Wasn't sure where to post this. Decided this forum might have more old-timers.
I just bought this book: https://www.amazon.com/Boomer-Story-Rails-Harry-Bedwell/dp/0816649065/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?keywords=eddie+sand+railroad+novel&qid=1558978197&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmr1
I remember when I was a kid, there was fiction in Railroad Magazine. I think Bedwell was the primary writer of it. Although I subscribed to Trains pretty early on, it seems to me that I only occasionally saw Railroad, and I know I never subscribed. IIRC, Railroad seemed a little too "adult" for a kid. Maybe it was more the nature of the ads (??) than the content. Not sure. I think when I got ahold of a copy, I hid it from my parents.
Anyway, I find this book to be kind of a hoot. From a strictly writing point of view, I find it so bad that it's good! (It kind of reminds me of Jack Kerouac's On the Road, which despite having a cult following, is terrible, IMO.) Bedwell's style is so self-consciously artsy, faux-poetic, would-be literary, and word-choice-ostentatious that I sometimes literally laugh out loud! And some of the scenes and scenarios require more than a "willing suspension of disbelief;" more like an "assassination of disbelief."
Having said that, I am pretty sure I will finish the book, because the mental images it conjures up (of railroad locations and situations) are great. And there is something quite infectuous about it. It's hard to explain, really. But I am definitely enjoying it. It's unique.
Wondering if others have read it, and would care to offer their thoughts.
Still in training.
I almost hate to tell you that most of the Eddie Sand stories are available on the Web free.
That style is 'par for the course' in contemporary adventure writing, a bit like the contemporary equivalent in the theatre: melodrama. But still fun.
Well, this is one single novel. (I think.) Maybe each chapter or two is the same as a story that appeared in Railroad? I dunno.
Anyway, I only paid ten bucks, and I don't enjoy extended reading on a screen. I am a lie in bed with a book guy. And I love a small paperback size (like this book) that I can hold in one hand.
Looks as if the collection "The Boomer" originally dates from 1942; I can download a PDF from JSTOR but I have special access, so not as valuable to non-academics...
On the other hand, there are collections of Eddie Sand stories from archive.org and Google Books with an earlier date. Some were mentioned in a thread here earlier this year (I think String Lining) that points up the Canadian connection.
You might enjoy reading Donovan's book "Last of the Great Railroad Storytellers" which was published in 1959 -- you can read it online here.
Thanks so much for that link. I glanced at it quickly, and it looks really fascinating.
Just in case this has piqued your interest, here's a link to a different book by the same author, The Railroad in Literature.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/43519799?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
This one is also free to read online if you don't have download access on JSTOR.
Lithonia Operator Well, this is one single novel. (I think.) Maybe each chapter or two is the same as a story that appeared in Railroad? I dunno. Anyway, I only paid ten bucks, and I don't enjoy extended reading on a screen. I am a lie in bed with a book guy. And I love a small paperback size (like this book) that I can hold in one hand.
I have it and have read it a couple of times. Some of the chapters are reworks of some of his short stories. Harry Bedwell is my favorite railroad fiction writer. He wrote more than the Eddie Sand stories, although I think I like the Sand stories the best.
I've been collecting old Railroad Magazine for the fiction. I don't have a complete set, but am currently working through the 1937 issues. Other favorite authors are E.S.Dellinger (also used the name Ed Samples), Gilbert Lathrop, James Earp and Haywire Mac- a.k.a. Harry McClintock of Big Rock Candy Mountain fame.
One thing that many of these railroad fiction writers had in common was that they were, or had, worked for the railroad.
Getting back to Harry Bedwell, he was from Kellerton, Iowa down in southern Iowa. I've seen some Iowa place names used in some of his stories. Places that when he was growing up were active communities, but now are all but dead.
Jeff
Interesting that you put this in the "so bad it's good" category, as I recall when Classic Trains talked about the book's being reissued a couple of years ago, the reviewer said "The Boomer" is generally reguarded as the best example of Railroad Fiction ever written.
BTW many folks forget that Railroad Film was a genre from the silent era into the 1940's, movie companies regularly put out movies (sometimes feature movies, but often serials or B-movies) about railroaders.
wjstixInteresting that you put this in the "so bad it's good" category, as I recall when Classic Trains talked about the book's being reissued a couple of years ago, the reviewer said "The Boomer" is generally reguarded as the best example of Railroad Fiction ever written. BTW many folks forget that Railroad Film was a genre from the silent era into the 1940's, movie companies regularly put out movies (sometimes feature movies, but often serials or B-movies) about railroaders.
Well, perhaps I was overly harsh. Those comments applied strictly to the writing (as craft) aspect. I think many contemporary readers, and, in particular, literature academics and critics, would find the style to be extremely overblown, trying too hard, what have you.
But just as a story, I am enjoying it. And I think many other railroad buffs would too. And just the mental images Bedwell conjures up, of railroad locations and situations, are well worth the price of admission.
wjstix... when Classic Trains talked about the book's being reissued a couple of years ago, the reviewer said "The Boomer" is generally regarded as the best example of Railroad Fiction ever written.
This is a bit like a reviewer noting which Pia Zadora movie is 'best'. The First Law of Consulting applies here: "the 'best' solution is not necessarily a good solution..."
For better or worse, the period when the railroad appealed to mass culture spanned first the dime-novel, then the Stratemeyer, then the pulp eras. This was probably best skewered by Rudyard Kipling in "With the Night Mail" - including the ads at the back. Anyone looking at typical boys' adventure writing in that period will recognize the style; anyone familiar with popular writing will understand the schmaltz and the melodramatic plotting tropes.
There was a literary work a couple of decades ago which actually used the personages of Chapelon and Kylala (the Kylchap nozzle for steam locomotives!) as significant elements. I cannot remember what the heck the plot was or much of the point of the writing -- but it certainly qualified as "Railroad Fiction" in a sense... (And no, I'm not pasting in that Monty Python clip here for their different 'literary' example...)
I recently bought this book: https://www.amazon.com/Engineer-Barton-Glascock/dp/1514152460/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=the+engineer%2C+railroad+fiction&qid=1559670025&s=gateway&sr=8-4
But I have yet to start it. Don't know anything about it. Yep, judged a book by its cover!
Go here: https://www.amazon.com/Boomer-Story-Rails-Harry-Bedwell/dp/0816649065/ref=pd_sim_14_2/131-3471935-9156415?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0816649065&pd_rd_r=190ff54e-86f0-11e9-928e-67b95b04dff4&pd_rd_w=IscTy&pd_rd_wg=i35fX&pf_rd_p=90485860-83e9-4fd9-b838-b28a9b7fda30&pf_rd_r=9FCG4SDQYQN3VSXCZ19N&psc=1&refRID=9FCG4SDQYQN3VSXCZ19N
Click on Look Inside. Choose First Pages. Now go to the paragraph that begins with the final sentence on Page 4; read it, going on to Page 5. That paragraph is a pretty good example of the type of prose I am referring to.
Overmodwjstix... when Classic Trains talked about the book's being reissued a couple of years ago, the reviewer said "The Boomer" is generally regarded as the best example of Railroad Fiction ever written. This is a bit like a reviewer noting which Pia Zadora movie is 'best'. The First Law of Consulting applies here: "the 'best' solution is not necessarily a good solution..."
Well okay, but that's kinda like saying that "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" (or "High Noon" or "The Searchers") was the best Western movie ever made, but it couldn't be that good a movie, because Westerns were just made for kids with plastic toy six-shooters to watch at the local theater on Saturday mornings...or that "Yesterday" by the Beatles couldn't be that great a song, since rock music is just mindless dance music for teenagers.
Never saw a Pia Zadora movie.
I DO remember seeing a photo-spread she did in "Playboy" back in the '70s.
Oh, baby. Who needed the movies?
No, it's more like saying that the Stratemeyer Syndicate adventure books weren't as good "literature" as something like, well Mark Helprin's or Bob Heinlein's writing for kids, because not intended to be 'good literature' in that sense.
Plenty of examples of Westerns where brain-dead writing caused problems -- and plenty of Westerns that have acquired 'camp' or cult status as "classics" when little better than formula productions. Some, myself included, would put most of the first-season Star Trek episodes squarely in this exact category (since the show was originally developed and pitched as a slightly-different spin on 'frontier' programs).
Out of the vast sea that is Italian popular-music culture in the 1800s rise some great moments of opera. That does not mean we can defend much of the remainder, any more than we can defend Elizabethan theatre culture (and mores) with reference to Shakespeare et al.
jeffhergert Lithonia Operator Well, this is one single novel. (I think.) Maybe each chapter or two is the same as a story that appeared in Railroad? I dunno. Anyway, I only paid ten bucks, and I don't enjoy extended reading on a screen. I am a lie in bed with a book guy. And I love a small paperback size (like this book) that I can hold in one hand. I have it and have read it a couple of times. Some of the chapters are reworks of some of his short stories. Harry Bedwell is my favorite railroad fiction writer. He wrote more than the Eddie Sand stories, although I think I like the Sand stories the best. I've been collecting old Railroad Magazine for the fiction. I don't have a complete set, but am currently working through the 1937 issues. Other favorite authors are E.S.Dellinger (also used the name Ed Samples), Gilbert Lathrop, James Earp and Haywire Mac- a.k.a. Harry McClintock of Big Rock Candy Mountain fame. One thing that many of these railroad fiction writers had in common was that they were, or had, worked for the railroad. Getting back to Harry Bedwell, he was from Kellerton, Iowa down in southern Iowa. I've seen some Iowa place names used in some of his stories. Places that when he was growing up were active communities, but now are all but dead. Jeff
Hi Jeff. I have not seen a copy of Railroad in probably 35 years. But I’d kind of like to hunt a few down. Do you have any recommendations on where I could find, say, one issue from each decade from 1930 thru 1970? Particularly a source where I could see tables on contents before buying? Thanks.
Since "Railroad" was printed in newsprint into the 1970's, it may be difficult to find any surviving copies that aren't quite fragile. Old copies of the "Official Guide" suffer from the same problem.
Lithonia Operator, if you're looking for copies of "Railroad" you may want to try train shows. There's usually railroadiana, rail book, and rail ephemera dealers in attendance.
Click on "Resources" at the top of this website, then click on "Coming Events" and follow the prompts for any possible shows coming up in your area. It's good and it's accurate.
There's a lot of good stuff at train shows, trust me!
Thanks, Flintlock. Good idea.
Train shows are an excellent place. Sometimes it's hit and miss. (Often, I find more memorbilia, time tables, rule books, etc then model train items that interest me. Actually, I guess sometimes I'm more on the lookout for the memorbilia.) Before sometime in the early 1950s, the magazine was smaller and thicker. Antique stores can also be a source. Most of the ones I have, that weren't purchased new, from the later 1950s onward (the larger, more normal sized magazines) came from a store. Over about 4 or 5 trips to that store (actually an antique mall) I cleaned out his supply of Railroad Magazine. Train shows supplied the rest. Sometimes hobby shops (if you can find one) may have consignment sales of old magazines and books, besided used model supplies.
Here's a history of the magazine. It's wrong about fiction being dropped in Jan of 1979 or it's ceasing publication. That happened in Jan of 1980 when it was bought and merged with Railfan Magazine becoming Railfan and Railroad Magazine. December 1979 is the last issue of Railroad Magazine.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railroad_Magazine
Lithonia Operator Thanks, Flintlock. Good idea.
You're welcome!
I'll tell you, I've come away with a lot of good stuff at train shows, even things I didn't know I needed!
And there's always the thrill of the hunt!
jeffhergert Train shows are an excellent place. Sometimes it's hit and miss. (Often, I find more memorbilia, time tables, rule books, etc then model train items that interest me. Actually, I guess sometimes I'm more on the lookout for the memorbilia.) Before sometime in the early 1950s, the magazine was smaller and thicker. Antique stores can also be a source. Most of the ones I have, that weren't purchased new, from the later 1950s onward (the larger, more normal sized magazines) came from a store. Over about 4 or 5 trips to that store (actually an antique mall) I cleaned out his supply of Railroad Magazine. Train shows supplied the rest. Sometimes hobby shops (if you can find one) may have consignment sales of old magazines and books, besided used model supplies. Here's a history of the magazine. It's wrong about fiction being dropped in Jan of 1979 or it's ceasing publication. That happened in Jan of 1980 when it was bought and merged with Railfan Magazine becoming Railfan and Railroad Magazine. December 1979 is the last issue of Railroad Magazine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railroad_Magazine Jeff
Thanks, Jeff. I'll track some down somewhere. Really, even just one or two would be nice; I'd just like to refresh my memory of Railroad, as it is very sketchy.
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