The most extensive pictorial and written word on the DL&W ever published. A multitude of B&W photographs of engines, cars & equipment, stations, lineside structures, construction projects and local industries. Schedules, Maps and trackage arrangements at yards and industries served by the DL&W. A must have three volume set of the most complete and authoritative work on the subject. A "MUST-HAVE" for the serious student of RailRoadania.

If you're a modeler or this important North Eastern railroad you can't get along without it.

I consider this book a definitive work on the history of the Lackawanna Railroad in Warren and Sussex Counties of New Jersey. The section on the Sussex Branch alone makes it worth the price of the book.

This is one of the best Depression-Era stories involving a youth group that I have read or seen on Film. This book has FILM ME written all over it. It is a story of a group of young kids that hop railroad cars during the height of the Depression and learn the struggles of the real world as they battle hobos and truth, while they eventually recognize the need to be loved is a truth that cannot be defeated.

It is available in most larger libraries, usually in good condition or better.

This was a pretty good book. After a few chapters I lost the story line. But it's a good read and everyone should pick it up.

this was a good book, i especially liked the family scenes between samuel and the rest of the family, they were so funny, i didn't like how mikey starting changing after going to the all white school.the only thing that i didn'tlike about this book, was that some of the chapter seemed like short stories instead of part of the novel.

throughout the 20th century, blacks saw the northern united states as an area where they could go to be the people they couldn't be down south, under the cover of jim crow; they arrived in droves, finding work in factories, often living in tenements that were substandard, yet a far cry from the dilapidated accomodations they endured in the south. some blacks went on to live pretty good lives, others barely survived, often feeling as if they gave their soul to the devil to live like white people...

connie got it right: the language, the speech, the atmosphere, the feeling of time and place black people lived. the book starts out with a monstrously good first chapter, introducing samuel as an orphan working in a resteraunt saving up enough money to go north, and the strory gets stronger from there. he goes north and sends for his bride, mary kate, who is idealistic, yet is aware of a black person's place in white society. they go on to have a family, their oldest son, mikey, turns out to be gifted and gets the chance to go to private school, but in an attempt to better himself, he loses site of his identity. samuel and mary kate are aware of this, but at the same time, they encourage him to better himself, looking to him as a ticket to a better life.

it was interesting the way connie portrayed the two young black males, mikey and issac: mikey becomes educated and sophicticated and eventually becomes ashamed of his blackness, while issac, the same age as mikey, is ruined by the public school system and spirals downward into ruin. some the black people in the novel try hard to adapt to " whiteness" in order to survive. issac, in one scene cuts lawns for one of the bosses,and when he offers samuel the chance to make some extra money( their steel mill is on strike ) samuel refuses, calling issac an " uncle tom " and vows never to be " a white man's n----r. " there is another scene which mary kate is getting mikey ready for his first day at prep school; she checks to see if he is totally clean, finds out he isn't and proceeeds to scrub his body with clorox. that scene was very disturbing, just to show the lengths black people will go to keep up with whites... connie also did her homework in regards to the steelworkers and the life they lead: it's like you're working with them first hand. she also touches on quite a few other issues, most notably the racism blacks have for other races. this becomes apparent when she brings spanish characters into the all bright court. spanish people can be either black or white but are often look down on by some blacks and whites. the book reminds me of " the women of brewster place, " because of the tone and the way the chapters are set up. the writing is flawless,poetic and beautiful. in the chapter " november 22, 1963 " she talks about the kennedy assaination, but doesn't address it directly, instead she speaks through metaphors. you will never look at cotton or snakes the same way again...this book has a healthy dose of black folklore and magical realism. i can see why it got the praise it deserved.

The Erie Lackawanna, whose main line was New York-Chicago, was one of the more interesting US railroads. It was originally laid with a wider-than-standard track gauge, had wider clearances than competing railroads, and had unusually mild gradients, at least in Indiana and western Ohio. However, throughout its history, it was always clinging on for dear life, never a truly credible competitor against the larger railroads. Today, it's little more than a memory, and much of its main line track has been lifted. It's a shame, because railroad rights-of-way are impossible to assemble in this day and age. As the author points out, Erie Lackawanna would have been perfect as a 1990s-style carrier dedicated to container and 'piggyback' trains, thanks to its generous clearances. The Erie Lackawanna was also noteworthy for avoiding all significant cities between New York and Chicago - a liability in its heyday, but an asset in the container era.

This book might more accurately be labeled a 'financial history.' We're given an incredible depth of information about securities, taxation, business practices at headquarters, and biographical information of executives; the end result is thorough but something less than riveting. The most interesting portions describe the organizational turmoil resulting from Erie's acquisition of the Lackawanna, and the later acquisition by Conrail. Sadly, there is very little regarding rolling stock, stations, details of its route, or operating practices. This book has four excellent maps and about 20 black and white photos of rolling stock, plus various miscellaneous photos, especially formal pictures of executives.

The years immediately following the end of World War 2 were good ones for the nation's railroads. Flush with cash after record war time traffic, they set about to modernise their worn out systems. Tracks were upgraded, diesels were purchased to replace aging steam locomotives, buildings were painted and rolling stock, passenger and freight, were upgraded or replaced.But by the mid-1950's, the circumstances had changed. Increased highway competition was cutting into revenues while archaic labor agreements ("featherbedding"), high property taxes and crippling government regulations colluded to sap the roads of cash. The situation was particularly desperate in the northeast leading some railroads to seek merger partners.Two such roads were the Erie and the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western (Lackawanna). Running side by side in many places, the two companies were quite different. The Erie had been in and out of financial trouble for much of its existence, its stock attractive only to "venturesome investors" ("when Erie common pays a dividend, there will be icicles in hell"). The Lackawanna by contrast, was a smaller, but sturdy anthracite coal hauler whose stock was suitable for "widows and orphans" paying a regular and generous dividend well into the 1930's.But by the late fifties, the two roads could not meet expenses by revenues alone, survived by selling assets (property, equipment, etc.).They entered into merger talks and in 1960 merged as the Erie lackawanna.This book deals with the pre-merger planning and post merger jockeying to keep the merged company solvent. The merger trend was in its early phase at the time, so there were some difficulties. The corporate cultures came into immediate conflict. While it was supposed to be a merger of equals, it soon became evident that it was an Erie takeover. Said a happy former Erie official: "The place is just like the old Erie" while Perry Shoemaker, the former president of the Lackawanna told his former colleagues: "I feel terrible. I sold all of you down the river.H. Roger Grant follows the ups and downs in the 16 year existence of the company, paying particular attention to the brief, but important tenure of CEO William White. A "railroad man's railroad man," he came to the EL in 1963. He had creditability with lenders who had been reluctant to extend financing and he is generally credited with implimenting policies which would eventually reduce the deficit and even produce a modest profit. He is probably best known outside the industry for re-instating the premier "Phoebe Snow" passenger train, a mostly sybolic gesture, but an effective PRmove and employee moral booster.There was some cause for optimism in the late 1960's. The EL was able to negotiate more favorable labor agreements and attract more lucrative on-line industry. It received permission to discontinue its last long distance passeneger train, a considerable savings, and was now receiving substantial subsidies from the state for its North Jersey commuter operation.But a recession in 1970 along with soaring interest rates rocked the still fragile EL and by early 1972, out of cash and hounded by creditors, the company again was "on the brink." In June, a storm, which washed out vast sections of road, finally pushed the company into bankruptcy, thus joining a group that would soon include all major northeast railroads and lead to the creation of Conrail in 1976.Railroad fortunes improved in the 1980's due to government deregulation, more reasonable work rules and highway congestion which reversed the flow of freight traffic to trucks. Auther Grant contemplates what all this could have meant to the EL had it come about sooner. We will never know, of course, but as is illustrated by the heavily footnoted text, EL officials managed to operate an efficient and remarkably safe system regardless of the immense challenges-no small feat. It is seeing how they did it that makes this book interesting.

I've become interested in local history of N.E. Pennsylvania. This does cover some of what I'm looking for, but the made-up dialogues and fictionalization were unexpected. They are mostly too cute by half. All in all, a few interesting tidbits here and there, but a lot of chaff.

This book gives an amazing insight into the beginnings of the Lackawanna Valley, and into the reasons why Scranton & Wilkes-Barre continue a "Mason-Dixon" line of thinking! I took the book with me while on-call for Jury Duty on a Tuesday morning and couldn't put it down until I finished it (and we were excused from duty!) on Wednesday afternoon. Granted, it is not a "history book" in the purest sense of the term, but it IS a good history of the reasons why a new county was necessary, and a glimpse into the lives of the people who struggled and literally fought to accomplish their goal. This book should be "Required Reading" for every high school student, and every borough, city and county office-holder, in Lackawanna County!

I would not recommend this book to anyon

I chanced upon From Fire to Rust while scouring books about the decline of US industry. The tired and illogical blaming of "foreign competition" here has been put to rest; the fault, dear Brutus, is ours alone. As with Youngstown Sheet and Tube, Bethlehem's Lackawanna plant, south of Buffalo, NY fell victim to corporate bean counters with very short sight. The revelations in this book are central to explaining the entire US industrial decline and the stupidity of those corporate choices. More important, though, the book celebrates and elucidates the critical role of technology and labor, of wise investments and smart leaders. It's a must read for anyone caring about how we grew as a nation - and why we're in decline. It's beautifully written, wonderfully illustrated with historic and contemporary photos, and, even for us techophobes, explains how steel was made, how it changed, and why it's not replaceable in our economy. It also reminds us what makes a strong national economy - it is working people and their ingenuity, from the hard hats to the boardroom. Don't let the grumps who dislike admitting that corporate America is flawed steer you away from this outstanding book. After all - Enron execs won't like their biographies, either.

90% of this book is full page, black & white pictures of Lackawanna steam engines and the cars they are hauling.

Most pictures were taken between 1930-1950 in Northern New Jersey, such as Denville, Newark, Paterson, the Oranges. A few pictures of Pennsylvania and the "cut off".

Good 50/50 mix of freight / passenger photos. But, only 1 or 2 diesel or electric pictures.

No text about the company, just a few sentences here and there about the pictures.