Hardcover. Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1st, 2012, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 276 pages, b&w illustrations. Few people have had as profound an impact on the history of New York City as William J. Wilgus. As chief engineer of the New York Central Railroad, Wilgus conceived the Grand Central Terminal, the city's magnificent monument to America's Railway Age. Kurt C. Schlichting here examines the remarkable career of this innovator, revealing how his tireless work moving people and goods over and under Manhattan Island's surrounding waterways forever changed New York's bustling transportation system. After his herculean efforts on behalf of Grand Central, the most complicated construction project in New York's history, Wilgus turned to solving the city's transportation quandary: Manhattan - the financial, commercial, and cultural hub of the United States in the twentieth century - was separated from the mainland by two major rivers to the west and east, a deep-water estuary to the south, and the Harlem River to the north. Wilgus believed that railroads and mass transportation provided the answer to New York City's complicated geography. His ingenious ideas included a freight subway linking rail facilities in New Jersey with manufacturers and shippers in Manhattan, a freight and passenger tunnel connecting Staten Island and Brooklyn, and a belt railway interconnecting sixteen private railroads serving the metropolitan area.
Hardcover. Princeton NJ, Princeton University Press, 1st, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, 168 b&w photographs of historic sites, buildings, etc., found in New Jersey. 96 pages with index. Previous owner's signature on front fly leaf. Otherwise clean.
Hardcover. NY, Quantuck Lane Press , 1st, 2006, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 131 pages, b&w photos by Tice. Published in conjunction an exhibition that ran September 10 through December 10, 2006 at The Newark Museum Introduction by A.D. Coleman. Foreword by Mary Sue Sweeney Price. Preface by George Tice.
Softcover. New Jersey, Princeton University Press, 1st, 1986, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 299 pages. Softcover. Vibrant color and b/w illustrations throughout. Foxing on top edge, clean inside, binding tight. In very good condition.
Softcover. Piscataway NJ, Railpace Company , 1st, 1983, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 60 pages, many b&w illustrations. Invaluable book on the Central Railroad of New Jersey's famous Blue Comet train which ran for just over a decade from New York to Atlantic City. A glamorous idea which ran into the reality of the Depression and the expanding public highways, the Blue Comet was so lovely that Joshua Lionel Cowen, head of Lionel, used it to make one of their most elaborate standard gauge passenger sets. This book is divided into three parts -- the first is a detailed history of the line, explaining its origin, design, early success and ultimate failure. The second part is a discussion of the Blue Comet's rival, the Pennsylvania Railroad's Nelly Bly. The third section is a complete guide to modeling the train: how to create each of the cars (locomotive, passenger, dining, baggage, combine, and observation), mix the right paint colors, apply the decals, etc. There are illustrations on almost every page of completed models. Illustrated throughout with black and white photos. Includes maps, schematic car diagrams, timetables, advertisements and other ephemera. Covers have some tanning and soil. Interior is clean.
