I so enjoy hearing about these little stories from all the old timers concerning events in the steam era. Those every day moments that, nonetheless, stood out to certain people and became fodder for storytelling many years down the line. If any of you have stories from old timer family and friends to share about their experiences, please share!

My grandfather worked for the PRR and the Reading when he was just 16 or 17. He used to tell me when I was young about how he loved walking through the yards (he gave me a name, but time has taken that away from me, but I know it was in Philadelphia) and looking at all the engines of both railroads. He said the Reading engines were always a little more polished than the Pennsys. Go figure.

Another one came from an old book called "The Search for Steam" where the author tells of how when trains departed from Chicago, the NYC train would always leave first, followed by the C&EI's "Zipper". But sometimes if the NYC train was running late, the Zipper was allowed to go first, but it had to MOVE! He'd watch the Zipper approach a station outside the city, stop for a quick drink of water, then it'd take off really fast as if it were running from something. Then a few minutes later, you'd find out why it fled so fast. A NYC Hudson would scream past the station at over 90 miles an hour, with such ferocity that, in the authors words, the onlooker "could only gaze in wonderment as it disappeared over the horizon." (not exact words, I'm going on memory)

There are others, but I can't remember them right now...so let's hear what stories you guys have to tell! :D

I recommend Little Engines and Big Men and Rio Grande Glory Days by Gilbert A Lathrop.

Such a shame that while many groups and people are scrambling to get the personal stories of WW2 vets while they're still among us, I doubt any similar effort is underway to record the experiences of people who ran steam.
I had a neighbor who had bene a hogger for the SP is the steam days. I was in the Army then and rarely had time to go talk to him, but I spent a very nice afternoon with the man once when i simply knocked on his door and asked if he'd like to talk steam. Turns out, he'd run GSs after WW2. Oddly enough, we were not that far from 4449 but he'd never gone to see her or talk with anyone who ran her. I offered to drive him down there when it was going to run, but he didn't seem interested.
He passed soon after that, but I'll never forget that he told me in all those years, I was the only person who had ever asked him about running locomotives. How sad is that?

Very sad. And it isn't just railroaders. Few people ever think to ask questions of those who went before them. It is tragic that so much knowledge dies with the generations.

I've gotten more interested in the era from the 1920s to the early 1960s by being a rail enthusiast, the reason being that those trains of the time didn't exist in a vacuum; they were part of a larger world.

About other books; I can also recommend "Railroad Man," by Chauncey del French; "The General Manager's Story," by Herbert Hamblen (a novel in autobiographical style, but very authentic; the author had been in engine service for 16 years); "No Royal Road," buy Edgar Custer; and "Life On A Locomotive: The Story of Buddy Williams, C&NW Engineer," by George H. Williams, and "The Railroad Caboose," by Bill Knapke. All of these are in addition to the titles mentioned above.

I haven't read it, but a number of others have strongly recommended "Set Up Running: The Life of a Pennsylvania Railroad Engineman, 1904-1949," by John W. Orr, it's the story of his father, Oscar Orr, who, among other things, was often chosen for dynamometer runs on the Standard Railroad of the World.

http://www.amazon.com/Set-Running-Penns ... 027102741X