Grandpa's Road - Book on CD

I have the hardback, why should I buy the cd?

The book was originally conceived and created on a computer. Because of that, a CD version was always planned from the beginning. The limitations in publishing is such that to truly cover all the available pictures and, most important, have them all in color would have meant the print version would sell for something north of $175 a copy. That would have certainly limited sales of it for sure.

The CD version affords the opportunity to present all of the pictures and additional text that simply could not be included in the print version.

The print version works well for those people who model the NC and would like to have a particular picture from the book propped up beside them while they are at their work bench crafting a model and want to have the picture of the prototype engine or rolling stock there for reference purposes.

The print version also is truly the only way certain NC fans can enjoy the book if they do not have a computer. There are certain fans who prefer being able to see the book resting on the shelf where they display their other railroad history books and what not.

The CD version is more of everything that someone interested in the NC would want at a price that is very reasonable. A subtle difference between the book and the CD version will be staring you in the face if you set the two side-by-side. Can you figure out the difference (besides the fact that one is a book and the other is a CD)?

What content has been added?

More of everything that the print version contains.

The CD is literally double the length of the print version - from 272 pages to 544 pages. All of the pictures that are in color in reality, are now in color in the CD version. The print version could only contain a 16-page color segment which is included at the tail end of the book.

There are hundreds of more pictures that have been included on the CD that simply couldn't be fitted into the print version.

There is a considerably larger section on modeling the NC and a number of pictures of Master NC Modeler Tom Knowles' NC roster and layout have been included. This was done to help hopefully inspire readers to consider modeling the NC themselves if they haven't already begun to do so. These pictures show the depth and range of modeling you can accomplish and how the memory of the NC can be preserved through all of this modeling.

Does the CD version follow the same format as the print version?

Yes and no.

Basically the CD version follows the same chapter pathways as the print version. There have been changes and additions in text throughout the CD version. A goodly number of typoes that escaped every proofreader during the print version process have been caught and corrected in the CD version. It is still not perfect, but it's closer.
Where the CD really differs is when you get to "Bonus" sections that fall into place behind the regular chapters. This is where most of the additional pictures got added. They are not in specific order in these bonus chapters. There are reasons for this - one is that the idea was for this whole section of the CD to be a surprise grab bag of photo goodies - so it's kind of like opening up presents on Christmas morning - you never know what you're going to get next; the second reason is that because the CD represents the "Director's Cut Version" approach, I didn't want to catalogue all these pictures into specific pigeonholes - I wanted each bonus section to flow along in its own way and its own direction.

You'll probably never run across another railroad history book like this one because of that, but the NC was unique and now so is the CD version.

OK, I've got the cd. Now how do I read it?

The "chapters" are all saved as individual pdf files, and require Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to be viewed. The Reader is available as a free download from www.adobe.com. We strongly recommend downloading the latest version (6 or greater) in order to utilize some of the advanced features.

Some systems occasionally have problems with the autorun file. If this is the case, insert the cd and open a directory of the cd (Windows Exploring), and then open contents.pdf or the specific file you are interested in.

From this contents file, you can jump to any section of the book. If you are using Acrobat Reader 6.0 or greater, you can also open the Bookmarks tab on the left, and navigate from there (only works on the contents page). You can also use the advanced search feature, which is explained further on the last page of contents.

At the end of every chapter you have the option of "Menu" which will return you to the contents page, or "Next" which will advance you to the next section of the book.

If you experience the autorun problem on Windows XP, there is a fix available through Microsoft.

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