NEW PRODUCT NEWS AND REVIEWS BY OUR STAFF
Book Review TRAIL OF THE TURBO, by Dale A. Johnson, 3232 Wellbrook Lane, Southaven, MS 38672,
dajohnson@wans.net, 160 pages, softbound, $40.00 plus $5.00 shipping and handling. When Amtrak took
over the nation’s pas- senger trains in 1971, the passenger carrier
inherited a mish-mash of tired postwar equipment that was not up to the task of handling the surge of passengers who flocked to the new service. Officials were looking for immediate ways to bolster the fleet and keep pace with ridership growth. One answer came from an unlikely place — gas turbine technology from France. The Turboliner era is often misunder-
stood outside of the trains’ service areas in the Midwest and Northeast. Paging through Trail of the Turbo, we learn from author Dale A. Johnson that the Turbos were so much more than just a foreign curiosity. Johnson is no stranger to the subject matter, as he worked as a freelance pho- tographer for Amtrak in the 1970s and 1980s. This self-published work is the result of years of research and study into the acquisition, development, and opera- tion of these unique gas-turbine powered trainsets. The book opens with a discus- sion of the equipment, starting with the original RTG I and RTL I sets delivered in the 1970s, through rebuilding pro- grams of the 1980s and 1990s, ending with the troubled “Turboliner Modern- ization Project” of the early 21st century. A discussion of routes follows, starting
with Midwestern schedules fanning out from Chicago to St. Louis, Detroit, Port Huron, Champaign/Urbana, and Milwau- kee; plus Northeastern operations includ- ing New York–Buffalo “Empire Service” and the New York–Montreal Adirondack. The journey continues with a detailed
look at how the Turbos rode, how they were maintained, and how Amtrak pro- moted the service. Ample coverage is also given to the program’s demise in 2004, and the eventual storage and scrapping of many of the Turbo sets. The message throughout this book is clear — despite their retirement, the Turbos were one of Amtrak’s early success stories to woo passengers back to the rails. Many of the lessons learned were later applied to the successful Talgo program in the Pacific northwest. This book is profusely illustrated with
great black & white and color photos, many of which have never been pub- lished before in a single volume. Classic
timetables and advertisements comple- ment engineering data and equipment rosters. Historians and enthusiasts alike will enjoy this colorful journey doc- umenting one of Amtrak’s most interest- ing progams. —OTTO M. VONDRAK
Video Reviews STATEN ISLAND’S RAPID TRANSIT from RonRail Pictures, 5552 Republic Way, Bethlehem, PA 18017; (484) 281-3527;
www.ronrailpictures.com. DVD only, 87 Minutes. $29.95 plus $4.00 domestic shipping. Most railfans are
not aware that the Baltimore & Ohio ran
freight trains in New York City and had an extensive carfloat operation as well. Tell them the B&O also ran a very busy rapid transit service using third-rail electric-powered m.u. cars very similar to the New York City subway and they will look at you like you have two heads. And yet, the B&O did run a thriv-
ing freight and commuter line that ran within (almost) throwing distance of the Statue of Liberty. Chartered in 1851 and funded by that railroad baron himself, Cornelius Vanderbilt, the B&O took over lease of the line in 1885. By the 1890s, the B&O’s Staten Island lines were big- time railroading indeed and covered a large portion of the most-developed parts of the island. Fast forward to today and the Stat-
en Island Rapid Transit is now owned by the MTA, both the North Shore and South Beach lines are abandoned, and Conrail runs double-stack trains into a container terminal for Port of New York freight traffic. Not quite as busy as it was, say, even 40 years ago, the SIRT has a fascinating history and still offers plenty of interest for the average railfan. This DVD covers the passenger oper-
ations in great detail, with everything from B&O blue m.u. cars to Long Island Rail Road loaner cars to modern R44 rapid transit cars that are cousins to the cars used on the city subway B Division. Although there are only three different types of rolling stock shown here, this DVD is bound to hold your interest. We start out with views of both the world-famous Staten Island Ferry and the Saint George Terminal on the is- land; the terminal is shown in great de- tail during each era of operation. Next is a trip down to the end of the line at Tottenville, with a stop at several of the more important and interesting sta- tions on the line. We even get a tour of the shops in Clifton and a view of the
580-foot-long tunnel that separates Clif- ton from Saint George. We see plenty of B&O color position
light signals, the same ones you would see on Sand Patch or Seventeen Mile Grades. It’s very different to see a two- car m.u. passenger train passing them. The action varies as we go. One scene
might feature a B&O Alco switching freight cars, while the next one might show you a set of what, for all intents and purposes, are New York City sub- way cars going over a grade crossing (complete with manually operated gates of course). After a very thorough trip to Totten-
ville, one filled with very informative narration, we close out the last few min- utes with what I would consider to be priceless footage of both the long-gone North Shore and South Beach Lines (complete with views from the cab). While I wish this part of the DVD was longer, I really can’t complain because footage of these two lines (abandoned in 1953 and 1954) is extremely hard to come by. It’s a great way to wrap up a very interesting production. One caveat — this DVD features
Super 8 home movies, so don’t expect crystal-clear and rock-solid steady com- position. Oh, and no live sound either — narration and background music help fill the void. Having said that, if you’re interested
in seeing what a distinctive corner of the late, great B&O looked like, this is the DVD for you. I really enjoyed it and be- lieve you will too. — FRANK GARON
UNION PACIFIC IN THE 90’S from Greg Scholl Video Productions, P. O. Box 123, Batavia OH 45103- 0123; (513) 732-0660; www.
gregschollvideo.com. DVD only, 71 Minutes. $29.95 plus $5.00 domestic shipping. This is a really fun
DVD to watch — lots (and I mean lots) of
very fast-paced heavy-duty freight ac- tion out west as we take a tour of the Union Pacific’s transcontinental main- line in Wyoming, Colorado, and Nebras- ka during the 1995-99 era. Think of this disc as three great mov-
ies in one. It includes a spirited chase of the last running Centennial DDA40X through three states, followed by an equally enjoyable chase of a deadhead move of UP steam engines 3985 and 844. Finally, we take a look at the UP’s insanely busy hot spot of Gibbon, Neb., where the action is literally nonstop. The opening scenes show the UP doing
23
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76
