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 enlarge | Author: John W. Orr
Creator: James D. Porterfield
Publisher: Keystone Books
Category: Book
List Price: $28.95
Buy New: $18.09
You Save: $10.86 (38%)
New (13) Used (5) from $18.02
Avg. Customer Rating:  18 reviews
Sales Rank: 59463
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 376
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6 x 1.1
ISBN: 027102741X
Dewey Decimal Number: 920
EAN: 9780271027418
ASIN: 027102741X
Publication Date: October 10, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New, Perfect Condition, Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. 100% Money Back Guarantee, Over 1,000,000 customers served.
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| Customer Reviews:
Set up Running February 23, 2003
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
This is what too many railroad histories lack -- the human element. This is the story of a man and how he ran locomotives across Pennsylvania. It is also the story of his son, who loved trains and loved to listen to his father's stories. If you are frustrated by railroad histories that are nothing but an endless series of stock transactions, then this is your book.
 Incredible insights on a working man's life on the railroad October 11, 2002
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book brings to life the hard, gritty and dangerous life of working on the railroad. While there's a ton of romaniticized railroad books, this one give the reader insights of what the working stiff had to endure. It does it, however, with an obvious love of railroading, and of the man the book is about.
Not only a biography of the man, but the locomotives as well December 18, 2001
18 out of 18 found this review helpful
I am basically a collector of railroad biographies, every occupation from the President down to locomotive watchman, and I have to say that this has to be one of the best I have ever read. In fact, I would call this book a miracle. The details! The mind bending information that the author relays about his father's years of working as a locomotive engineer on the Pennsylvania Railroad is astounding. Just the everyday stories, the trips he made, the people he worked with, and the locomotives, the intricate details about each type, the power, how they handled..........incredible!! There is stuff in this book that guys who wrote first hand accounts don't even include.
If you ever wanted to know what it was like to operate a steam locomotive then this is absolutely the book to read.
I'll stop here because I can't say enough good things about this book.
A Book I couldn't put down! December 17, 2001
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
As a child we had a Lionel train platform at Christmas and I loved them. For a summer evening out my dad would often take my brothers and me for a walk to the Frankford Junction in Philadelphia, PA to watch the trains. It was a train a minute back then. Fast ones, slow ones, freight and passengers were all to be seen. I loved the steam engines - they were alive - on fire if you will. Waving to the engineer in the 1950's was like a kid meeting a pro athelete or rock star today. Heros in the days of hard work. They always waved back! That is all I wanted to be - an engineer. John Orr's book about his dad and his life as a train engineer has given me the opportunity to be up there with a real engineer, in the cab, in the yard, on the road, for a whole career. Of course, I actualy never got to work on, or for, the railroad because by the time I was old enought, the Pennsy and most of the others were dying due to economic conditions. This book was writen as well as any book has ever been. It is a work of art. It is a history book with a soul. It is a history book with a story. If you like trains, if you like industrial or social history, if you only want to read a well written book on a subject you just wish to visit once, this is mandatory reading. Thank you John Orr. Thank you O.P.
Should Be on Your RR Bookshelf! July 20, 2001
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
No matter what your railroad interest you'll find this oral history of Pennsy engineer Oscar Orr hard to put down. If you enjoy operations there are vivid descriptions of the daily chess moves that dispatchers and crews are forced to make on a single track helper district. Those devoted to locomotives will find details on the idiosyncracies of the Pennsylvania stable from the first half of the century. History buffs will enjoy watching the railroad town of Ralston go from boom to bust. Hidden in the chronicle of Orr's career is the history of industrial America, a time when "Company Man" was an accolade and clean overalls a symbol of pride in work. We are so lucky that deceased Trains Magazine editor David P.Morgan encouraged John Orr to pen his father's tales and that the University of Pennsylvania published them.
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