From 1901 to 1937, the lone engine of the Delaware Valley Railway chugged up and down its solitary track, from the Stroudsburgs to Bushkill. It was a time of heady prospects as the resorts of the Delaware Water Gap pushed north up the valley. Modest farmhouses became vacation boardinghouses, and some then blossomed into grand hotels. The railway brought in vacationers by the carload, but it was not just about tourism. The dinkey hauled in coal for winter heat and hauled out lumber, dairy, and farm produce that kept the farmers in cash. Farm children commuted to town to earn their high school degrees. For more than a generation, the dinkey's whistle blowing over the valley linked its people and places.
Michelle Jacques and John Beljean have worked a total of 20 years as interpretive rangers at Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, a national park containing the upper two miles of the railway's route. Starting with hikes that searched for the right-of-way, the authors have combined the archives of historical societies, railroad museums, and local government with the scrapbooks of valley residents to recreate a corner of rural America and its encounter with the age of rail.