Real Stories of the Rails: First-Hand Accounts of Railroaders from the 1920's to the 1990's

I always find the stories of he people working at railroad jobs to be the most interesting part of being a rail fan. This book delivers, but the format is challenging. The print is VERY small. Considering that many of us who are classic train fans are “of a certain age,” this was a surprising choice by Kalmbach.

Great stories, but it’s almost unreadable, at least comfortably, due to small print. Can only read a little bit at a time until your eyes get too tired.

This book is a collection of true short stories written by railroaders about events they experienced from about 1950 to 1980. Most of these stories were previously published in Trains or Classic Trains magazines over the last 30 years. A few I had read before but most I hadn't. For anyone interested in the human side of railroading in the era of staffed train order offices, 5-man train crews, first-generation diesels (and a few steam locomotives), handing up written train orders, etc, this is great reading and well worth the modest price.