AFTON – The Afton Historical Society is pleased to present a special program with local author and rail enthusiast John Taibi. Earlier in 2014, Taibi introduced volume two of “Roads, Rivers, and Rails,” which chronicles the various modes and means of transportation evolution though rural upstate New York. Taibi is an author of 12 books and has penned more than 120 short stories that shed light on varying aspects of railroad history.
In “Roads, Rivers and Rails,” Taibi provides readers with a ride in his automobile and drives them through Route 7 communities that had at one time been richly served by the railroad. In volume one—published in 2012—the Albany-Schenectady to Oneonta portion of this highway corridor was explored. Volume two highlights the westward journey picking up in Oneonta and progressing south-westerly from Otego and Wells Bridge, Unadilla, Sidney, Bainbridge, Afton, Nineveh, Harpursville, Tunnel, Sanitaria Springs, and Port Crane before ending at Binghamton – the Parlor City.
The auto tour in book form gives readers a unique perspective of the region that the railroad had served to develop, how the railroad interacts with its neighboring roadways – with an emphasis on the modern-day NYS Route 7 and its ancestral origins – and water-borne “highways” that were serving the region since before the coming of the railroad itself.
The Susquehanna River is one of the world’s most ancient waterways and America’s oldest major river. It keeps the Susquehanna Division Heritage Trail company from when they first meet at Cooperstown Junction – near Colliersville all the way to Nineveh, where the two temporarily part before reuniting at Binghamton. The railroad also interacts with other waterways such as the Cobleskill and Schenevus Creeks, the Unadilla River, and many more minor streams.
In his writings, Taibi forms an interesting and informative look at an area rich in history, notable persons, and thriving industry. During the event, which also serves as the initial public offering of the second volume, Taibi will take questions from guests and offer more insight into the development of the project.
“‘Roads, Rivers, and Rails’ is not just devoted to the railroad; It is a fresh look at the complex network of villages, people, and landscape that provided the railroad with a prosperous amount of financial and sightseeing revenue,” said Taibi.
The two part series perpetuates the memory of the three-pronged transportation corridor and in so doing reinforces stories, memories, and lore of generations of families who had been fortunate to live along this railroad, went to school and worked in communities along NYS Route 7, and enjoy the endless beauty of the landscape created by nature through which mighty rivers run.
Taibi proudly considers himself a “railroad environmentalist,” a term which he describes as “someone who writes about railroading and the environment though which trains operated then and now.” He lives and writes within an ex-Ontario & Western Railway depot he owns and has restored in Munnsville, New York, and is a frequent lecturer throughout the region about which he writes.
Railroad enthusiasts and history readers alike are invited to meet John Taibi at 2 p.m. on Nov. 8 in the Susquehanna Room of the Bolster Community Center located at 105 Main Street in Afton. Taibi will be speaking on the history of the D & H Railroad in the Afton area, and field questions from audiences members pertaining to local rail history.