Real Stories of the Rails - Firsthand Accounts of Railroad Workers
What was it like to work on the railroad? Find out in this special collection of first-hand stories.
Stories feature:
- Late steam and early diesel periods (1920-1990)
- The duties of various employees.
- Real-life accounts from engineers, firemen, conductors, yardmasters, and more.
Author: From Trains Magazine
Size: 8.25 x 10.75
Pages: 192
Illustrations: 75
Book Review:
This latest of Kalmbach anthologies reproduces 41 stories taken from back issues of Trains in which people, primarily railroad employees, tell how railroads "really" were run in the years from old style operations in the pre-WWII era through dieselization. It is superbly printed on high quality paper and the photos are outstanding in quality and content.
The stories are from a wide variety of railroads in all parts of the country, but, alas, none from C&O or PM. The closest is a great story by Ed King about the N&W's Scioto Division in the early 1960s where he was Assistant Road Foreman of Engines.
If you like reading about how railroading was in reality from the day-to-day workings in any number of situations, this book will be interesting. I didn't read all the stories, but those that I did review were compelling, well-written, and held my interest throughout.
I recommend this book for what it is, a great compendium of how railroads operated "hands on" in this era. We read a lot about equipment and buildings, track and signals, and even operations from the standard point of view, but seldom like this from the actual "doers" view.
T W Dixon
