[PRCo] Re: SEL&BVT Book

[Ken & Tracie]

We had six admitting reps busted at work for reading romance novels on line 
while at work....

K.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Fred Schneider" <fwschneider at comcast.net>
To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2007 2:35 PM
Subject: [PRCo] Re: SEL&BVT Book


>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.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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