In an earlier thread, Overmod and BigJim recommended I read Set Up Running, by John Orr. And an excellent suggestion it was! (Thank you, gentlemen.)
(If, like me, you had never heard the expression "set up running," here's the deal. On the Pennsy then, when a fireman was promoted to engineer, he was said to have been "set up running.")
It tells the true story of the author's dad, who ran engines (exclusively steam, although diesels appeared near the end of his tenure) on PRR from 1904 until 1949.
A great read, this is a book for railfans and rail historians. It's unlikely that a non rail-oriented person would stick it out (almost 400 pages, and very few photos), as it is about virtally nothing except trains and what it was like to work on the railroad then. Dozens and dozens of his dad's (known as OP, for Oscar P. Orr) runs are described in great detail. What signals he got where, how he ran the engine and why, and what situations he found himself in. The book fully desribes the seniority and "bumping" realities. It gets into great detail about the various locomotive types, and how they handled. How facilities were set up. Schedules. Bad engines and good engines. Unbelievably long hours. Pride in one's work.
Set in the hills of central Pennsylvania, the narrative conjures up vivid imagery of the whole railroad scene there. All of the factors one can imagine come into play. Bad weather, lousy management decisions, equipment failures, bizarre happenings, problem co-workers. Humor, cold hard reality, and triumph and tragedy. The author is growing up in Ralston PA, which was a helper base. The reader learns about railroading as OP teaches his son about it, and as the boy figures some things out on his own. A handful of non-railroad events help flesh out the story. The railroad life is celebrated, but it is not over-romanticized. You get the good and the bad.
One could criticize a few things. Was OP really larger than life, probably the best engineer on his division? Maybe the whole Pennsy? That aspect began to wear a bit thin at times; but, well, his son thought so, and that was good enough for me. The father/son relationship was strong, and that kid got so many cab rides, management would have had a stroke if they knew. I personally would have liked a bit more about the family dynamic (the author's mother and sisters are almost non-entities in the book), as that would have made it more human to me. And a little about the emotional aspects of the dad/son relationship would have been welcome as far as I am concerned.
But those are minor criticisms. This is a truly excellent railroad book, kind of in a class of its own, in my experience. If you want a clear picure of what it was like running steam engines in that era, it's probably as good as it gets.
As those movie guys used to say, "Two thumbs up!" I heartily recommend it.
Still in training.
Thanks LO, I'll keep an eye out for it!
And of course the author's father was the best engineer on the 'road, I can understand that. When I was a little boy riding with my father I just knew he was the best driver on the road!
He had to be, considering what he said about all the other drivers!
I read it many years ago and thought it dragged. Although it is set in Central PA, he didn't run the Middle Division, from what I remember. It was mainly branch line stuff.
Right, it was almost totally on branch lines.
I can see how one might think it drags a bit, as some of the tales are similar to others. But I found almost all of it interesting, nonetheless.
Yes, an excellent and very real book!As for the comment about him "not running the Middle Division", so what!!!
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BigJim As for the comment about him "not running the Middle Division", so what!!!
As for the comment about him "not running the Middle Division", so what!!!
OP ran on lots of different branch lines on the Williamsport Division, and had a wide variety of jobs over the years: freight, passenger, yard, transfer, pusher, test engineer ...
He had the opportunity to run on the Middle Division a few times, but never held a job there.
If you like Set Up Running there are a few other books I would recommend:
1. Brownie the Boomer - Charles Brown - Edited by H.Roger Grant - Publisher - Northern Illinois University Press - Brown worked as a boomer (in modern terms a temp) for a number of railroads during the latter part of the 19th Century and the early part of the 20th. His book (actually two separate books) was re-discovered by Grant who took the time to do some editing to blend the two books into the present single volume.
2. Hogger From Fantasy to Fulfillment: A locomotive engineer remembers - Petersen - Publisher iUniverse, Inc (he worked on the Milwaukee and Soo)
The above are fairly recent publications. Two others that you will probably have to get through inter-library loan which I would also recommend are:
1. Railroadman by Del French - published 1938. This book is also about the life of a boomer although Del French's father did his work later in the 20th Century
2. Forty Years a Locomotive Engineer - Reed - published 1913. This is a small book and it has been reprinted from time to time since its first publication.
Thanks, mersenne. I appreciate the suggestions. I'll be on the lookout for those.
I should explore local libraries. My own book collection is getting out of hand. And this at a time when my wife and I are making some attempts to scale down, in preparation of someday having to move someplace smaller.
Lithonia OperatorRight, it was almost totally on branch lines. I can see how one might think it drags a bit, as some of the tales are similar to others. But I found almost all of it interesting, nonetheless.
Branch lines, while they are not 'shiney' like the Mains, tend to have some of the most difficult operating conditions on any railroad. The don't handle enough traffic to warrant having those difficulties engineered out of the line, so those running the line have to overcome those difficulties with their skills.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
BaltACD Lithonia Operator Right, it was almost totally on branch lines. I can see how one might think it drags a bit, as some of the tales are similar to others. But I found almost all of it interesting, nonetheless. Branch lines, while they are not 'shiney' like the Mains, tend to have some of the most difficult operating conditions on any railroad. The don't handle enough traffic to warrant having those difficulties engineered out of the line, so those running the line have to overcome those difficulties with their skills.
Lithonia Operator Right, it was almost totally on branch lines. I can see how one might think it drags a bit, as some of the tales are similar to others. But I found almost all of it interesting, nonetheless.
The State Historical Society of Wisconsin has it in their collection, although I had to request it from their "archives" (long-term storage instead of the library stacks). I am about2/3rds through it.
Yes, I will admit that author John Orr admired his father Oscar P Orr and offers us what are in the words of author David Wardale "romantic notions about life on a steam locomotive footplate" -- see pp 105-106 of "The Red Devil" for a different experience. What I get from Set Up Running is that "O. P." was passionate about his job operating steam locomotives. Who knows if he really was top-of-his-class as a locomotive engineer or that is just his son's opinion. But Wardale complains at length that "they don't train engine crews like they used to", and it appears that O. P. Orr was the kind of old-style conscientious locomotive driver (engineer in American usage).
Wardale also comments at length that the performance of a steam locomotive was much more sensitive to the quality of the crew operating it, both fireman and driver, in a way that diesels and electrics are not.
As to the grumbles here about the cab time that non-employee John Orr got, 1) it was as much against the rules back-in-the-day as it is now, 2) that his dad O. P. Orr and his colleagues were willing to bend the rules in part made this book possible, 3) the rules on such a thing are probably nowadays much more strictly enforced and 4) this rule-bending actually resulted in at least one incident involving John Orr that could have gotten him and his dad in much trouble, were it not for his dad's colleagues willing to straighten out a mess it led to.
Yes, the book expresses a son's admiration, but it doesn't hold back about incidents -- actions his dad took -- that arguably are very regretable indeed.
As a person obsessed with the technical and engineering details of steam locomotives, I don't think this is a book that I will read, reread and then read again as other railroad books, either in my collection or are available to me through State Historical Society. I certainly enjoy reading it and the stories in this book supplement the more technical descriptions. The book is filled with insights into how a locomotive can run efficiently, at speed and "hooked up" but especially how frequent stops can burn through inordinate amounts of coal and water. Not to start another long discussion about 2-cylinder single-expansion steam power, but such machines are seriously inefficient in starting and climbing grades near their adhesion limit.
Criticize this book all you want, but to a person interested in steam locomotives, this book offers insight into these machines along with the men who ran them not available anywhere else.
If GM "killed the electric car", what am I doing standing next to an EV-1, a half a block from the WSOR tracks?
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