Splendor Sailed the Sound: The New Haven Railroad and the Fall River Line [VINTAGE 1989]

Foster, George H.; Weiglin, Peter C.

Published by Mid-State Associates / Potentials Group Inc., Tuscan, Arizona / San Mateo, California, 1989

About this Item

Fine condition textured dark blue faux leather oversized boards contained in a near fine condition non price-clipped color illustrated dust jacket. The rear upper jacket edge contains a 1/2 inch repaired closed tear, otherwise the jacket is in fine condition. Includes Foreword and Acknowledgments; Dedication; Introduction; Appendix A: The Fleet List; Appendix B: Property List; Appendix C: Glossary; Bibliography and Index. Profusely illustrated with 450 large format black-and-white photographs and illustrations, a color nautical frontispiece; and photographic front and rear endpapers. "Comprehensively and painstakingly researched over a quarter of a century." - from the rear outer jacket "This book is a photographic and text celebration of an American institution. In their day, the Fall River Line steamboats were known around the world as the finest inland waterway vessels afloat. They attracted this attention despite the regularity of their service, day after day and night after night, between New York City and ports on and beyond Long Island Sound (of which Fall River MA was only one). Only the fog occasionally impeded movement, or caused collisions and groundings; the miracle is that, particularly in the days before wireless and radar, the Sound fleet completed its appointed rounds with as good a safety record as it had. This, of course, made an accident, when it did occur, all the more lurid and sensational. The heavy passenger and freight traffic between New York and New England contributed to the growth of the region. The classic passenger journey was between New York and Boston, via luxury steamboat between New York and New London CT, Stonington CT, or Fall River MA, and a connection train to Boston. Further, when the Vanderbilts and their set went to Newport RI for the summer, the boats were the Only Way To Go. In freight traffic, the Sound saw the beginning of express service, the beginning of containerized freight, and the activities of the New Haven and other railroads to compensate for the notoriously poor rail access to New York City. Here too are the early days of some financial and business titans who were destined for bigger things: "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, J. Pierpont Morgan, Jim Fisk, Jay Gould, Phineas T. Barnum, and others, including the captains and sailors who conquered time and the elements on a daily basis." - from the inner front jacket flap.

Seller Inventory # 002608

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Splendor Sailed the Sound: The New Haven Railroad and the Fall River Line [VINTAGE 1989]
• Publisher: Mid-State Associates / Potentials Group Inc., Tuscan, Arizona / San Mateo, California
• Publication Date: 1989
• Language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine