[PRCo] SEL&BVT Book

[Fred Schneider]

I borrowed the book Ghost Rails III Electrics by Wayne A. Cole from  
the PTM library to study this week.

This book is for sale in the PTM book store for something like $45  
(give or take) and covers the Steubenville, East Liverpool and Beaver  
Valley Traction Company; the Newell Bridge Railway; the Youngstown  
and Ohio River Railroad, and the predecessors of those companies.

It has a lot of nice then and now pictures in the upper Ohio  
Valley ... great for those who want to take a tour like we did in  
Washington and Fayette counties over the weekend.

Ed Lybrger's comments were that the text and the pictures were  
separated rather than having the pictures used to illustrate points  
made in the text.   Ed did, however, comment that he was happy that  
Cole did acknowledge the help that PTM gave him.

I cannot, being oblivious to the local history, comment on the  
research and thus far I have not read the book.  My initial comments  
only pertain to layout.    The use of double-spaced type for the body  
text seems extravagant.   While it may be easier to read, single  
spaced, double-column text would have reduced the space requirements  
by 25 pages and the retail cost of the book by perhaps $3.00.    It's  
hard bound so the amount isn't a whole lot.   It would have allowed  
some larger pictures.

There was an item in our local paper today indicating that money  
spent on books has declined by 14%, adjusted for inflation, from 1985  
to 2005, simply because people have quit reading.   It also noted  
that between 1992 and 2002 those in the college age group who have  
read a book voluntarily dropped from 59% to 52%.   That does support  
a need for larger pictures, doesn't it?

My second comment also regards layout.   Whether done by the  
publisher or the author, whoever did it should be aware that it is  
not customary to alter the proportion between the x and y axis of  
photographs and drawings of streetcars, people, buildings and maps  
but it was routinely done in this book apparently in order to  
eliminate white space.   It first because obvious to me when I looked  
at a "scale drawing" of the 1926 SEL&BVT Kuhlman cars and discovered  
that the vertical distance, measuring 11'-4" was actually  
significantly shorter on the page than the car width which measures  
8'-6".   As I paged through the book I found many additional examples  
of fat people, fat streetcars, short streetcars, wide streetcars,  
Jack Sprats, Bridges so narrow that you wonder how the trolley would  
fit except that the car looks like it has been slimmed down to four  
feet wide ... well, you get the idea.  Computers are great.   If the  
picture didn't fit the available space, then we'll make it fit.     
Just push the top down and squeeze the ends out.