Customer Reviews

Norfolk & Western's Shenandoah Valley Line

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This book is chock full of historical accounts on the life of the SVRR line. Goes into details of many of the businesses that sprang up along the line. Does a pretty good organizational job for being in a printed format. Tons of pictures, timetables, even a few maps. The foldout map in the back isn't great, it is similar to the one available free at the Library of Congress site. Years covered goes from the organization of the RR, through N&W acquisition, to the 1970's. That is about 100 years covered in over 200 pages of small-typeface font. Can't stress enough on how much pertainent information is present.

Not just facts are listed. He has, painstakingly I'm sure, pulled together peices of information into bigger-picture analysis. It is extremely well written, and quite easy to follow.

Reviewers Comment:

It is a shame that such historically valuable, labor-intensive books like this are printed in such small batches that the ones ending up making all the money are the hoarders instead of the authors. I was lucky (after a year of searching) to find a reasonably priced copy. Libraries 50 miles away from the line don't even have copies, and libraries that do have won't lend it out.