B.M Naylor 132 pages hardcover
B.M. Naylor, a track maintenance and construction supervisor for the
Santa Fe Railway in New Mexico from 1921 to 1961, upon his death left a
fascinating story of his time with the railway. He was an on-the-ground
eyewitness to many of the changes on the Santa Fe, making this book a
time capsule for both early railroading and life in New Mexico. His
narrative provides rare glimpses into the hard life of a railroad track
grant working as well as his difficulties as a supervisor and married
man with family responsibilities. Naylor is humorous, fair, helpful to
others, and always candid, revealing both his greatest fears (snakes)
and personal pleasures, which ranged from fishing to gardening. Naylor’s
book adds descriptions of places that are now railroad ghost towns as
well as the effort involved in getting to and from such locations prior
to convenient, more modern transport. Forty Years on the Santa Fe
Railroad will transport the reader to a refreshing different time and
place. The book concludes with an afterword by Bob Walz on modeling
maintenance of way operations.
