Good reading. Images of America

Not sure if every barnes and noble has them, but the newest one in hackensack has a nice selection of books that share teh history of that particular town. They have a few on trains too. My g/f got me Imgages of America, Ridgefield Park which has a section its own railroad. I never knew it was called the "ridgefield park railroad". Has pics of the old station and what it used to look like. It has a map from 1870 of the NYSW system. Its so fascinating reading about it. I also go Images of rail (some book company) Steam to Diesel in New Jersey. Another great book, showing all the different rail companies throughout NJ. There are more i plan on getting like, Hoboken, Jersey city and I think there is 1 just for trains period.

If you like history like i do, get these books. If they could creat a time machine i'de go back in time just to experience the industrial age and when rail was king.

I have picked up a couple of these books and they are great! If you are a big NJ railfan, a must have is "RAILROADS OF HOBOKEN AND JERSEY CITY". It has lots of great historic pics, then and now shots, and the photos are layed out in chronological order. There are lots of great aerial shots of the waterfront too. It's unbelievable that at one time the whole waterfront was nothing but rail yards! I wish the NJ rail system was still like this! The book covers the CNJ,ERIE,Lackawanna,and Hoboken Shore
railroads from their heydays until (sadly)their demise. Some of the saddest pics are of the demolition of the ferry buildings, the Pennsy's elevated railway through Jersey City and the vanishing freight yards.
There is also a chapter on the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad which becomes the PATH system and a chapter on trolley services through the cities. There is really too much to mention but I highly recommend it.

Another book is "THE NJ TURNPIKE". This book has some nice aerial shots of exit 14 with Oak Island yard and Port Newark before the area was developed, 2 shots of Elizabeth,one looking south at the Goethals Bridge,E-port and the SIRT with its then swing bridge open and a later dated NE shot with the bayway refinery, CC line,and SIRT with the drawbridge we see today. There are also shots of the Newark bay,Passaic river and Hackensack river crossings, Secaucus transfer, the NEC,and the yards around the Holland tunnel entrance.

I also have "ROSELLE PARK" wich has a small chapter on transportation with picks of CNJ, Lehigh Valley and Rahway Valley steam, rail stations and LV crossings when they use to be at grade. Images of America is definetly a great series of books. I'm currently looking for "THE RAHWAY VALLEY RAILROAD"but so far have has no success. I'm going to pick up the "STEAM TO DEISEL" book also.

The turnpike book i loved. I always wondered about the small mt thats in secaucus near 15x and the book answered my questions about it. Im going to pick up a few more once im done with these. I just wish they'de make one about hackensack and little ferry.

myfaviscr wrote:I also have "ROSELLE PARK" wich has a small chapter on transportation with picks of CNJ, Lehigh Valley and Rahway Valley steam, rail stations and LV crossings when they use to be at grade. Images of America is definetly a great series of books. I'm currently looking for "THE RAHWAY VALLEY RAILROAD"but so far have has no success. I'm going to pick up the "STEAM TO DEISEL" book also.

The "Images of America" and "Images of Rail" books are terrific. The publishing company is Arcadia, by the way. The Rahway Valley Railroad book was written by frequent railroad.net visitor Don Maxton. I highly recommend it. The Steam to Diesel book was also very nice.

If you don't find it at your local Barnes & Noble, try ordering it through BN.com.

they have an images of america:curtis wright. That place is a few towns over and is huge.