LV History Books

Matt -

I saw your post on the DL&W forum, and you were asking what the tile was on the Archer LV book. Since this is the place to talk LV, and I knew you'd see it here, I thought I'd post the info for yo uand any other interets parties.

A History of the Lehigh Valley Railroad - The Route of the Black Diamond
By Robert F Archer
Published by Heimburger House, 1977.
This is the definitive history of the LVRR, from birth to Conrail.
Black & white photos, about 400 pages or so.

Another one you might want to get is -

The Lehigh Valley Railroad East of Mauch Chunk
By William T Greenberg Jr & Robert F Fischer
Published by The Gingerbread Stop, 1997.
Black & white photos, with lots of maps, interlocking diagrams, excerpts from timetables, and reproductions of advertisements, about 150 pages or so.

And, if you like passenger trains -

The Handsomest Trains in the World - Passenger Service On The Lehigh Valley Railroad
By William T. Greeberg, Jr., and Frederick A. Kramer, with Theodore F. Gleichmann, Jr.
Published by Bells & Whistles, 1978.
LV passenger train history history, soft cover with lots of vintage b&w photos, all time listing of train schedules and equipment used.

You can find these on Ebay every once in a while.....Time to get reading!

Ralph H.
S. Plainfield, NJ

Lets see, LV books:

1. A History of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. "The Route of the Black Diamond" by Robert F. Archer.
published 1977 by Heimburger House Publishing
372 pages, hardcover, lots of B&W photos.
as Ralph (car-floater)said, this is THE LVRR bible!
the single most complete history of the railroad, from beginning to end.
tons of great pics too..
if you could only have one LV book, this would be the one..

the next seven books are all in the color "morning sun" format.
harcover, about 130-140 pages, packed with lots of great color photos!
they are more "picture books" than "history books"..(thats not a bad thing!

2. Lehigh Valley In Color
by Robert J. Yanosey
1989 by Morning Sun Books

3.Lehigh Valley -2 In Color
by Robert J. Yanosey
1991 by Morning Sun Books

4.Lehigh Valley -3 In Color
by Jeremy F. Plant and Richard T. Steinbrenner
1999 by Morning Sun Books

5. CNJ/LV Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment
by Craig T. Bossler
1994 by Morning Sun Books

6.Lehigh Valley Railroad, The New York Division
by Mike Bednar
1993 by Garrigues House publishers.

7.Lehigh Valley Railroad, The Wyoming and Buffalo Divisions
by Mike Bednar
2003 by Garrigues House publishers.

8.Trackside around Sayre-Towanda-Waverly with Lloyd Hall
by Jeremy F. Plant and Bill Caloroso
(also has Erie, DL&W and PRR)
fabulous book! amazing color photos from the late steam -early diesel era.

(thats it for the "in color" type books)

9. The Handsomest Trains in the World, Passenger Service on the Lehigh Valley Railroad.by William T. Greenberg, Jr. and Fredrick A. Kremer with Theodore F. Gleichmann, Jr.
paperback, B&W, 120 pages.
good photos and data on LV passenger trains.
1978, published by Bells & Whistles.

10. Lehigh Valley Memories, a tour of the Lehigh Valley Railroad in New York's Finger Lakes Region, 1941-1959.photos and text by David Marcham
paperback, B&W, 88 pages.
1998 by Dewitt Historical Society of Tomkins County.

11. Lehigh Valley Railroad Passenger Cars
Photo and Diagram book No. 1By M. Mickey and D. Warfel
paperback, B&W, 64 pages.
drawings of LV passenger cars!
1980 by Railroad Avenue Enterprises.
(there never was a volume 2!)

12. Twenty Five Years at the Junction. 1865-1889.
by Frank M. Evans.
hardcover, B&W, 384 pages.
"A concise chronology of events effecting the Sayre, Athens and Waverly areas concerning our railroad history, compiled and edited newspaper style.
I believe Frank self-published this book.
this is not a picture book! it has very few photos..
it is a VERY detailed history of the early railroads in "The Valley" area..Waverly, Sayre & Athens.
Frank probably knows more about the LV that anyone..next time you are in Sayre drop by the Sayre Hobby shop and say Hi to him..great guy!

those are all the books I have!
I know there are few more LV books I dont have:

13.The Lehigh Valley Railroad East of Mauch Chunk
By William T Greenberg Jr & Robert F Fischer
Published by The Gingerbread Stop, 1997.
Black & white photos, with lots of maps, interlocking diagrams, excerpts from timetables, and reproductions of advertisements, about 150 pages or so.
(car-floater, I copied that from you!

14.Railroaders in the Lehigh River Valley
by Mike Bednar.
Mike's 3rd LV book. havent seen it yet but have heard good things about it.

15.ALCO's To Allentown
by Thomas A Biery, The Railroad Press, 1998

16.The Northeast Railroad Scene, Vol. 1: The Lehigh Valley
by Bob Pennisi, Railroad Avenue Enterprises, 1976
a small B&W paperback..this was the first LV book I found!
I checked it out of the Waverly library when I was about 14..

17.The Steam Era of Lehigh Valley, by Chuck Yungkurth

18.The Gangly Country Cousin: The Lehigh Valley's Auburn Division. by Herb Trice.
a new book I really need to get!

thats everything I can think of..I know im missing a few!
there are probably 5-10 more out there..if you know, add them to the list!

good coverage on the LV!

Scot

Mr. Cornell's Railroad and How It Grew: Camdem to Elmira by John Connell

1982 by The Grapevine Press, Ithaca, NY. ISBN 0-910375

Super book on the EC&N with B&W photos, maps, current and old photos. There are photos of Van Etten Jct up in Van Etten for the mainline to Ithaca and the EC&N. He adds trackage to topo maps to show where things were. He steps through town by town.

Recommended if you are into LV branches in NY State.

Charles

Scott....

Thanks for filling in the blanks.......Yeah, there are others out there, but this is the cream of the crop.......The Fischer/Greenberg book is a must for qanyone interested in the lower PA/NJ lines, and I couldn't have built my layout without it........Mike B.'s newest is a super read, makes you feel like you were there it's that good!.........Chuck Yungkurth's book is a must for those into steam and early diesels (like me and G-A)......And The Gangle Country Cousin was a fun read as well, and even a
"East-Ender" like me who has never been to "that part of the world", really enjoyed learning about the history of the Finger Lakes region and it's operations.

There are a few more books that I'll list if I get a chance, but I'll refrain from listing those that only remotely cover the LV, just for ease in researching.

Ralph H.

nydepot wrote:Mr. Cornell's Railroad and How It Grew: Camdem to Elmira by John Connell

1982 by The Grapevine Press, Ithaca, NY. ISBN 0-910375

Super book on the EC&N with B&W photos, maps, current and old photos. There are photos of Van Etten Jct up in Van Etten for the mainline to Ithaca and the EC&N. He adds trackage to topo maps to show where things were. He steps through town by town.

Recommended if you are into LV branches in NY State.

Charles

thanks Charles!
thats another book I need to find..
does that book happen to say anything about the Cog Railway that was plannned for the hill in Ithaca?
I believe it was intended to run down Cascidilla creek gorge..
it was never built, because Ezra Cornell died before it could be started..it was his project.
but the locomotive for the cog railway was delivered to Ithaca!
the "Leviathan".
more here..
http://gold.mylargescale.com/scottychaos/leviathan.htm

it would have been right around 1874-1875 in the history of the UI&E and Ithaca..
I have been planning to make a trip to the Cornell library to do more research! havent done it yet..

Scot

Here's those other books I mentioned....Sorry if I have any duplication from your list, Scott (i guess I should look first, no?) ; ^ )

Anthracite Classics - Photography of William R. McClellan
By Jaime F.M. Serensits
Published by The Railroad Press, 2001.
Photo coverage of the LVRR and CNJ, mostly in the late 1950s to early 1960s. Also covers PRR and RDG.
[b]This one I have to find, can't say if it's any good or not[/b]

Anthracite Country Color,
By Gerard Bernet
Published by Railroad Avenue Enterprises, 1998.
Soft cover, 48 page photo book featuring the work of Bruce and Arch Kantner.
In addition to the LV, covers CNJ, PRR & RDG.
[b]This is one I have- AWESOME pic of the Schuylkill Viaduct on the Pottsville Branch, pictures not published elsewhere, nice reproduction[/b]

Memories of Eastern Pennsylvania Railroading
By Gerard Bernet
Published by Railroad Avenue Enterprises, 2000.
More photographs of the Kantner brothers, this time covering LV, CNJ, RDG, E-L (incl. DL&W & ERIE) & PRR.
[b]Another nice one from Gerry, I still have to buy this one[/b]

If I buy anymore books, I won't have any room to move in my house!

Ralph "Car Floater" Heiss

Thanks for the help guys! It lloks I'll be spending a small fortune on LV books over the next few years but it will be worth it.

Here's what I have so far:

1. Lehigh Valley In Color,

2. Steam Era Of The Lehigh Valley

3. Lehigh Valley: Wyoming & Buffalo Divisions (recent purchase) and

4. Trackside Around Sayre -my family LOVES that one!

Is Alcos to Allentown any good?

Here’s another I can recommend:

An Upstate Odyssey – The Lehigh Valley Railroad in Western New York by Mary Hamilton Dann.

Has photos, diagrams and narrative covering the LV’s presence in NY west of the Finger Lakes. Published by Railroad Resource Publications, 1997. IBSN #1-8846590-05-8.

…FB

Hey Matt and F.B. -

So Matt, the Sayre book is a good one? I know M.S. Books puts out a good product, but I just hate giving that guy my hard earned cash, due to his overpriced product, and his "public be damned" attitude - I won't go into that here, but if you must know, contact me off the forum. I'll admit it, I am not that interested (or knowledgeable) in the West End, but I did enjoy the "Gangle Country Cousin" book, so maybe I'll dig this one too, the pictures are probably real good......

F.B., I have never heard of this book, does it cover Manchester and Buffalo? I am particularly looking for info on the Mnchester LCL operations, and the Buffalo interchange connections. If it's got maps and diagrams, I'm thinking I may need to add this to my collection!

As a heads up, I dont know if you guys know or not, but LV in color book 4 from M.S.B. will be coming out, I would guess later this year.......I was to be part of the process after being in contact with the author last year, but for whatever reason, he decided to pass on my contributions, oh well.
Have a feeling it'll be heavy on the New Jersey info, just from the few things I have been privy to from my friend Fred (who is contributing) on what's been researched.

OK, all for now....

R.H. the C.F.

Ralph, Trackside Around Sayre has great pics, including the only color pics of LV steam in my collection. (The LV steam book is exclusively B/W.) It covers LV quite well, and does a nice job with Erie, DL&W and EL, too. Even Pennsy and D&H get some space. One of the authors is Bill Caloroso, son of a PRR engineer and father of "calorosoe" (who posts in this forum). The maps are a little crude but the book gives a real feel to railroading in the Sayre-Elmira area 1948-'76. It has been quite popular with my family- especially my mother and my aunt. They don't even talk to each other anymore but they agree Trackside Around Sayre brings that era back to life.

BTW, I agree that MS books are a bit expensive so I pick 'em carefully. I try to avoid overlaps whenever possible.

Thanks Matt....

That's a good enough endorsement for me! I'll check it out the next time I have some free cash.....The only other book with LV steam in color is LV in Color book 3, btw, along with the pre-war scheme in color........

Bill Caloroso's other (first?) book is the PRR's Elmira Branch, an excellent book, all the way around. But that's not an LV book, is it now!

R.H.

CAR_FLOATER wrote: F.B., I have never heard of this book, does it cover Manchester and Buffalo? I am particularly looking for info on the Mnchester LCL operations, and the Buffalo interchange connections. If it's got maps and diagrams, I'm thinking I may need to add this to my collection!
R.H. the C.F.

Floater - "Upstate Odyssey" only briefly mentions Manchester. But it does have decent diagrams of Buffalo area interchange connections at a couple different periods in LV's history. Also track diagrams of Batavia, P&L Jct (Caledonia), Rochester Jct, etc. and lots of photos. While it's nowhere near as comprehensive as Archer's book, I'd still recommend it to anyone with an interest in the LV between Geneva to Buffalo.

Don't know where you're located, but here in Monroe County every library branch has at least one copy. ...FB

Thanks for the heads up on the book, FB, I'll think I'l ladd that one too to my collection - BTW, I live in New Jersey........Just a FYI to Matt and any other interested parties, there is a copy of LV IN Color 2 up on Ebay right now, going for $19.99 with 1 bid.

R.H. da C.F.

There is a map of the UI&E in Ithaca where he draws in the UI&E that went onto campus during the time period you mention. It went from Ithaca Junction on the EC&N near East Ithaca to Campus. He notes where the station and engine house was. No photos of the station but he includes an original, rare etching from the time of the station. This line paralleled the gorge. There is some mention of getting down into Ithaca and forming a Union Station. I only see the Leviathon mentioned in the roster info in the back for the UI&E.

I only did a quick check through the book. There are lots of things I didn't read, like meeting notes on the UI&E in original handwriting.

Charles

scottychaos wrote:

nydepot wrote:Mr. Cornell's Railroad and How It Grew: Camdem to Elmira by John Connell

1982 by The Grapevine Press, Ithaca, NY. ISBN 0-910375

Super book on the EC&N with B&W photos, maps, current and old photos. There are photos of Van Etten Jct up in Van Etten for the mainline to Ithaca and the EC&N. He adds trackage to topo maps to show where things were. He steps through town by town.

Recommended if you are into LV branches in NY State.

Charles

thanks Charles!
thats another book I need to find..
does that book happen to say anything about the Cog Railway that was plannned for the hill in Ithaca?
I believe it was intended to run down Cascidilla creek gorge..
it was never built, because Ezra Cornell died before it could be started..it was his project.
but the locomotive for the cog railway was delivered to Ithaca!
the "Leviathan".
more here..
http://gold.mylargescale.com/scottychaos/leviathan.htm

it would have been right around 1874-1875 in the history of the UI&E and Ithaca..
I have been planning to make a trip to the Cornell library to do more research! havent done it yet..

Scot