Sandrin, James (2005). Rio Grande in Color, Vol. 3. Scotch Plains, NJ: Morning Sun Books. ISBM 1-58248-065-6. 128pp. $59.95. The first two volumes in Morning Sun's Rio Grande in Color series approach their subject geographically; Vol. 1 is devoted to Colorado, while Vol. 2 covers Utah. While covering essentially the same time period as the first two volumes, Vol. 3 takes a temporal approach, presenting the Grande canvas in color in a year-by-year sequence, beginning in 1947. The result is a visually stunning trip through time, beginning with the Grande's postwar emergence from bankruptcy, with steam everywhere in evidence; diesels then make their appearance as the Grande comes into its own as one of American's most innovative and profitable railroads. Passenger service disappears just as new, superpower diesels come on to the scene; and then, all too soon, the Grande disappears in a series of corporate mergers that were to erase its identity. It is not an overstatement to say that this book tells the whole story of the postwar Grande in visual terms, with equal and appropriate attention to both standard and narrow gauge operations. What makes the story all the more compelling is the astonishing quality of the color separation and printing, which were done by the Kutztown Publishing Co. in Kutztown, PA. The photographs are generously sized, including a stunning, two-page overview of the Monarch Limestone Quarry that visually explains, in an instant, how the Monarch Branch's drop-off and pick-up operations worked. Moreover, it is apparent that careful attention was paid to getting the color just right. In picture after picture, you see the deep blue of high-altitude skies, and the Grande's beautiful Aspen Gold, which began its career on the yellow side and ended up substantially more orange, is perfectly rendered. The quality is affirmed when one examines the reproductions with a 5x or 7x Optivisor. In a lengthy freight or passenger consist, road names, car numbers, and a wealth of detail spring into view. A special treat in the book's opening chapters are a collection of photographs of Rio Grande steam by the late Robert F. Collins. Among them are some of the most beautiful photographs of the Grande I've ever seen. Overall, this book is, I think, the most emotionally and visually compelling work among an unusually fine collection of books that present the Rio Grande in visual terms, a fact that can be attributed not only to extraordinary quality of the color photograph reproductions but also to its year-by-year sequencing. The years go by far too quickly; the end comes all too soon, and it is very difficult to resist being pulled into nostalgia -- or, to convey the emotion more accurately, an almost unbearable sense of longing to be back in those days: to see the California Zephyr race past, to watch the L-131s belt their way up Tennessee Pass, or to take the throttle of a spanking-new 2nd-generation EMD unit at the head of a short, fast freight. There is inevitably a sense of loss when one gets into this frame of mind, but this book brings forth what has been lost with such beauty and vividness that the trip, however sad, is in the end deeply gratifying. This is, in sum, a book that belongs not only in the collection of every Rio Grande fan, but more broadly, of anyone who cherishes the memory of American postwar railroading. Bryan Pfaffenberger University of Virginia
Yikes, what a well-thought-out, and professional review report! I don't think I could deliver such a product if someone paid me.... Unless you show me enough greenbacks... I have all 3 volumes of this series, what a stellar book!
