Could this book possibly be called "Last Train to Eldorado" ? It would make a very good movie script if it is the one I am thinking of. Wonder where one could get a copy, haven't read it in years.

James

Yup, that's it (The Third Level)! Confirmed by a Google/Amazon search. Thanks!

The only title I can think of is "Jeff Roberts: Railroader", a fictional account of a boy getting a job as a call boy and working his way up the ranks to fireman and engineer--while dealing with somebody who wants to derail his career. It appears to be based on the B&O and is fairly accurate in describing late steam era railroading. If somebody is interested, I'll try to find it and note the author, etc.

The Iron Trail by Rex Beach is a fictionalized account of building the White Pass & Yukon, written in 1912, shortly after the lines construction. Its a fun read, and a good account of the lines construction.

There is also a "guide" to the book, identifying the real people behind the fictional account, entitled The Copper Spike, by Lone E Janson (ISBN 0-88240-066-5).

Though probably not an epic novel, there was a book advertised briefly in rail magazines of the 1960s called "Dinky", said to be the story of two teenagers who find and restore a small industrial saddletank steam locomotive to operation. Did anyone here ever read it? Probably pretty juvenile, but much like what some among us are doing as middle aged codgers today.

I was suffering brain fade… the Iron Trail is about the construction of the Copper River & Northwestern, not the White Pass. The two lines do share geography, and a central, larger than life character, Michael J Heney, the engineer who built both lines….

The Frank H. Spearman books The Nerve of Foley, Held for Orders, The Daughter of a Magnate, and Whispering Smith were republished by The Paper Tiger in 1996. I got copies of these from the Colorado State RR Museum bookstore. They are selling for about $10 each. The first two are collectoins of stories orginally published around 1900. I really enjoyed these and it was interesting to figure out some of the old jargon. I had never heard of the practice of "blocking frogs".

I purchased original copies of Frank L. Packard's The Night Operator and Running Special on abebooks.com. These are also collections of stories originally published around 1910. These are not as well written as the Frank H. Spearman stories.

A collection published in 1996, Short Lines, a Colleciton of Classic American Railroad Stories contains 14 stories by different authors, published between 1897 and 1947. It includes stories by Spearman, Packard, Cy Warman, Octavious Roy Cohen, Jack London and Rudyard Kipling. The contrast in styles is interesting. This book was available for $5, remaindered, I think it's a great value.

One of the interesting things about railroad fiction is how popular it once was and that it has practically dissappeared. It's as though Science Fiction or Detective stories were to no longer published. What would be a contemporary equivilant, Airplane disaster stories? The dissapearence reallly says something about how railroads were once a daily part of life and are no longer.

Guys,

I want to put in another word for Harry Bidwell's Snads stories. here is a boomer dispatcher and telegraph operator who has some amazing adventures.

While he works on steam roads at least two of them are about the Pacific Electric. Stories of electric traction are even rarer than steam stories.

While the Railroad magazine once had a lot of fiction and as noted it is now extinct. I wonder if there is a British magazine that may still be running some? Railway was started in 1897 and may still have some fiction.

Does anybody ever read it?

Ted Miles

"The Road" by John Ehle is an excellent FICTIONAL tale of the final construction phase of the Western North Carolina Railroad over the famed "Asheville Loops". The book is available at Amazon.

Matt Bumgarner
Tarheel Press

For a wonderful page-turner, I would recommend Night Probe by Clive Cussler. It tealls a wonderful story of a late 18th century steam train hidden in an abandoned mine and then found a hundred or so years later. Yes, it's pure fantasy; but fun.

There is a railroad fiction story in the works at the following internet address. There are a number of chapters to the story now and every so often the author will add a new one. It is worth reading.

CHASING THE DAYLIGHT
Address:

http://www.geocities.com/conductor12200 ... light.html