I received the following inquiry:
my name is chuck zukowski i work for the fairbanks historic preservation foundation in fairbanks alaska. i'm having problems location a book titled THE CAR BUILDERS DICTIONARIES by GREGG K.NEWTON i have the job of restoring the president harding car "DENALI" and i understand that this book has everything i need to do the restoration of the harding car. i hope you might be able to help me locate this book or another book to help me out. thank you
chuck
If anyone can help him out please e-mail me for his e-mail address.

Boyd

bowens@rypn.org

I think the author you are looking for is Newton Gregg, who produced several such books as reprints of the original books in this series. There were many done for various years and a series of softcover books consisting of excerpts or compendia. They often consisted of a photo, and line drawing for a group of related cars, and presented a wealth of info but probably would not have 'everything' you need to do a restoration.

I believe Newton Gregg has passed away and some of the remaining stock was marketed by his son, but as of now you will need to look through used book dealers via mail and e mail, if you know the volume or issue you are looking for.

It might be a good start, but you need to know more of the basics of the car including the builder, date it was built and if it was used by any other railroads or operated by the Pullman Company, for example.

The researching is very important, and can be a long slow path, but very rewarding. It is often like a puzzle where you might collect missing pieces of info not knowing exactly how they are related or fit together, but eventually they do form a picture.

If it ran on another railroad, there are historical societies for many of the old fallen flags; if it was built by Pullman Car, the Newberry Library in Chicago and the Pullman Library at the Illinois Railway Museum MAY have drawings, specifications, maintence records, operating assignments, and a lot of data which could help.

Good Luck in your quest.

Bob Kutella


68trolley@comcast.net

> I received the following inquiry:
> my name is chuck zukowski i work for the
> fairbanks historic preservation foundation
> in fairbanks alaska. i'm having problems
> location a book titled THE CAR BUILDERS
> DICTIONARIES by GREGG K.NEWTON i have the
> job of restoring the president harding car
> "DENALI" and i understand that
> this book has everything i need to do the
> restoration of the harding car. i hope you
> might be able to help me locate this book or
> another book to help me out. thank you
> chuck
> If anyone can help him out please e-mail me
> for his e-mail address.

> Boyd

"Car Builder's Dictionary" was first published in 1879 as a project commissioned by the Master Carbuilders Association. In the early 1970's Newton K Gregg published reprints of three of the editions--the original 1879 edition, the 1888 edition edited by Matthias N. Forney, and the last reprint was of the 1906 edition (this was the last edition originally published by the Railroad Gazette--subsequent editions were published by [still-in-business] Simmons-Boardman).

The Newton K Gregg series "Train Shed Cyclopedia" were reprinted topical selections from the original Dictionaries and Cyclopedias (i.e. "Train Shed Cyclopedia No. 11--Caboose Cars 1879-1943). These are typically available on eBay for between $5 and $15 each.

BTW, I have noted original editions of Car Builders Dictionary sell for several hundreds of dollars. Hope this helps.

sc 'doc' lewis



eBay Search
utweyesguy@aol.com

Is this what you're after?

The Car Builder's Dictionary 1888
Kentfield, CA: Railroad Gazette, 1888/Newton K. Gregg 1971. Cloth. Fine/No Jacket. Revised and Enlarged Ed. 8 1/4" x 8 1/4". Green boards with gilt lettering to spine. Compiled for the Master Car Builders Assoc. Well illustrated with B&W photos, illustrations, graphs, and charts. Contains approx. 2200 parts and accompanying figures. + 26 pages of ads. Binding is tight and text is clean and bright. ISBN:0912318015 Bookseller Inventory #000258
Price: US$ 25.00

Go to www.abebooks.com and search under titles for Car Builders Dictionary.