TWENTY-FIVE YEARS HAVE PASSED since Sundance Publications' Dell A. McCoy called with exciting news. My first book, DENVER & NEW ORLEANS: IN THE SHADOW OF THE ROCKIES arrived from the bindery! The short commute from my Aurora home was filled with great anticipation, followed by an eagerly opened carton of books. A boyish grin defied Dell's sixty years as he handed me a factory fresh specimen with a request for me to "...stand in front of the store, with your book, for some publicity shots."

Date: November 15, 1997
Location: 225 Broadway, downtown Denver, Colorado
Event: a second generation tradition of Jones family railroad-themed media began.
 
My father, Robert C. Jones, passed on to the great roundhouse in the sky in January, 2021. I'd like to think dad is looking down on me, proudly smiling with his famous "Bob Jones grin" of approval as all new book on my favorite subject, COLORADO & SOUTHERN RAILWAY'S D&NO ROUTE, is added to Christmas 2022 wishlists, along with its video companion HERE COMES THE FLOOD THERE GOES THE TRAIN!

VERMONT RAIL SYSTEM A NEARLY SIXTY YEAR SHORTLINE SUCCESS STORY 
In general, our nation's rail network only makes the news when a disaster strikes. Imagine my excitement at seeing this family-owned operation on the colorful cover of this week's SEVEN DAYS newspaper! Jay Wulfson and his dedicated team revived much of the moribund RUTLAND RAILWAY during January of 1964. Passenger service returned this July, to rails that hadn't seen regular ridership since the Green Mountain Flyer breathed its last during 1953. It has been gratifying working with "this little railroad that could" on a half-dozen railroad documentaries ($12.50 each or money-saving multi-pack, with free shipping) and eight Rutland Remnants/Revisited titles during the past eighteen years. We still have a few hundred of the colorful hardcover VERMONT RAIL SYSTEM: A RAILROAD RENAISSANCE by the late Robert C. Jones, with three chapters written by me and skillfully edited by Marilee C. Jones. This father/son/daughter-in-law endeavor was a magical time for us. Remaining copies can be had for $29.95, less than 50% of the original price. Other Vermont and Northern New York titles include CROSSROADS TO CASKETS about the six-mile casket and potato-hauling Bristol Railroad (1892-1930), KEESEVILLE, AUSABLE CHASM & LAKE CHAMPLAIN: Adirondack Mountain Gateway (1890-1924) that escorted four U.S. presidents from Port Kent's D&H station to the famous natural wonder, and TROLLEY WIRES TO RUBBER TIRES' rail tales from Burlington, Winooski and Essex Junction's street car system (1885-1929) and the buses that replaced them. All are low numbered and signed.    

VINTAGE PRO WRESTLING AND VERMONT BASEBALL BOOKS MAKE THE LINE-UP 
My forty years as a radio personality, with fifteen as host on a nationally syndicated network, meant rubbing shoulders with many interesting characters. Larry Nelson, a radio co-host and former AWA and ESPN television personality, was a wordsmith of the highest caliber, whose wrestling tales fascinated even my one-track mind!. Larry's stories appear in STRANGLEHOLD, a paperback I co-authored and published twenty years ago. We still have some signed books for only $9.95 with free shipping. I'm occasionally read, with amusement, about people paying more than a hundred bucks for used copies when they can get new ones from the source for less than ten bucks! LITTLE FENWAY by Patrick O'Connor salute a pair of miniature baseball parks and a national fundraising event held near the tiny enclave of Jericho, Vermont. That, too can be yours for less than ten bucks. Sales proceeds will support production of VERMONT'S ISLAND LINE REVISITED, the first coffee table chronicle on the life and times (1901-1965) of an amazing island-line railroad through the Lake Champlain Islands. See our collection of forty DVD and download rail-themed documentaries starting at only $4.99.   
 
Season's Greetings, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year!

Love,
Jim and Marilee Jones
and our orange and white feline mascot Percy Lincoln