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(erielack) Books, books everywhere!

Got home early today to start packing for my "vacation - Part II" tomorrow,
and found two surprises waiting for me:

* First was a package from Bill Sheppard (3 days, that's service!). I got
both the Tidewater Terminals of the EL and the Schematic Track Diagrams of
the EL (New York/Scranton Division)... I've seen both of these books before,
and was quite happy to get my own copies! The Tidewater Terminals book has
schematic maps of Croxton Yard, Jersey City yards, Weehawken area, Hoboken
freight and passenger yards (the latter being an amazingly complex
diagram!), and the tiny 28th Street Yard in New York City (reached by
float). All the maps are current to 1975. Croxton is simply huge! It also
has several pages describing EL marine facilities and operations, and neat
histories to go with all the diagrams (did you know that the Croxton Yard
name came from Croxton Station, a transfer point at the west end of the
Bergen Tunnel and Archways, and was named in honor of Philip Croxton, a
traffic manager for P. Lorillard and Company?) Very neat book!

The schematic diagrams book is an absolute MUST for anyone even remotely
interested in the EL in New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania! This book has
got it all - sidings, signals, high car detectors, etc. For modelers, it is
INVALUABLE! I'm not sure what Larry DeYoung meant in his original post that
it was reprinted in a larger format - this book (published October 1974)
looks just like the ones I've seen. Perhaps there's an earlier version? (if
so, can anyone tell me what it looks like?) Regardless, the book is about
the size of a standard paperback - about 5x7" - and is 80 pages long.

Advice? Get 'em while you can! These are great additions to any EL fan's
library...

* Other treat was "The DL&W in the 20th Century, Volume 1"  from Steamtown.
(Book #34, if anyone's interested) The only deviation from the original book
that I could find by skimming it was the title page, which has a small
reproduction "Railroad History Award" from the R&LHS, a notation about this
third printing by the SVA, and a small paragraph blurb on SVA as a
"non-profit, public benefit 501(c)(3) corporation..."

Reproduction is extremely well done. All the images are sharp and clear,
perhaps even moreso than the original. Maybe a different printing process?
The text is also very clear - much darker and easier to read than the last
printing.

VERY surprising is that in the contents, there's a final line after the
index: "Addenda of Additions and Corrections.......380" Well, there is no
page 380! The book ends with the index! Does anyone know if such an addenda
exists elsewhere? Did they just forget to put it in?

All in all, another highly recommended classic for Lackawanna fans (heck,
even you Erie guys will like it! :)

	- Paul

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