Hi All

I had a dinner with a coworker and his family. The coworkers wife and Son visited the Railroad Museum in Ely, NV and the young man enjoyed the visit. I figured that I would share a few railroad books and videos with him. I went to the book shelf and looked for something that would interest someone his age (about 12). The locomotive cyclopedias and air brake manuals and other technical books were out. I took a book on the Nevada Northern I know as the Silver book which is a lot of pictures of the Nevada Northern. I also choose the DVD "Runnin that New River Train" because it showed the Cab of NKP 765 and was not a bunch of run bys. I also wanted story book involving the human factor in railroading. I hate the generic train books which are filled with photos but do not have anything of substance. The books I considered was Norwood’s "Rio Grande Remembrances", Mr. Gould’s "My Life as a Mountain Railroader" and Mr. Richardson’s first book on "Chasing the Narrow Gauge".
While I choose as the first book to be Mr. Norwood’s Rio Grande Remembrances I was wondering if there are other book that people could suggest.

Thanks
Robby Peartree

Robby -

Nicely done! A young man (I believe about 12 or 13) visited HVRM recently with his grandfather who explained to me his interest in trains, and the Monon Railroad in particular. The two of them had even followed the Monon trackage in northwestern Indiana on car trips. It just so happened that a donor had given some boxes of items to the museum recently and I had picked out an HO gauge Monon freight car earlier that day. While the young man and his grandpa were riding our train, I got to thinking about it and decided to give the youngster the Monon HO car upon his return to North Judson. Don't know if that will keep him on the rail preservation path, but thought with his interest, it was worth a try. We need to reach out to those youngsters who are on the path!

Les

I think most of us have been in our early teens, maybe not interested in railroads then though. So what did you read then? I spent most of a summer reading my Dad's 1940's-1950's Railroad magazines, especially the stories, like Eddie Sands, the boomer telegrapher.
I think Superpower (www.weitzmanbooks.com/superpower.html) would be a great choice for any kid interested in steam engines.

WHAT!!!!!!?????????????????
I had McShane's "Locomotive Up to Date" memorized by the time I was 13 and the H-6 port arrangements memorized by the time I was 14. What made you think he was only interested in picture books?

I grew up on the stories in Railroad Magazine, although I was really more interested in the photography of Virgil Staff. Today's rail magazines seem to focus on the hard core news geared towards the older generations with little interest in attracting the younger people to the industry. There's no bridge between Thomas the Tank Engine and the business of railroading.

I grew up mostly in the '80s. My two favorites were the compilation of railroad folklore by Botkin and Harlow and Freeman's "Railroad Avenue". Our public library recognized those books for the treasures they were and kept them in circulation over forty years. I have a copy of each of those in my personal collection-the Botkin and Harlow book still has the original dust jacket in decent condition.

I read this book a few years ago, and I thought it was fairly good at presenting the human aspect of railroading in a long-gone era of Company Men, individual sense of personal obligation, and personal pride in simply performing one's craft.

I don't recall tons of technical jargon or details that would only interest a railroader, or a rivet-counter... My recollection is that it would be a good book for a teenager.

Is there an illustrated book for middle-school age kids, addressing how steam, Diesel, and electric, locomotive compare internally? I'm looking for something that clearly explains the adaptation and transfer of energy into motion. Not too deep in technical terms, but written at a level that doesn't demean the intellect.

Suggestion?

When I was growing up in the 1980s I also pored over old back issues of Railroad Magazine from the 1940s and 1950s, and I consider them some of the finest popular railroad literature ever published and a portal into a different era. Issues from that period are readily available on eBay and I think should still be of interest to any history-minded young person.

-Philip Marshall

One of my favorite reads when I was young was "Jeff Roberts: Railroader" by Edward Ford. The story follows a young man who hired out for engine service on the B & O out of Baltimore. There are various dangers and conflicts that the man deals with, until he finally wins out. Lots of interesting details of late 1940's railroading.

Michael Seitz
Missoula MT

A favorite of mine is" Clear the Tracks: The Story of an Old-time Locomotive Engineer" by Joseph Bromley

https://www.amazon.com/Clear-Tracks-Old ... B00125X5YU

It deals with railroading from the link and pin hand brake era up until about WWII

WHAT!!!!!!?????????????????
I had McShane's "Locomotive Up to Date" memorized by the time I was 13 and the H-6 port arrangements memorized by the time I was 14. What made you think he was only interested in picture books?[/quote]

Hi Matt

I have to admit that at 13 I was reading the old steam locomotive inspection code. I read that because schools do not allow the magazine people read for the articles even thou the Japanese addition did an article on the C&TS a number of years back. Things that have changed in the industrial world.

But in all seriousness the Nevada Northern (NN) book is to give him something to relate to his recent visit to the NN. there are little writings on the subject of the Nevada Northern. I hope a friend changes that but he is never done doing research. The Norwood book is about his experiences as a railroad employee so it is not all photographs. For those of you that do not know Mr. Norwood's story he broke in as a telegrapher and worked up to VP. He hiked from Rockwood to Silverton after the flooding in 1970. He was a trainmaster out of Alamosa for a while. Richardson's book on chasing the narrow gauge paints a counter picture in some ways.

The young man has an interest but I would not call it the intense level of interest that I had. Unless you are intensely interested in steam locomotive maintenance I thing such writings can overwhelm and discourage people.

The interest in preservation I believe needs to be cultivated. Most of us start with an interest in trains and then we discover other aspects of the hobby.

Tech books would be great to use in STEM work that his mother works with. When I worked for Phelps Dodge we did a discussion of electricity using a LGB 0-4-0t to talk about current flow, how light works and other things. Air brakes have many possibilities with STEM.

I appreciate the different suggestions that have been posted.

Robby Peartree

To add to the fine suggestions already posted, I feel that there were a number of fine stories in older issues of TRAINS. Two that come to mind are "Last Chance" by a guy named Crosby and "Night Dragons & Geeps"

The one by Crosby, his first name may have been John, was about an unexpected trip that he made in a Pennsy T-1. Neither he nor the engineer had expected to draw that type of locomotive, but they made the most of it with a late passenger train. Using mileposts for time, they got it up to 120 mph and received a nice talking to by an official when they got to the terminal. He effectively said, good job but don't try it again.

As I said, there used to be some quality writing in TRAINS, not so much any more IMHO.

John Crosby had a few other articles, included Second Engine 28 about firing the Broadway out of Chicago- great stories!

Growing up (I'm 37) I picked up old TRAINS and RAILFAN wherever I could because I enjoyed reading older issues. I still do and hang on to most.

The local library had a nice selection of books by Ball, Collias, and Ziel as well as a splendid book called Little Railways of the World and I've slowly been picking up them for my own library.

Joshua

Doing some thinking on this, and some classics that I was into at that age or would consider for this reader would be:

Herbert Hamblen's "The General Manager's Story" (originally published in 1898, novel),

William Pittenger's "Daring and Suffering, A History of the Andrews Railroad Raid,"

Freeman Hubbard's "Railroad avenue: Great Stories and Legends of American Railroading" (1945), which is an anthology of railroad legends, such as Casey Jones, Kate Shelley, the Andrews raid again, and other stories,

Henry B. Comstock's "The Iron Horse" (1974) (history of American locomotive development, illustrated by the author, who was also an artist of some ability),

Hollister Noble's "One Way to Eldorado" (1954) (novel)

Stuart Leuthner's "The Railroaders" (1983), a collection of interviews with former and some current railroad men.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Hamblen

https://books.google.com/books?id=WcgWA ... en&f=false

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_P ... r_(soldier)

https://books.google.com/books?id=TWkKJ ... &q&f=false

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeman_H._Hubbard

https://www.amazon.com/Iron-Horse-Henry ... 0883651971

Examples of artwork (in these cases from a back issue of "Boys Life," a publication by Boy Scouts of America):

https://springfieldmuseums.org/wp-conte ... e-1971.jpg

https://springfieldmuseums.org/wp-conte ... 4d32-4.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollister_Noble

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/n/holl ... dorado.htm

https://www.amazon.com/Railroaders-Stua ... 0394518616

The emphasis in this selection is more on the reading, including an element of adventure, which is one thing that seems to interest boys. This includes the two novels, "The General Manager's Story" and "One Way to Eldorado," which also have a lot of authentic railroad atmosphere.

I know, a lot of these are older, but most, very likely all, should be available, and some have been reprinted.