NYHIST-L moderator's note:  A subscriber has requested that the following notice be posted to NYHIST-L.


NEW BOOK ABOUT THE RAILROADS OF DUTCHESS COUNTY NY

A new book about the railroads of Dutchess County NY will be in the local
book stores and dealers about 1 November 2002.   It will be 8.5 X 11 and
contain more than 200 pages with 150 illustrations.  Many of the photos
have never been published before.

TWENTY FIVE YEARS ON THE ND&C

Recently the old headquarters building of the Newburgh, Dutchess & Connecticut Railroad in Matteawan (now part of Beacon NY ) was renovated and the workers found the railroad's record books.   There are 48 volumes with 700 pages in each for a total of over 33,000 pages of office correspondence.   Some of the volumes are missing and the earliest book is dated 1879; the latest is 1904.

Early sections of  " Twenty Five Years on The ND&C " set the stage for
the entrance of the ND&C Railroad.  The heart of the book is the 25 years of ND&C operation from 1879 to 1904.   The ND&C record books are a window into the every day events and problems of running  a railroad in the late 1800's. They contain everything from compensating farmers for cattle run over by trains to dealing with the great blizzard of March 1888 as well as
ordering locomotive repair parts or reporting the office washroom drain is clogged again.   After spending over a year of  spare time reading the books I felt almost like Schultze and Kimball were old friends even though both have been gone for over 100 years.

Sections of the book also deal with related railroads such as the Clove
Branch, the Dutchess County RR , the Poughkeepsie & Eastern and the New York & New England RR ferry operations across the Hudson River.

I have tried to convey some of the human side of the struggle to build a
successful business.  Along with that I have also tried to preserve a bit
of the contribution that Schultze, Kimball and the railroads made to the
world we live in today.   How much different would the world be if railroads
had never been invented?

Bernie Rudberg   Wappingers Falls  NY  USA


NOW ACCEPING ORDERS VIA MAIL OR PHONE

Purple Mountain Press, established in 1973, is a publishing company
committed to producing the best original books of regional and maritime
interest as well as bringing back into print significant older works.

Orders:
Purple Mountain Press,
Ltd. 1060 Main Street,
P.O. Box 309, Fleischmanns, NY 12430-0309

 1-800-325-2665        845-254-4476 (fax)

E-Mail   [log in to unmask]

Information/Editorial:
845-254-4062
Wray and Loni Rominger, Publishers

An autographed hard cover edition is $35 and an unsigned soft cover is
$22.50.  Shipping and handling will be  $3.50 via US mail or $5 via UPS.