Dear Mr. PRSL:
As authors of the recent Newport & Sherman’s Valley publication, we read your book review with great interest and sadness.
The book was underwritten by the Three Rivers Narrow Gauge Historical Society that owns the copyright for the original “Bells & Whistles in Old Perry.” They contracted with M2FQ Publications to “update and reissue”, not “reprint”, the book. We’re not sure where you saw that this was a reprint.
First we are confused. You state that “I recommend to anyone who owns the ‘Bells & Whistles in Old Perry’ to add it to their collection.” Then you proceed in the next six paragraphs as to the publication’s inferior quality. Which is it? Is it a good book or bad book?
Yes, our publications do follow a geographical order as it only makes sense. The reader can follow the railroad from terminal to terminal all the while getting a good sense as to how the actual railroad existed and operated. Most books jump from topic to topic, thus confusing the reader. As for the “photo book” reference, who wants to read about boring corporate history? Most readers want to study the photographs and read a little about how the railroad operated.
As for the text, there were only two references available – “Bells & Whistles in Old Perry” and a self-published book by Roy Chandler that is long out-of-print and marginal at best. The original text was retyped and corrected to the best of our ability. A few knowledgeable Three Rivers members reviewed the text and prepared the captions. We attempted to be as accurate as possible with the sparse information that was available.
As for the photographs, we did extensive research in trying to ascertain if the original publisher, Compton Press, was still in business and had the original photographs, or for that matter, the original book galleys. After many months of unproductive contacts, we did get in touch with a former employee who informed us that everything was destroyed or sold when the company went out of business.
Next we contacted every Perry County library and the two historical societies to ascertain the quantity of available photographs. The libraries did not have anything, but the Perry County Historians had a significant photograph collection. We acquired a great deal of photographs from their collection that soon became the basis of the book. Next we visited the PA Railroad Museum in Strasburg and obtained their photographs (most of which were unpublished), and then we rounded out the photographs with additions from our personal collections. We also used some photographs from the Three Rivers collection.
We quote you, “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.” Did you personally view the images before they were retouched to make this assumption? Most of the photographs were a second or even third generation image. Furthermore, there were less than 150 images to choose from, not thousands, thus cherry-picking was not an option. For example, the images from the PA Railroad Museum were dark on the right side and had what looked like a crack (or a large scratch) in the negatives that showed as a thick black line. Both of these defects had to be fixed for about 40 plus images. Some images were photographs of photographs. For example, there were a few images at Blain station that were mounted in frames. The images were important, but were we to destroy an antique frame just to acquire a “nice” scanned copy? We view the significance of the image always trumps the quality no matter the roughness of the original. A rare image is always greatly appreciated more than a pristine photograph.
The book focused on the Newport & Sherman’s Valley Railroad with the adjacent railroads playing a minor role. There was only so much space that could have been dedicated to the Perry County RR, Perry Lumber Company, and the SR&W. Again, the image of Climax #265 was a third generation photo but needed to be included to tell the story.
System maps. The National Archives were consulted and no maps were found. We did find some minor information on the SR&W, but nothing pertaining to the N&SV. Our Perry County contact did locate a gentleman who owned valuation maps but he wouldn’t even unroll the maps let alone allow them to be used in the book. So the next best option was to copy the maps from the original book to give the reader a feel for the geographic layout of a particular area. We surmised that the original authors would have vetted these maps to the best of their ability.
Tours. We only concentrate on vintage railroad material for all of our publications. The tour information is of a contemporary nature and the additional pages would have added to the cost of a publication that had a limited budget. The same goes for surviving equipment, only the vintage material was considered for use.
As for indexes, they are a waste of paper and ink. If a book has been compiled in a logical manner, then an index is not needed.
In closing, we thoroughly researched every aspect of the project to bring the N&SV back to life. It was a very challenging project considering that none of the original material existed. We visited the Sherman’s Valley area many times attempting to acquire as much material as possible. I think we succeeded in publishing a solid book for around $30 as compared to $125 plus for the original “Bells & Whistles,” if you can find it at all. Furthermore, our book sold out in a matter of months, and the good folks in Perry County are now satisfied that they can enjoy the N&SV without shelling out large dollars for the original “Bells & Whistles in Old Perry.”
Sincerely yours,
Gary Kohler and Jim Weinschenker
