My church pastor knowing I was a rail nut, passed along a book given to him by his grandfather. On The Railroad was written by Robert S Henry, illustrated with Otto Kuhler watercolors, and photos by F.L. Weiland and H.L. Burham. Although it was written for children, the author never "wrote down" to the young reader ("oh, look at the choo-choo engine"), but rather used railroad terminology and explained how the railroad components works. The author writes that the engine hostler gets his name from the days of horse wrangling; whether this is true or not, makes an interesting factoid.
Being written in 1936 there are many things that have fallen by the wayside such as dispatcher telegraphing the towers, operators hooping up orders, wooden slat sided cattle cars, caboose, hand trucks overflowing with mail sacks for the mail car, etc. The author's source acknowledgement reads like a who who of fallen flags, Santa Fe, Atlantic Coast line, B&O, C&NW, Burlington & Quincy, Rock Island, Chicago Milwaukee & Pacific, N&W, Baldwin Locomotive Works, Railway Express Agency, on and on.
This is definitely a keeper and a nostalgic look at the way railroading used to be.
