One thing that annoys the hooey out of me is a lack of information on steam in the southeastern US that isn’t Southern, L&N, or N&W. I remember someone telling me that I must know how to effectively search for things to find what I want. I have found a couple of books for sale online by Richard E. Prince that are overpriced as heck and I’ve even got one for the NC&StL (it’s great btw). But as an artist or a guy who is planning to learn how to kitbash…someday… a lack of reference photos online and a lack of detail oriented railroad related books in my local stores (In Chattanooga ironically) drive me bonkers yet I find how some people manage to find references. So now I ask, how does one effectively research online because as I’ve stated to a friend before, “Bing took a nose dive, Internet Explorer sucked from the start, Yahoo is…mixed, and Google finds everything but what I’m looking for half the time”
Here’s a starting point. Scroll down to NC&St.L
Gidday Seth, looking back through the “letters to the editor” of various model railroad magazines over the years, yours is not a new observation/complaint.
I don’t think $32 seems like an unreasonable price for a hardcover book.
Oh the Dixie Line’s not a problem for me, I already have a couple of books on them including the Richard E Prince one. It’s more of a problem for Seaboard, Central of Georgia, and Atlantic Coast Line, the lowest price I’ve seen on the Richard E Prince books regarding those two railroads on Amazon is nearly $50 a piece and they sky rocket from there. Ebay has nothing much at all. All the other books regarding those three are diesel era. (or in the Central’s case just a breif history on them and looking at diesels with one or two Big Apples)
I can’t ask the SAL/ACL/SCL Historical Society, because judging by their lack of updates on their site or useful information they seem to be a non-proactive group. THe Central of Georgia H.S. doesn’t give a lot of info on motive power however they are more active.
google allows search operators that help narrow down a search. The two most useful are the minus (-) in front of a keyword that deletes sites with these keywords from the search and to put multiple words between quotes (") to look for words in exactly that sequence.
Ooohhh, that’s handy
I’m not sure what part of their web site you are consulting, but it appears to have been updated earlier this month. Their quarterly magazine is still being published and a catalog of reference material is available that seems up-to-date. Likely more is available to members than to non-members – that is understandably the case with many historical societies.
Searching for books with www.alibris.com and www.abebooks.com can bring a wider range of choices, from dirt-cheap to eye-watering prices. Read the descriptions of condition, and the shipping prices, very carefully.
My experience searching finding books on subjects that interest me is that Amazon, including shipping, usually beats the Abebooks price… Also I only ordered through Abebooks twice. and it turned out only one time was the book really available. (My money was refunded promptly). The only problem I had with Amazon (overall 100’s of transactions - most books) was one seller sent me the wrong book twice before getting it right the third try. (it was 1/3 of a three vol series- I had purchased two of the vols at Brick and Mortar stores years before).
I have had pretty decent luck just with Google finding decent prototype on line photos of prototypes I am modeling. In color even. For instance Googling on “name of railroad” and “Steam” ought to get you some photos good enough to kitbash from, maybe even good enough to scratchbuild from.
Last time I looked the decent hardbacks, 8 1/2 by 11 with good color photos were $50 new. They must be pretty good since I seldom see used ones for sale. I have bought 3 or 4 of them over the years. The REALLY good books, like “Minuteman Steam” or “MR cyclopedia of Steam Locomotives” are out of print, occasionally turn up at train shows and go for $75.
Agree’d. Heck, there are some really nice color photo books by Chuck Conway - Rio Grande:Crest of the Continent and Rio Grande: Heart of the Rockies that retail for $89.97 each!!! I finally found Crest of the Continent used at a train show for $60 and the guy took my offer of $55 - and $60 asking was the lowest I’ve ever seen it for at that time about a year ago.
I paid $35 to $45 for most of my Morning Sun Books which I value highly and use all the time. What is the old saying, YMMV but some things cost a little more but are worth it too once you get over the sticker shock. For nice color books, they are simply pricey and the more recent they are published, the pricier they are. The Rio Grande books are a prime example.
I have 1,599 photos of Southern Railway steam locomotives on my website.
I am finalizing an update that will add another 240 steam locomotives photos and bring the total photos to over 8,200 photos.
Your site is my go to for SOU photography, keep up the good work there