Nickel Plated?

Most likely the book by Al Stauffer. It is about steam, and probably shows lots of reefers, especial since the NKP was the "bridge railroad" from Chicago to Buffalo, were the connected with the DL&W.

The CB&Q picked up MANY trains of NP and GN reefers in St Paul, MN, brought them to just west of Chicago at Congress Park, IL. At Congress Park (about 9 miles west of Chicago), the reefers where interchanged to the IHB RR who delivered them to the NKP, then on to Buffalo and New York City on the NKP & DL&W

Thanks! Hot Water...that is an author I recognize although I haven't seen that book

and I will be looking for it to see if it is the one...sounds like it could be.

Could the book be "The Nickel Plate Story" by author John A. Rehor? John Rehor, as I learned on this forum, was a safety instructor on the NKP and a very distinguished, oft published railroad and steam photographer. 

there is also, "The Berkshire Era, A Pictorial Review of the Nickel Plate Road; 1934-1958"  edited by John A. Rehor and Philip T. Horning.  the cover photo could be a string of reefers, though it looks more like a mixed freight.  excellent book if you're a NKP Berkshire fan.

Hot, Al Staufer never did a NKP book.  He couldn't have improved on Rehor in any event.

Ed King

Mr. King: THAT explains why my search never turned up a Stauffer book on the NKP..

thanks!

Believe Al Staufer was a New York Central expert and author.

Thanks Ed, and Mark. THAT is exactly the NKP book by John H. Rehor, I was thinking of.

There is another "The Nickel Plate" book by Taylor Hampton, that I discovered....

anybody knowledgable on that one, and how it compares to Rehor?  I am trying

to find the right one and don't want to spring for a lot of them for a road I don't

model...

The Taylor Hampton book (she was a female writer) was authorized by the NKP as an official history in the late 1940's.  It is a fine book but does not hold a candle to THE NICKEL PLATE STORY by John Rehor.

Staufer had a farm or something in northern Ohio; he was acquainted with some of the NYC motive power officials and did three NYC books: Power, Older Power, and Thoroughbreds (which covered, more or less, the Hudsons).

He did two books on PRR steam and one each on C&O, B&O, Erie and New Haven.  His books are notable for excellent photo quality on heavy paper; less notable for facts and least notable for his photo captons.

Whatever their faults Staufer's books are valuable additions to the literature.

If you can find Rehor's Nickel Plate Story, you can't do any better; it's one of the best rail histories I've ever read, and his comprehension of the motive power end of things is superb.  He was not only a superb researcher, but also was an excellent writer, and the book is a great read.

EdKing