BLOOMINGTON, April 29 -- The only book of on-the-job, true stories told firsthand by six generations of steam engineers, firemen, conductors, brakemen, switchmen, dispatchers, yardmasters and superintendents on Southern Pacific, Western Pacific, Santa Fe and Amtrak - and the first women engineers in California, "Old Rails' Tales: Anecdotes, Stories & Memoirs on the Road and in the Yard" (Trafford Publishing) shares 285 true stories and anecdotes in this newly released abridged family edition for ages 9 to adult. Includes foreword by Studs Terkel and interview with Linda Neimann. First time in paperback. Hardback edition reviewed by NYT as one of the best books of the year.
The only railroad book that deals with people's feelings rather then dwelling on weights, measures and statistics, author Alan Allen provides matter-of-fact oral journalism reporting the most emotional moments in the working lives of American "rails," a self-titled term used by railroad workers, including riding on top of runaway boxcars towards Coathanger Curve, running into gasoline trucks that explode at track crossings, chasing escaped rabbits through derailed boxcars full of blueberries then thru town, and how to run a steam locomotive.
When reviewed in limited hardcover edition in 1991, New York Times said, "a word of praise for 'Old Rails' Tales,' volume one of an up-to-the-minute American railroad oral history edited by Alan Allen ... straightforward ... substantial and well-researched ... cream of the crop ... in touch with railroading!
Conservative, hippie, good-natured, funny and rebellious rails are interviewed in this oral history of on-the-job emotional highlights of blue collar heroes of our Americana steam era.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alan Allen's "Old Rails' Tales" was reviewed by NYT as one of the best books of the year: http://www.trafford.com/
"The Original Old Rails' Tales: Anecdotes, Stories & Memoirs on the Road and in the Yard"
For more information:
http://www.trafford.com/
sales@trafford.com
