I also discovered Mr. Hardy's book a couple of weeks ago at a local hobby
shop in the Chicago area. The book is largely Mr. Hardy's personal memories,
but I thought it was an interesting look at working for the railroad. His
experiences growing up while his dad worked for the Burlington and his own
work experiences were far different from what we'd expect today. Some of his
photos taken on the job were quite different from the standard rail photos.
My favorite is the picture of him taken while handling the express shipments
of the day. There's a baby crib delivered from for a local family or store
amongst the packages he is shown processing.
Al Kamm
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