On Oct 15, 2010, at 7:34 PM, Schuyler Larrabee wrote:

During this recent thread, I mulled over the many books I've read
over the
years, and I have another candidate as the best railroad book I've
read:

_Set Up Running: The Life of a Pennsylvania Railroad Engineman,
1904-1949_
by John W. Orr.

John W. Orr wasn't the engineman in question; he was the son of the
engineman, O. P. Orr. It is clear that John and his father had an
extraordinarily close relationship. I suspect also that John had
O.P.'s
notebooks, because the detail in the story he relates is
extraordinary.

I'll enthusiastically second Schuyler on this one – and I'm certainly
not a Pennsy fan. It's the best account I've even seen of a career
in engine service during the steam era, full of fascinating detail.
Like Schuyler I've read it all the way through two or three times.
It should be in everyone's personal library.


Richard Hendrickson



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