Helmer, William F.:
O. & W.: THE LONG LIFE AND SLOW DEATH OF THE NEW YORK, ONTARIO AND WESTERN RAILWAY
Berkeley, CA: Howell-North, 1959. First edition. Signed by the author. 211 pages, equipment roster, bibliography, pictorial endpapers, map and chart in rear pocket, copiously illustrated in black and white.
"The O&W was a tenacious road, and long after similar lines bowed to changing times and the encroachment of truck transport, it still hung on. There's alternating hope and heartache in this story, prosperity and poverty, dignity and degradation. William Helmer successfully recreates the atmosphere that distinguished the "Old and Weary" and gives your collection of railroad books a worthy addition."
Near Fine with Very Good jacket. Edges lightly sunned. DJ tape-repaired at lower right front corner. Other very light edge wear and soil.
$50.00
Elizabeth Kytle
HOME ON THE CANAL. An informal history of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, and recollections of eleven men and women who live and worked on it.
Cabin John, MD; Seven Locks Press, 1983.
From the Introduction:
The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal has been described as one of this country's loveliest failures. Lovely it surely must have been. Too many who lived and worked on it remember it this way for that to be quirky or merely nostalgic, and objective observers have called it the country's prettiest. Failure it surely was, almost as if some bad fairy had been hovering about when President John Quincy Adams toilsomely turned the first spade-ful of earth to being its construction. For one thing, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, which was to harass and eventually take a big part in the killing of the canal, was begin on the same day. That day was July 4, 1828.
"A lively account in two contrasting styles. First, a concise history of the C&O Canal from the early dreams to the present status as a favored recreation area. Second, a series of poignant interviews with former canallers, presenting at first hand the joys and rigors of canal life."
John Chandler, President C&O Canal Association
Near Fine with Near Fine dust jacket.
$30.00
PROCEEDINGS OF A GENERAL CONFERENCE OF RAILROAD COMMISSIONERS, HELD AT THE OFFICE OF THE INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION 1889
Washington, DC: 1889. First edition. 152 pages, index.
The meeting was called for March 5th, 1889 in Washington, DC for the purpose of discussion topics of importance to railroads such as Railway Statistics, Classification of Freight, Railway Legislation and Railway Construction. Forty-four State Railroad Commissioners and Accredited Representatives attended, along with 14 members of the Association of American Railway Accounting Officers and three members of the railway press.