I assume it's a custom product; I've never seen anything close in office supply stores.

Baker, Bob, et al. The Run of the GE’s – The final North Western Motive Power Roster. Elmhurst, Illinois: Chicago & North Western Historical Society, 1995.

Yanke, James H. The Chicago & North Western’s Air Line Subdivision. North Riverside, Illinois: Chicago & North Western Historical Society, 2009.

I picked up some new books-

Modern Locomotives High-Horsepower Diesels 1966-2000-

A nice book for big pictures and information about the "high-horspower" diesels. It was good for the bargain-books section at the bookstore.

New York City Elecrified Railroads in Color Volume 2: Lines into Pennsylvania Station-

A fairly awesome Morning Sun book (at least for me), which covers the New York City electrified zones North and South of Pennsylvania Station, covering a lot of the New Haven, across the Hell's Gate Bridge to Sunnyside Yard, then into Penn station, and west (south) into New Jersey (aka, the area I model). Its also pretty good since it has a good "spread" of time periods, with a good spread of photos from the 1950s to the present day (though most seem pre-1974), instead of just focusing on the transition and early diesel eras.

I'll definitely pick up Volume 1 of this book, which covers Grand Central Terminal electrified trains.

I have also picked up a few more railroad operations books, most of which are convenient given my recent Reading Company electrification attempts-

Conrail

Eastern Region Reading Division ETT 4/30/1978-

Eastern Region Philadelphia Division Reading Commuter Territory ETT 10/29/1978-

Eastern Region Harrisburg and Philadelphia Division Timetable #1 4/27/1980-


All three of these Eastern Region timetables cover the same area, except for the last one, which also includes the rest of the Philadelphia commuter district (the PRR lines) and Southern new Jersey (including the tracks by my home, as well as the former PRSL lines and passenger schedules between Lindenwold and Atlantic City, Ocean City, Wildwood, and Cape May). All of them still have the commuter schedule pages (which appears to be uncommon, as many Conrail Timetables I find lack the train schedules, and only have the special instructions). Between my Atlantic Region Timetables and this Eastern Region one, I have almost all of New Jersey covered. For some reason, I think I might be missing an Lehigh Division timetable (which belongs to the Atlantic Region), but I'll have to check again.

The Reading Green cars I have as kits were still running into 1978 as well, so these would be ideal to use as guidance into those projects, as there are special instructions for those cars as well as the Silverliners.

Conrail Freight Schedules 4/1/1981- This is actually a surprisingly complete book. Many of these are available on the internet in PDF form though pages tend to be missing, and not all necessary trains included. If only I had this for june 1979 and totally complete! It covers every train on the Conrail system, what sort of consist, and where/when it runs. This is VERY useful for a modeler, especially someone trying to get the Conrail operations right.

I also acquired an addition C.T.400 Rules for Conducting Transportation in the bunch.

Green_Elite_Cab Wrote:I picked up some new books-

Modern Locomotives High-Horsepower Diesels 1966-2000

Heh. I had dinner with the author last night.

Two new books in last week:

• - North American Steam locomotive Builders and their insignia by Harold Davis
  and an interesting book in German
  - "Verkehrsknoten Dresden" - "Traffic junction Dresden" (my home city) with a very good overview about railroads, streetcars, Elbe river shipping and more from the beginning.
  

I have a few new books as well-

E44 Electric Operators Manual

Physical Characteristics of NJ Transit 4th Ed. TRO-7

This last one is pretty good, covering the modern configuration of all NJ Transit trackage (even some Amtrak and Conrail areas) and marks the location of automatic signal (apparently, interlocking signals are in another book). It definitely gives me ideas for track planning.


I also got a copy of this pamphlet which i think deserves mention, even though not a book-

SEPTA's Silverliner Heritage-

This was handed out at the Silverliner II and III farewell trip, and was also sold for a few bucks at the SEPTA store on Market Street (near Reading Terminal). The NRHS published this large 8 page article which covers the development of SEPTA's MU cars from the PRR Pioneer III all the way to today's Silverliner V. For the cost ($2.95), it is well worth it for the information it provides on this subject, considering what precious little published information there is.


I actually bought a new one of these, since the one i got from the Silverliner trips I went on is pretty beat up (i keep that one folded into my copy of "Trains Trolleys & Transit", which is a good book on philadelphia passenger trains). I hope to keep the new one in its plastic and in good shape just in case my other one gets really damaged.

Kehoe, Jeff. Milwaukee Road's Rib-side Cabooses. 2nd ed. Antioch, Illinois: Milwaukee Road Historical Association, 2012.

Kehoe, Jeff. Milwaukee Road's Steel Cabooses. Antioch, Illinois: Milwaukee Road Historical Association, 1998.

Kehoe, Jeff. Milwaukee Road's Wooden Cabooses. Antioch, Illinois: Milwaukee Road Historical Association, 2003.

Burton, Wendy. A Steam Odyssey: The Railroad Photographs of Victor Hand. Ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2013.

Doughty, Geoffrey H. Penn Central Through Passenger Service in Color. Scotch Plains, New Jersey: Morning Sun Books, 2012.

Here's an excellent book for anyone interested in Canadian National steam locomotives

I've got a new book, and a new Railroad Manual-

New Jersey Railroading 1976-1987- A neat book on New Jersey railroads. Many of the pictures did not translate well into Black and White, and there are a few factual inconsistencies. That said, its one of the only books I've ever seen that really describes many of the forgotten shortlines that used to criss-cross this state. There is also good data on rosters and Conrail Locals in New Jersey contemporary to the mid 80s when the book was published.

Manuals-

Penn Central

Instructions Pertaining to the Operation of MP85 MU Cars- Series 201-219 and 251-269 Inc. Budd Cars, Series 220 to 239 Inc. St. Louis Cars-

Its a short book, but it gives the basic information on how to start and run a Silverliner II (Budd car) or Silverliner III (St. Louis Car). Its not a full manual, but it is interesting. Lance Mindheim often talks about adding "time" to your layouts by simulating the time it takes to check brakes and things. This book talks about just those sorts of things.

I saw one of these for an Arrow I, but it literally sold before I could click the Buy It Now. Better luck next time! These manuals usually sell cheaply, so I'll just keep an eye out.

It's been a while since I added anything of substance to my library. A friend is moving next week and is leaving his discards with me:

Jensen, Joel. Steam: An Enduring Legacy. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2011.

Kelly, John. Railroad Freight Car Slogans & Heralds Photo Archive. Hudson, Wis.: Iconografix, 2011.

Middleton, William D. Manhattan’s Gateway: New York’s Pennsylvania Station. Waukesha, Wis.:: Kalmbach, 1996.

Middleton, William D. When the Steam Railroad Electrified. Milwaukee: Kalmbach, 1974.

Olmsted, Robert P. Chicago Railroad Scenes in Color Volume 1 1956-66 and 1984-96. Hanover, Pa.: The Railroad Press, 2011.

Olmsted, Robert P. Nickel Plate Steam 1957-1958. Hanover, Pa.: The Railroad Press, 2010.

Scribbins, Jim. The Hiawatha Story. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 2007.

Stoving, Richard L. Boston & Albany Steam Power. Hanover, Pa.: The Railroad Press, 2010.

Swanson, Carl A. Faces of Railroading. Waukesha, Wis.: Kalmbach, 2004.

Treiber, Gale E. Hawaiian Railway Album WWII Photographs by Victor Norton, Jr., Volume 1. Hanover, Pa.: The Railroad Press, 2003.

Treiber, Gale E. Hawaiian Railway Album WWII Photographs by Victor Norton, Jr., Volume 2. Hanover, Pa.: The Railroad Press, 2005.

Treiber, Gale E. Hawaiian Railway Album WWII Photographs by Victor Norton, Jr., Volume 3. Hanover, Pa.: The Railroad Press, 2007.

Treiber, Gale E. Hawaiian Railway Album WWII Photographs by Victor Norton, Jr., Volume 4. Hanover, Pa.: The Railroad Press, 2007.

I also picked up a few new books-

"Passenger Train Consists of the 1970s"- A pretty good book containing many consists with dates and specific road numbers, though disappointingly it cuts off around 1975, despite being published in 1981. Still useful for the passenger modeler of that time period though!

"Conrail Atlantic Region In Color: Volume 2 1979-1981"- Like the first volume, this book DID NOT disappoint! the first 30 pages are everything I love to model, and the rest of it is pretty fantastic as well. The stories of the author's time at the "40 office" dealing with train mishaps are also informative and entertaining.

I don't have this book yet, but I noticed in May that morning sun will be publishing a book, "Conrail Under Pennsy Wires". Morning sun is really knocking them out of the park lately! Clearly, that book was made for me. They only way they could do it better is to have a New Jersey Commuter Region book... and this time get the names of the Arrows and Silverliners straight.

Conrail Under Pennsy Wires- I pretty much bought this book as soon as I saw it at my hobby shop. It covers the 5 years of Conrail electrified operation from 1976 to 1981.

The photos are organized by date, chronicling the demise of the last great electrified freight operation in North America. An absolutely awesome book, and its what I'm all about!

I have three new Railroad manuals-

Pennsylvania Railroad

Questions and Answers on Alternating Current Electric Locomotives, Alternating Current M.U. Cars and Oil Fired Boilers for Steam Heat-1943

Its a WWII era book, (appropriate, since I found it buried in old US Army manuals at the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum' WWII Weekend Airshow), but what is really nice is that it basically gives you the run down on how to operate the older PRR electric equipment, such as GG1s and MP54s. This might be useful for a future project of mine, involving operating a model train from an authentic model train controller.

General Electric Operators Manuals These manuals have some valuable tidbits in them for modeling purposes, and its nice to have the manuals for my favorite cars

Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority Operators Manual: Penn Central Car numbers 270 through 399 Reading Co. Car Numbers 9018 through 9031

This is a manual for the Silverliner IV Electric Multiple Units used by SEPTA. Somewhat frustratingly, I just found an online PDF of the same manual just the other night (after having bid on this one). However, I've found that my manual is the original, and the online was was revised April 1974. My version must have been from a few months earlier in February, when the first Silverliner IVs had begun arriving.

It leads me to wonder if there is yet another revised manual out there, as the Reading Company would purchase Silverliner IV Married Pairs and number them into the "100 Series" in 1975.



State of New Jersey Department of Transportation Operators Manual: Penn Central Car Numbers 534 through 603 Rev. January 1975

This is the manual for the Jersey Arrow II electric multiple units bought by the NJ DOT. This is a particularly rare book, but I am very glad to have obtained it. While Silverliner IVs still exist unaltered, there are only two surviving Arrow IIs, and they have been demotored and heavily modified.

One of the issues I've had modeling the Arrow II is the underbody. The pictures I had weren't really doing any justice, but the operator's manual has a clear diagram of the underbody and all of its components. This should let me correct my existing pair of models, as well as properly assemble my future Arrow II sets.

Conrail Color Guide to Freight Equipment

As the name suggests, its a good source of photos of Conrail rolling stock, and a little bit of an insight to the kinds of traffic Conrail handles, as well as its MoW and other non-revenue pieces. Believe it or not, Conrail was regularly using a snow plow first built for the New York Central in 1889! There are photos of this thing in service in 1986, almost 100 years later.