[PRCo] Re: SEL&BVT Book

[Fred Schneider]

I suspect a lot of news spreads via the internet.   Books?   I doubt it.

On Nov 19, 2007, at 5:19 PM, Bob Dietrich wrote:

> Fred:
>
> Could some of the decline in book reading be caused by people  
> getting their
> literature from the internet, thereby assuring a steady stream of  
> customers
> for the Grateful Fred? (I'm not sure how detrimental to my eyes  
> staring at
> this screen all my life has been)
>
> Bob
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org
> [mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org] On Behalf Of  
> Fred
> Schneider
> Sent: Monday, November 19, 2007 3:40 PM
> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> Subject: [PRCo] SEL&BVT Book
>
> 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.
>
>
>
>
>