Okay, let's get serious.? Enough about the Black Widow fiddle-faddle, you wild optimists.? We had New York Central lightning stripes on Metro North FL9s and on E8s, so us East Coast types have died and gone to heaven.

Now, here's a question:? how much is too much?

For those of us who are New York Central fans, and especially those who marvel at the concept of a railroad straight through the Adirondack Park, we are now twice blessed.? John Ham produced a book of incredible black and white photographs of the NYC's Adirondack Division.? Now, just a couple of years later, John Taibi has disgorged his own tome on said division with both b/w and color content.

Where's the problem?

Is 800 pages too much to bear? That's the page count for the Taibi book.

I am a reasonably healthy male with full use of arms and hands.? YOU try reading this boat anchor! It is not bedtime reading.? It is not favorite easy chair reading.? This thing ought to be read when flat on a table, so as to not tire arms or the binding.

I wonder if the binding will survive the handling required to even attempt one reading.? There is no indication of where it was printed, or by whom, that I can find, and the binding and boards appear to be sturdy -- for now.? Unlike many of the recently-produced books printed in China, it does not appear to have skimpy boards that are too thin to survive a good long life.

Why not split such a project into a two-volume set, if there is not to be any rational editing? Even as a lifelong New York Central fan, I can see that I have no hope of ever getting through this book even once, even if I did find 80 pages of section houses to be just absolutely fascinating.

In addition, even given the massive page count, I find that there are many, many photographs that could have been much larger.? There is no question that these medium format images would have stood up to half- or full-page rendering.? All told, odd decisions seem to have been made in editing and layout, in that respect.

Opinions?

Dave Saums

Amesbury MA