Nostalgia & History > New Railroad Book

I just received one of the first copies of Four Ways West's, J. David Ingles' book, "Wabash Railroad Pictorial, Following the
Flag with J. David Ingles, the Last Decade of a Unique Midwest Railroad". It's an all color book and many of the photos have never been published. Most of the photos were taken by Dave, but some are from his collection or by his long time friends Jim Hediger, Richard Wallin and Hank Goerke.

Of course, I'm partial to the color photo of the 4th District mixed with combine at Edon, Ohio in 1961 on page 33. Though it's a going away shot, and the motive power can't be seen well, the train is powered by an EMD F7 (No. 690)! The two empty autoracks at the rear of the train also are interesting coupled to the heavyweight combine. (In the back of my Fourth District book, time book summarizations do support that F7s did power the mixed on occasion though usually powered by GP7s and GP9s.) The heavyweight combine, with its six-window, 26-seat arrangement, appears to be the 609 which my friend Clarence documented in his time books in that time period.

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/29/17 19:55 by wabash2800.

I need to reiterate this book consists of all color photos. A bonus is, in addition to a system map, a map including a breakdown of the many Wabash Districts. Also included is a locomotive roster and a section with rolling stock photos. With any large work like this, with much information and detail, a mistake can escape proofing. I note that the administration building at Montpelier, Ohio, (still standing) was assumed to be the depot. (Dave said he looked at a recent satellite map and assumed it was the depot). NS razed the Montpelier Depot one very early morning in February 1984, though the Williams County Historical Society tried to save it. The two-story building was a one of a kind designed by Theo Link, the same architect that designed the famed St. Louis Union Station.

Again, I highly recommend this book. The photo captions are thoughtful and informative.

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/01/18 11:08 by wabash2800.

Thanks for the info, Victor. I saw this book advertised on a few sites
recently and was wondering how good it might be. Now I know.
Sounds like it will be well worth purchasing.