Branchline steam action in the Maritimes during the 1950s

I do hope you’ve been enjoying this long, hot summer. Since we’d last been in touch, I’ve been busy working on the next couple of projects. Here’s an update: on them:

Speed Graphics and Steam 1959!

The hardcover Speed Graphics and Steam 1959! is coming along nicely. With the help of Wendell Lemon, Danny McCracken and Dara Legere, I’ve been laying down the narrative.

Most recently, the draft for the Maritime Railway section went into place. For that we’re 62 years back in time. Here’s engine number 10 crossing the Joggins–Maccan Highway at a spot known as the Strathcona Crossing, with the village of River Hébert in the background:

If you hadn’t pre-ordered Speed Graphics and Steam 1959! during our online launch in May, you will have received a flyer by post with a mail-in deadline of August 31, 2021 for the special all-inclusive price.

2022 Canadian Branchline wall calendar

The other project I’ve been preparing for you is our 2022 Canadian Branchline wall calendar. This one, like the 2020 edition, will feature crisp black-and-white views of locomotives in various settings familiar to readers of our books.

One of the picture candidates for the calendar takes us back 68 years to an idyllic July 1953 afternoon at Pennlyn, New Brunswick as CPR American Type 136 prepares to switch hopper cars on a nearby coal loading spur:

The 2022 Canadian Branchline wall calendar will go to the printer in October. We’ll start taking online pre-orders (at special all-inclusive prices, depending upon whether you’ll want it shipped separately or with your copy of Speed Graphics and Steam 1959!) for the calendar on September 1.

The Speed Graphics and Steam 1959! hardcover will go to the printer in late October and ship in mid-November.