[PRCo] Re: books

[Schneider Fred]

Pretty soon some of them are going to figure out that you and I and  
Ken are not "normal" railfans.   We don't have foam around the  
corners of our mouths.

On Dec 2, 2008, at 8:52 PM, Edward H. Lybarger wrote:

> And I can think of half a dozen more that are in PTM's library, all  
> of which
> are totally unknown to the railfan.  Cheape's "Streetcar Suburbs"  
> is a good
> start.  "Empires of Light" by Jill Jonnes is another.  There's  
> another one
> that explains very well how the regulatory agencies were really for  
> the
> benefit of the operators, since they couldn't control themselves from
> cutthroat competition and needed Big Brother to tell them they  
> couldn't do
> it.  City developmental histories are also good.  In this area at  
> least, the
> large body of work on coal and steel are essential.  The  
> Commonwealth of
> Pennsylvania published most of the former.
>
> Once you have some of these concepts down, you can begin to  
> understand why
> there were streetcars.  The rest of the story is purely mechanical and
> political.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org
> [mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org] On Behalf Of
> Schneider Fred
> Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2008 6:45 PM
> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> Subject: [PRCo] Re: books
>
> I tend to favor industry literature over railfan musings.   I am not
> going to mention any local electric railway books because I cannot
> think of one that should be on everybody's book shelf.   They all
> start with it was born, it ran, it quit and now I'm unhappy because
> they took my toys away.   Most leave out the middle years because
> nothing was being built.  If I could find one that honestly  
> approached a
> railway as a business corporation, I would recommend it but I can't  
> think of
> any.
>
> Therefore you might want to consider reading the McGraw Hill weekly  
> magazine
> Street Railway Journal, Electric Railway Journal, Transit
> Journal (1884-1944) on microfilm or print.   I think most paper
> copies are in the PTM library.   Princeton Microfilm Corporation
> sells it as a 16mm film.   Some have been digitized and are now on
> the internet.
>
> There was also a competitive publication called Electric Railway  
> Review.
>
> McGraw listed all of the railways in the magazine once a year in the
> early years.   Later on the list got so big that they sold a separate
> annual directory called McGraw's Directory.   Two of those were
> reprinted by Harold Cox and Richard Wagner.   I think it might be
> 1918 and 1922 that were reprinted but don't hold me to that.
>
> Poors' and Moody's issued investment manuals for the stock and bond  
> houses
> showing all of the electric and horse and public transit
> bonds.   These will give you a very good idea of who owned whom and
> what they were worth.
>
> There was also a reprint of an Electric Railway Dictionary that was
> done many years ago that gives a lot of information on hardward.
> Should be on every shelf.
>
>
>
>
> On Dec 2, 2008, at 2:45 PM, Dennis F. Cramer wrote:
>
>> If you had to pick 5 must have books on electric traction, what would
>> they be?
>>
>>
>> Dennis F. Cramer
>>       Trombone
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
>