BOOK REVIEW for EASTERN NG FANS, RE: SHERMAN VALLEY, PA
I’ve been concerned about the quality of the advertised soft cover “reprint” of the classic 1974 HC book “Bells & Whistles in Old Perry” but when convinced it had new photos I took the $31 gamble.
The new book “Narrow Gauge in the Sherman Valley-Newport & Sherman’s Valley RR” copyrighted 2005 by Three River Narrow Gauge Historical Society, Gary Kohler and James D. Weinschenker is an entirely different book than the “Bells & Whistles in Old Perry”. I recommend to anyone who owns the “Bells & Whistles in Old Perry” to add it to their collection. I also recommend it to anyone who enjoys exploring NG rail lines as the N&SV traversed some of the most bucolic rolling farmland in America. Much of the rail history is still there with stations and roadbeds.
The new book is really a photo book in geographical order interspersed with the railroad text from the old book without any relationship. The old text was not corrected, as example the newspaper quote about the proposed trestle at Stum’s being 95’ high, still carried a note that the reporter meant to say “long” not “high”. The paper was correct because if any of the authors visited the location (its on a public trail) they would have seen the trestle would be 500-600’ long and 95’ high. It also carried over an error calling the Perry Lumber Co. the Perry County Lumber Co., probably in confusion with the Perry County RR, the standard gauge competitor.
The new book is two-thirds new photos (a lot of just track) not in the old book as it has about 158 RR scenes of which about 50 were printed in “Bells & Whistles in Old Perry”. The old book had about 104 railroad scenes of which only 50 were used in the new book; therefore it is not a reprint as per the ads. Photos in the old book had very good tone quality with details in the shadows. But although the new book is on glossy paper, the photos are poor in contrast and shadows are black or too dark. Quality is only slightly above the lowest in this rail hobby.
The early history of Perry County and its rail development, and the great story of the attempted tunnel construction of the Path Valley RR extension were excluded from the new book. The history of the Perry Lumber Co. was poorly transferred including the using of a different and poorer photo of Climax #265. The P.L.Co.’s map was not corrected by expanding to show the third branch that went up the valley toward the tunnel. The State Forest publishes a flyer with a map of the 10-mile loop trail all over RR grades that goes from Big Springs down over the PLC and returns on the higher parallel Path Valley RR un-completed grade.
The new book has NO system map of the N&SVRR or the Perry County RR/SR&W RR. The old book had two maps on the inside of both cover end pages. The terminal maps were copied from the old book without any changes, including no location of where the SR&W shop building were located. Even if they were in Duncannon it will stay a mystery to all.
The old book had some wonderful pages of tours one could make on their own and photos of the surviving equipment. Only one car of 9 was up dated as having washed away in a flood and crashed to pieces under a bridge.
And the INDEX is missing! There is no excuse as this was typed into a compute program and could be sorted. Finally, the mystery of the track layout at Bloomfield Junction (Tressler’s) has never been seen in photos or maps. Maybe someone visiting the National Archives will find it and publish it someday. Enjoy this fantastic narrow gauge, the story is not over.
