Pete
As you may know, I do a lot of reading myself, but
most of what I have leaned about basic, everyday,
practical, railroading, I learned from everyday
practical railroaders. In my younger days, I spent a
big part of my time with them, everyday. That is how I
learned about things like "OS". And let me tell you,
those old timers were quick to point out your mistakes
and make quick correction of the "greenhorn". But man,
was it good training and fun too! It is not all in
books, at least where you can easily find it. That is
why it is so important to talk to these remaining old
heads while we still have a few left!
John
--- PSHedgpeth@a... wrote:
> As a result of the recent conversations regarding
> the use of the telegraph
> and actual operation of the railroad prior to CTC I
> happened to wake up in
> the night, between coughing spells remembering that
> I do have a couple of
> books to recommend.
>
> RIGHTS OF TRAINS has already been discussed and it
> is a fine book. I had a
> copy of the 1957 edition, but made the mistake of
> loaning it out to a
> railroad officer now deceased and never got it back.
> I did order and have on
> my shelf the most recent reprint. Keep in the mind
> that RIGHTS is primarily
> for the help of railroad men, including officers, in
> rules application and
> interpretation. It ass umes that you have quite a
> bit of basic knowledge
> which those of you whose interest postdates the
> train order era would lack.
>
> Try this one LET'S OPERATE A RAILROAD. It's written
> primarily for the layman
> who is interested in how the RR operates. It covers
> everything from the yard
> clerk to the train dispatcher with quite a bit of
> information on Train Orders
> and their handling written in layman's terms. My
> edition is 1957 and I don't
> know whether there is a newer one out or not. Mine
> is written to apply to
> the railroad operation of 45 years ago which is what
> you want. The book is
> authored by L.E. Roxbury and was published by High
> Iron Publishers of Warwick
> VA. It might be available from Karen's Books who
> has a website and quite a
> large inventory of books available. I've ordered
> from them several times. I
> don't have the web address readily available, but
> if anyone wants it contact
> me off list and I'll be glad to supply it for you.
>
> Another book which I came across recently is MA
> KILEY, The Life of a Railroad
> Telegrapher. It came out of a short series running
> in the old RAILROAD
> MAGAZINE in the early 1950's The author Thomas
> Jepsen has done considerable
> work and research on Ms Kiley's life and even
> interviewed her grandson. He
> adds considerable depth to the subject my comparing
> the telegraph at the turn
> of the century to the computer today. I found it a
> fascinating book. It's
> available from Karen's Books also. Soft cover about
> $14.00
>
> Incidently, John Mitchell my recent (albeit limited)
> reading on the subject
> always refers to OS as "Train Report". "On sheet" I
> haven't seen
> mentioned..but I'll keep looking. Aint it fun to
> talk about this stuff?????
>
> Pete Hedgpeth
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been
> removed]
>
>
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