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Reviews (47)
Oct 25, 2014
A wonderful book
The book is a collection of old color photographs taken by H. Reid ( author of "The Virginian Railway" ) in the 1950s when the N&W and the VGN were still mostly steam. These photographs were selected and annotated by Lloyd Lewis.
Any book with a good color picture of a N&W J-Class 4-8-4 is worth buying, and this book has several.
Sewel's Point, Winding Gulf, Elmore, Christiansburg Hill, and Victoria are all there. The locations are mostly in Virginia and West Virginia. The VGN didn't go any further west than Dickinson Yard in Charleston WV, and there isn't much about the N&W operations into Cincinnati or Columbus either. But a good book can be made about mostly Tidewater operations, and that has been done. For those too young to remember those balmy days, this book has many company maps to help them understand the locations.
The mid twentieth century was a great time for these railroads and these are some great pictures of that time.
Mar 19, 2016
Not Just Another Local History Book
This is a charming and interesting book. It is both well researched and well written. It is episodic rather than a strictly chronological history of the Delaware River. Which is to say it leaves out a lot of the boring stuff, which makes it a much better read.
The Delaware River was once an important transportation route, before the railroads came, and this is covered quite well. The small push pole powered boats were used by General Washington for his surprise attack on Trenton, and the author covers this campaign briefly, but very well.
I wasn't really interested in floating rafts of logs down a river very much before I bought this book, but Frank Dale does make the subject compelling.
I'd never heard of Fort Delaware, the Union's version of Andersonville, but Dale presents this propaganda magnet fairly and gives honor to the local historical societies who brought this neglected, but not exactly suppressed, episode back into history.
There are also conflicts with Indians and environmentalists.
The Delaware was a broad river and the mechanics of old covered bridges are interesting. I'd never really thought much about cleaning them out after all those horses went through.
As one might expect of a book on the history of a river, floods are covered.
Anyway, I bought the book on a whim and I'm glad I did.
Sep 26, 2017
Good For Young Readers
Since, if you were born when the Soviet Union vanished you would be 26 years old ( with middle age looming over the next horizon ), a book aimed at those too young to remember is needed.
This book is written for a reader of fourth grade reading level. The vocabulary is tight, but not patronizing. Possibly unfamiliar words and names are seamlessly introduced in the text.
Basically it is a well done effort.