic ship- ping. Ohio residents include 6.5% sales tax. Okay, so you might be asking yourself why I’m reviewing two separate offerings from two separate producers on the much-loved Cum- bres & Toltec Scenic in less than six months. That is a fair question.
My answer would be
very simple (I get called simple a lot, actually). One, I think the average person here could watch 20 DVDs worth of C&TS action and not get bored since it’s one of those lines where you can only take a bad picture if you leave your lens cap on. And two, both Steam-
TrainVideos (of my last C&TS review) and Greg Scholl here have somewhat different video techniques that make for an interesting “compare and contrast” experience. In fact I would suggest that you carefully
watch both series of disks and take notes. Ask yourself things like “why did he choose to shoot here” and “what angle would I have chosen,” and your railroad photography/vide- ography skills are bound to improve in short order. You’ll learn a lot and have your mind blown by some good old-fashioned narrow gauge steam goodness to boot! Greg Scholl brings his distinctive video
skills to this set, and what a set it is. Each disk stands on its own merits, and combined they give you a very thorough and very enjoy- able look at one of America’s most interesting and most scenic preserved railroads. Disk 1 is “Riding the C&TS” and puts us
on board at the eastern terminus of Antoni- to, Colo., and we head westbound to Chama, N.M. We see some highlights of a cab ride in 2-8-2 No. 489, and then we move to see what the view is like in both coach and open-gondola classes. Lots of good stuff here, and we see all the scenic highlights this line is so famous for. Disk 2 is the “489 Cab Ride,” and as a con- noisseur of cab ride videos I really enjoyed this one. There are 95 minutes of nonstop ac- tion as we see the engineer and fireman hard at work. The forward views out of the cab are nothing short of stunning. Next up is (you guessed it) Disk 3, which features K-27 2-8-2 No. 463 as the C&TS runs two days of freights to help train student en- gine crews. We also see 463 doublehead with K-36 No. 487. This disk weighs in at 103 min- utes of great narrow gauge action. Disk 4 covers the passenger trains of the
C&TS, with Greg getting out trackside and showing us some of the best places to catch the locomotives working hard along with some of the most scenic spots along the line. There are 97 minutes of awesome right here folks. We wrap up with Disk 5, which covers
some of the many special trains the C&TS has run over the past few years, including every- thing from photo freights to sunset passenger trains and much more. Let me sum up by saying that if Greg Scholl
has ever taken a single frame of bad video he sure has me fooled. I have had the pleasure of owning several of his titles over the years, and these five C&TS disks only serve to show- case his video chops all the more. There is great stuff here, and it’s serious
value for money. Please do yourself a big fa- vor and spend the extra $15.00 and go for the Blu-ray upgrade. Your eyeballs will thank you for it since the difference between regular DVDs (good as they are) and Blu-ray can be nothing short of breathtaking at times. You’ll be glad you did! — FRANK GARON
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