BALTIMORE'S railroad enthusiasts have cause for celebration. A year after the publication of James D. Dilts' very serious, excellent 472-page history of the early years of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the B&O; Railroad Museum has come up with a popularized version that covers the story of that pioneering railroad company from its founding to the present.
The richly illustrated visitor's guide was written and edited by Shawn Cunningham and is available at the museum shop for $12.95 a copy. The book's 114 pages contain an amazing amount of information on all aspects of B&O; railroading, social history and the people who made it possible, from gandy dancers to Pullman porters. The book ends with a roster of rolling stock in the museum's collection.
Among the guide's many old photographs is one that shows the B&O;'s Mount Clare works at their peak. It is an eye-opener, which underscores what a vast facility -- and economic engine -- it was. Today's Mount Clare complex is only a rump, but the museum is always an interesting place to visit. This year, it even has a Christmas star at the top of the Roundhouse.
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BOOKS AND newspapers will soon be prehistoric relics in an age of interactive computers. So goes the futurists' warnings. Of course, they've been predicting the demise of old-fashioned reading habits for years -- and have been proved wrong.
James Laughlin IV founded the avant garde New Directions publishing house in 1936. It's been on the cutting edge of poetry and modern literature ever since. Here's how he sized up the situation in the current edition of Harvard magazine:
"My son Henry is a computer bug. He gave me a Macintosh to 'improve my writing of poetry.' But so far the struggle with the monstrous machine is a losing battle. The Mac makes me write things I have no intention of saying. I don't believe that computers are about to replace books. Think what a fine thing it is to read a book in bed -- are you going to take a computer to bed? Since Gutenburg, books have done pretty well for us."
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SEN. ROBERT KERREY, D-Neb., at a press conference discussing his commission's work on entitlements reform:
"Yesterday my staff came in and said that Speaker-designee [Newt] Gingrich was on the line. I was trying to find out if he really thought I was an elitist snob. And I picked, by accident, the phone up from a woman from Ohio who was calling in, angry with the proposal [to push back Social Security retirement age to 70]."
"She's 31 years of age and wants to retire at 55. She. . . said, 'I don't think I can I can't imagine living till 70 or working in this job.' "