Finis

After reading the final instalment of "TRAINS Goes Round the World" in November 1961 TRAINS I want to report that you've won another convert. I really enjoyed going along with you, especially for the cab ride on that Japanese C-62. I could almost smell the smoke!

May I congratulate the photographer who accompanied the author on his trip. The photos were tops.

William A. Eelman. 16-13 Morlot Ave., Fair Lawn, N. J.

A head on page 5 of November TRAINS says, "What, Not Already?" I say thank goodness. If the author's round-the-world trip was made because of Japan, why were we subjected to wasted pages on the Congo, and so forth. A little foreign interest is okay, but you don't run a serial on domestic railroading for 10 months, do you? . . . Showing us Beyer-Garratts month after month in different countries is like carrying an article on Geeps on the Reading one month, on the Jersey Central the next month, on the Pennsy the next, and so on for 10 months, describing the same engine under different coats of paint.

Larry Eastwood.

2560 Fetters Mill Dr., Bryn Athyn, Pa.

I have enjoyed very much the travel articles by David Morgan, but I would like to ask one question. With at least three railroads giving frequent service up the coastline of Lake Michigan from Chicago to Milwaukee, why did he ride "up the coastline of Lake Michigan to home on a 180 mph North Central DC-3"? Don McClain.

711 Westport Rd., Kansas City 11, Mo.

[Because he arrived at O'Hare Field, which is 23 miles northwest of down

town Chicago railroad stations but just a half hour by DC-3 from Mitchell Field, Milwaukee, which is 6 miles south of the city. - R.E.

Status of A&W

In reading William S. Young's "Short Lines" in the November 1961 issue of TRAINS, I noted that he mentioned the Atlantic & Western Railway [page 15] located here in North Carolina and the fact that it had applied for abandonment. He indicated that abandonment of the entire line of 24 miles was sought, but I recently found out that the intention is to abandon only a part of it.

The wish is to keep the present roadway from Sanford, N. C., to Broadway, N. C.; thus all of the line will be within the bounds of one county. The abandonment would cover the remainder of the line from Broadway, N. C., to Lillington, N. C.

Mention was also made of the fact that two Consolidations were rusting away inside a tumble-down engine shed. This shed has been gone for the past three years or more and the engines and a doodlebug are standing out in high weeds rusting away. Note from the accompanying picture, which I made recently while inspecting the premises, that the old turntable is also deteriorating and weedgrown.

A photo is also included of A&W's present-day diesel power which is painted a bright orange with black stripes.

Wiley M. Bryan.

P. O. Drawer 9411, Morgan Street Station, Raleigh, N. C.

Squeeze on the Laurentian

The news item regarding the Delaware & Hudson orange juice collision [page 11, October 1961 TRAINS] was interesting, but

what was the Laurentian doing in Dresden, N. Y.? Dresden is a freight-only point on the New York Central's GenevaCorning line, and the origin of the picturesque Penn Yan branch-all a long way from the territory of the Delaware & Hudson.

Ens. Dean E. Arnold. USS Sheldrake (AGS-19), FPO New York, N. Y.

[Reader Arnold refers to Dresden in Yates County, N. Y., whereas the Laurentian ran amuck in Dresden, Washington County, N. Y. — R.E.

Jim Farrell.

November 1961 TRAINS is, of course, an exception. We need more material like this.

John M. Prophet 3rd. 55 Meadow Rd., Buffalo 16, N. Y.

Unique scrapping

The accompanying photograph shows what remained of Bevier & Southern 2-6-0 No. 110 (mentioned in "Moguls and Mikes" in October 1961 TRAINS) in Bevier, Mo., on March 24, 1961.

The manner in which this engine was scrapped was new to me. Has anyone else ever seen an engine cut to the stage shown?

Jim Farrell.

2343 N. Karlov Ave., Chicago 39, Ill.

Translational error

I am a railway fan who came from Japan in September and now stay in Seattle. It is one of my greatest joys to find TRAINS in the United States. Especially I enjoyed very much "TRAINS Goes Round the World" in the October issue because it is unexpected to me. But I found one translational error. Hokuto [page 29], Tokyo-Aomori overnight express, does not mean Northeast but Northstar.

Suzuoki-Ziro.

Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle 5, Wash.

Straightening out No. 98

In reference to the photograph and letter concerning the Strasburg Rail Road's No. 98 [pages 52-53, October 1961 TRAINS]: This engine did not come from Mississippi Central or its shops after overhaul as stated. She was No. 98 of Mississippi Central but was sold to the Louisiana Eastern Railroad at Shiloh, La., in 1954. She was used in the sand and gravel business from 1954 to 1960. No. 98 was given a general overhaul and paint job in the shops of the Louisiana Eastern and then was shipped up to the Strasburg.

Another 4-4-0, Louisiana Eastern No. 1, has been shipped to the Stone Mountain Scenic Railroad, an Atlanta tourist attraction now abuilding. There are 30 locomotives remaining on the roster of the Louisiana Eastern.

W. T. Golson.

P. O. Box 1791, Baton Rouge 6, La

I would like to clarify the ownership of No. 98. She is owned by T. Clarence Marshall of Yorklyn, Del., and is only leased to Strasburg for the time being owing to a lack of space at Yorklyn. The locomotive is intended for use by the Historic Red Clay Valley Inc., which hopes to use it on a proposed line in northern Delaware. She was purchased from the Louisiana Eastern.

The Historic Red Clay Valley owns, in addition to No. 98, an ex-CN 2-6-0, three ex-Erie-Lackawanna open-platform coaches, and one combine.

Tom Smith. Historic Red Clay Valley Inc., 509 Baynard Blvd., Wilmington 3, Del.

A waste?

I would like to voice my disapproval of the November 1961 cover. What a waste! That cover, with the exception of the word TRAINS, has no newsstand or train appeal whatsoever. Then to rub salt into the wound you waste four more pages with the same drabble. Just one of the pictures would have told the story as well.

Layton Milman.

1729 Douglas Ave., Stroudsburg, Pa.

Readers reply

Mr. Swan's suggestion concerning an all-diesel issue of TRAINS [page 50, November 1961] is one of the best I've heard in a long time. Why not give us a rundown on the latest in diesels and a section on the original streamliners - the City of Salina, the Zephyr, and the City of San Francisco. Show us some diesel rarities, some of the prewar EMD's and Alcos, and some Baldwin and FM units. And be sure to include lots of pictures! Make it the most informative issue, as far as diesels go, that has yet been put on the newsstands.

In my opinion the steam lovers have had a monopoly on your magazine in the past, and an issue of TRAINS devoted entirely to the present era of diesel power would be a wonderful relief to those of us who hardly remember the steam engine of yesterday and still have to look through pages of steam articles before finding anything concerning diesels. After all, there are a few people in this country today who are not dyed-in-the-wool steam fans. I am 19 years old and happen to be one of them.

Charles A. Beahm. 322 Washington Ave., Wisconsin Dells, Wis.

I'm a steam man myself, but I

wouldn't mind.

Thomas A. Aquino.

2015 Portugal St., Baltimore 31, Md.

The idea of an all-diesel issue is a little bit nauseating. I'd even prefer an all-caboose or all-handcar issue.

Joe R. Thompson.

2039 Milford, Houston 6, Tex.

You publish so much as just one all-diesel issue and I shall immediately cancel my subscription.

John M. Prophet 3rd.

55 Meadow Rd., Buffalo 16, N. Y.

I'll settle for the diesel issue if I may also have some nostalgia from the steam writers without being told by the progressives that we're robbing them of their 50 cents' worth.

You can put me down as being totally in favor of the idea. . . . You seem to think that the bulk of your readers are steam fans and nothing else. Well, here's one who isn't! I happen to thrive on the sound of four 16-cylinder 567-series diesels winding up ahead of 100-plus cars. The ground just seems to tremble as these giants let loose their enormous power.... Paul McDonald.

2320 Terrace Dr., Cedar Falls, Ia.

As of the last count, reader letters were running 3 to 1 in favor of an alldiesel issue. One definitely seems to be indicated for the near future.-R.E.

Piggyback doings

The accompanying photo taken a year or two ago of a wreck on the New Haven

This photo [page 52] shows a bilingual Canadian National piggyback trailer I saw in Moncton, N. B., recently. This trailer is lettered especially for service between Montreal and the Maritime Provinces, and a number of them were in evidence at various places between Halifax, N. S., and Montreal, Que.

As you probably know, Canadian French is quite different from Parisian French, using, as it does, 18th century idioms and 20th century North American English. In fact, I have been told by various people that a "real" Frenchman can hardly understand a French-Canadian. The word piggyback is not really good English in my opinion, and it makes even worse French. However, it has become an accepted word in both languages, and the Canadian National officially recognizes it as such.

J. William Vigrass. 1494 Cohassett Ave., Cleveland 7, O.

W. Beverly Molony.

UP CHALLENGER on Garnet wye in 1948.

delphia, and the original Alweg, the particular version of the saddle type used at Disneyland and Tokyo, was built in Germany in the late '40's. Of course, supported monorails are not limited to the saddle type. The City Island Monorail of New York was another type of supported monorail which carried passengers for several months.

Other supported monorails have been built, at least in prototype form, but until Disneyland they all seemed to have one thing in common. They lost money. See page 54 of July TRAINS for a typical sad case history. The reason we hear so little about the monorails of the past is that they have uniformly lost the competitive battle with conventional railways and the promoters have not publicized their failures. But today the monorail has found its niche. It is an unqualified success as an amusement park novelty ride. Disneyland's line earns its keep and the Tokyo line will probably do likewise. Thus they may well be the first selfsupporting supported monorails in the world.

P. O. Box 81, Inyokern, Calif.

Fascinating photograph

M. D. Isely.

On page 58 of December 1960 TRAINS the fact is mentioned that Editor David Morgan is intrigued by pictures of articulated engines going around curves, showing the offset of the boiler and the front engine.

I am sending him a picture taken on the wye at Garnet, Calif., in July 1948. During the summer rush of 1948 the Southern Pacific rented four of the Union Pacific's early Challenger engines and used them in helper service out of Colton, Calif. They were good engines, but it seemed odd for an SP engineman to operate any other articulated than a cab ahead.

W. Beverly Molony. 1125 W. Crescent Ave., Redlands, Calif.

Another treasure

Under "Arrivals & Departures" in September TRAINS [page 6] mention is made of St. Louis National Museum of Transport having picked up two more goodies. It is about to acquire another. In a recent letter, W. T. Scarboro, General Agent at

St. Marys, Ga., for the St. Marys Railroad Company, stated that this little road had donated motor car No. 1180 to the museum. This car is the last of its type in the United States, all others having been disposed of for scrap or sold to foreign countries.

Motor car No. 1180 was the beginning of gas-electric-powered equipment built by Electro-Motive Company. The carbody was constructed by Osgood Bradley Company and the motive power installed by Electro-Motive. It was put in service in early 1926 on the Boston & Maine Railroad and was used in branch-line service until sold to the St. Marys Railroad in 1945. Operation of the car was discontinued in 1953 when passenger business was suspended and mail and express were handled over the highway. The car had a passenger capacity of 50 persons in addition to a mail and baggage compartment. It had a Winton Model 120 275 h.p. gas engine direct-connected to the main generator for furnishing power to traction motors which were coupled to the wheels, both front and rear, for pulling power.

Winslow Dwight.

by Thomas T. Taber III and Walter Casler. The complete history of this unique, geared steam locomotive has been reissued with four additional pages of newly uncovered data. Its 110 pages (8%" x 11") are of high quality book paper; the full-color frontispiece and over 100 photos and drawings are beautifully printed; the binding is cloth.

If you already prize a copy of CLIMAX and don't If have the supplement, send a stamp for one. you have still to own this full and fascinating story of the engine that handled logging, ore, and a few passenger trains on wood rails as well as steel from its birthplace in Pennsylvania to halfway round the world, ask your bookseller or send $6 to:

H. L. Tilton, Treasurer RAILROADIANS OF AMERICA, Inc. 761 West Inman Ave., Rahway, N. J.

samplers offered by the well-known labels. Issued as saliva-starters to entice the uninitiated into stereo, these recordings include exciting bits of music and sound guaranteed (they claim) to enthuse the most single-minded monophonic holdout. Since the very mobile nature of rail sound is ideal for stereo demonstration, many samplers include a bit of the high iron.

One such record that comes to mind is Journey into Stereo Sound (London PS-131, $4.98). You'll find intriguing nonrail tidbits: a peek into a British music hall with dancing girls - and the solemn, echoing ceremony of The Queen's Keys inside the Tower of London. But you will also find yourself at trackside to watch a precise-sounding British Railways locomotive steam past with stiff-upper-lip pistons. Elsewhere on the disc you are on the platform of a London station, listening to all those sounds that precede a departure, plus a sound unfamiliar to American ears - the slamming of compartment doors down the length of a passenger train. These two scenes are brief but nonetheless are recorded with London's impeccable quality.

Samplers aside, included in this month's reviews are several bargains, a lesson in ornithology, and some sounds of steam below the Tropic of Capricorn.

[Unless otherwise noted, all recordings reviewed are 12", 33% rpm discs. [M] indicates monophonic, [S] indicates stereophonic.]

Your Sound of Steam Souvenir ([M] 7", 45 rpm, $1.49. Five Chime Recordings, Box 163, Brookfield, Ill.) has good fidelity for a 45 rpm disc. The record is admittedly directed toward the daisypickers, but it is clever enough for any railfan record shelf. It would make a good gift, too, for those pooh-poohing friends and relatives who really don't fathom your nostalgia over dirty steam locomotives. Four bands with connecting narration explain steam worship clearly, briefly, and without undue emotion. These present the sounds of a passing diesel (the Challenger on Milwaukee Road trackage); a fine start-and-pass by a Nickel Plate 2-8-4 in freight service; a stirring speed run with a Baltimore & Ohio 4-8-2; and a distant, going-away B&O Mountain with mournful whistle.

Last of the Big Red Cars ([M] 7", 33% rpm, $1.25. Pacific Railway Journal, Box 91, San Marino, Calif.) is a roundup of Pacific Electric sounds recorded by Stan Kistler in the early months of 1961. Only days away from abandonment, the former PE lines were then operating under the Metropolitan Transit Authority title; but these were still unmistakably the big owl-faced interurbans of San Francisco origin. Pacific Electric blessed each of these cars with a monotone air whistle not unlike a bass clarinet. Unfortunately, all the whistles played the same note. Air pressures were high and the whistles tended to fly off into a chilling shriek exactly like that of a clarinet being attacked by a beginner. It must have been rough on the motormen. Side 1 includes some excellent close-ups of motor and compressor noises, and an on-train band

clearly records a conductor calling stations and ringing up fares. There is a particularly pleasant sequence along the main line. As a yet-unheard train approaches, crossing bells cut in lazily down the line, then close by. The train whistles and screams in the distance, and the rails pick up the tempo of its wheels. The train passes with a clatter, then speeds on, shortly to be drowned out by a train passing in the opposite direction. Side 2 puts you in the motorman's cab of car 1510 with stops, starts, and a speed run. Motor noises, the chatter of brake rigging. bells all are faithfully recorded. Quality is tops. This could be the buy of the year for any traction enthusiast.

Steam on the Five-Foot-Three ([M], $5.95. A.R.H.S. Record Department, 8 Marian Ct., Blackburn, Victoria, Australia) will intrigue North American ears. The Victorian Division of the Australian Railway Historical Society has documented nine classes of wide-gauge locomotives operating on Victorian Railways in 1960, plus a narrow-gauge Beyer-Garratt. Some differences from North American practice are unmistakable. Short and light VR trains allow quick acceleration and stopping. Passing four-wheel freight cars set up a fearsome clatter. A single embellished whistle blast seems to suffice for most any situation, including grade crossings. The record has 16 "complete scenes." In one, a small-wheeled 2-8-0 is improbably paired with a 6-foot-drivered Hudson to take a freight up the 2 per cent grade at Heathcote Junction between Melbourne and Seymour. The great difference in cylinder stroke causes a weird effect. The 2-8-0 leads with rapid-fire blasts. As the train moves closer the slower, sharper breathing of the 4-6-4 intermingles to create a limping, 311⁄2-cylinder monster. This in turn smooths out to the Hudson's rhythm as the Consolidation's efforts pass out of range A bit of light relief is presented by an 0-6-0T crane engine switching around Newport shops. The little 37-tonner. built in 1893, dashes back and forth on 36-inch drivers, peeping impatiently with surely the most diminutive of peanut whistles ever applied to a steam locomotive. The 2-6-0+0-6-2 Beyer-Garratt sequence is particularly interesting since that type of articulated was never heard on our continent. The Beech Forest line is the sole VR 2-foot 6-inch gauge trackage still in operation. Climbing out of Colac-90 miles southwest of Melbourne - the line encounters sharp curves and $ per cent grades. Garratt exhausts synchronize on tangent track, although there is no timing connection between the engine units. This is plainly heard as the small (70-ton) locomotive chuffs past with the weekly freight and screeches through a very tight curve. Jacket notes fully describe each scene, and major specifications are included for all locomotives heard. Recording quality is first-rate throughout. The disc is highly recommended. Note: the price quoted include postage by surface mail only. Don't expect 10-day delivery service.

2nd Pigeon and the Mocking Bird ([M) $4.95. O. Winston Link Railway Produc