New Morning Sun Book on Rochester Trains 1970-1980

I would LOVE to see a book about Rochester inthe 1940s, '50s or '60s. I knoe that there were slide shows years ago at the Rochester NRHS meetings of the late steam/early diesel era on the NYC. As a kid, I saw the end of steam and the early diesel era, but I never got a decent camera until the late '60s. Any budding authors out there?

the cowboy wrote:I would LOVE to see a book about Rochester inthe 1940s, '50s or '60s. I knoe that there were slide shows years ago at the Rochester NRHS meetings of the late steam/early diesel era on the NYC. As a kid, I saw the end of steam and the early diesel era, but I never got a decent camera until the late '60s. Any budding authors out there?

You raise an interesting point about the earlier decades. The Rochester Chapter of the NRHS was around in at least the 50's I think, and there was a model railroad club in the 40's which had an extensive layout in the NYC depot. Surely there were a lot of photos taken, even allowing for wartime restrictions. Where are they all now?

John Woodbury began taking pics locally in the 30's I believe but most of what he took were roster shots. I have a fair number of color slides taken by a friend of my father's in the 50's, steam on the NYC, B&O etc. Some of those show background which would make it "Rochester-related", some others are tighter and could be taken anywhere. Some of his B&O shots at Lincoln Park are included in Mike Zollitsch's BR&P Volume I from Morning Sun. And I have some from other locations. And Robert Carper's "Focus - The Railroad In Transition" has a good many fine pics of Rochester in the late steam and early diesel days.

The problem IMHO is 2-fold - first and foremost would be assembling enough pics to fill a book. The second would be finding a publisher. Morning Sun books are wonderful but if I understand correctly they want almost 100% color. Obviously the farther back in time we go, the scale of what is available tips to the B&W side.

Lastly, there are a couple books which at least partially cover the area. "The Snowflaker" by Wm. Kachler tells of his time working on the NYC from early 40's to mid 50's. Bill was a railfan and took B&W pics - some are good quality and some are quite poor. But it's way better than nothing and he tells some interesting stories about working the GFR, the various yard jobs at Goodman St, Kent Street, and the main line to Buffalo. And Borntrager's "Keeping The Railroad Running" has a chapter on his time in Rochester in 1940, altho it has no photos.

There is SO much that COULD be written - the problem is DOING it. My own project is over 100 pages of text, and some pics, with an outline of more. But that stalled as I found other interests besides railroading and I add to it sporadically. You deserve much credit for sticking with the upcoming book and seeing it through - I'm sure it was far more involved than you originally expected.

BR&P wrote: There is SO much that COULD be written - the problem is DOING it. My own project is over 100 pages of text, and some pics, with an outline of more. But that stalled as I found other interests besides railroading and I add to it sporadically. You deserve much credit for sticking with the upcoming book and seeing it through - I'm sure it was far more involved than you originally expected.

I was surptised at how long it took-almost 2-1/2 years from the time we decided to do the book until the material was sent off to New Jersey. Drawing and fine-tuning all the maps took quite a bit of time, since I was using an inexpensive drafting program. (wasn't as fast or as easy as AutoCAD) We also solicited material from a few additional photographers to fill in some "gaps" in our own coverage, and that took some time. I think that we came up with some interesting subject matter - including a couple of Kodak Park shots and a little section on the GFR-complete with a Lehigh Valley RS3!

I'm looking forward to reading your book when it finally comes out, BR&P. It'll make a good sequel to "The Snowflaker".

the cowboy wrote:The book will cover the area bounded on the east by Lyons and Geneva and extending westward to around Darien. There are chapters covering the Penn Central,Lehigh Valley, Erie Lackawanna, early Conrail (including the D&H), and B&O. A separate chapter is devoted to P&L Junction in Caledonia, which could get quite busy at times. There is a section on Winter (remember the Blizzard of '77?) as well as a chapter covering various miscellaneous subjects (shortlines, wrecks, steam operations, etc.) A number of detailed maps are also included. All locations called out in the text or photo captions are shown on at least one of the maps.
We have tried to include as many photos with as much variety as possible, so there should be something of interest for everyone. It isn't until you sit down and put together slides for a project such as this that you realize how much has vanished in the last forty years.

Received my copy in the mail today......will be digging in within the next hour. Thanks again for
creating this book!

Charlie

BR&P wrote: The problem IMHO is 2-fold - first and foremost would be assembling enough pics to fill a book. The second would be finding a publisher. Morning Sun books are wonderful but if I understand correctly they want almost 100% color. Obviously the farther back in time we go, the scale of what is available tips to the B&W side.

My understanding is that Morning Sun wants not almost 100% color, but exactly 100% color. The Soo Line Historical Society wanted to do a Freight Car Guide with them but they had some B&W so it was a no-go; the SLHS wound up doing the book themselves. (And they did quite the nice job also... it's in my accumulation.)

I wonder if someone like Stony Clove & Catskill Mountain Press, who recently released "The New York Central in the Adirondacks," might be a possible outlet for a book about Rochester in the earlier days? That's still assuming such a book could be assembled, of course.

I received my copy yesterday, and went through the book once already (kind of quickly), and with that much information and photos, I'm going to have to go through it a few more times. But I like it a lot so far!

I'm thinking a project for me would be to photograph these locations today (if I can access those locations). Sounds like fun.

the cowboy wrote:I would LOVE to see a book about Rochester inthe 1940s, '50s or '60s. I knoe that there were slide shows years ago at the Rochester NRHS meetings of the late steam/early diesel era on the NYC. As a kid, I saw the end of steam and the early diesel era, but I never got a decent camera until the late '60s. Any budding authors out there?

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the cowboy wrote:I was surptised at how long it took-almost 2-1/2 years from the time we decided to do the book until the material was sent off to New Jersey. Drawing and fine-tuning all the maps took quite a bit of time, since I was using an inexpensive drafting program. (wasn't as fast or as easy as AutoCAD) We also solicited material from a few additional photographers to fill in some "gaps" in our own coverage, and that took some time. I think that we came up with some interesting subject matter - including a couple of Kodak Park shots and a little section on the GFR-complete with a Lehigh Valley RS3!

Want to come to Rochester for a book signing? Contact me

-otto-