Mike McLaughlin 260 pages hardcover
As a boy in the early 1950s, Mike McLaughlin was a regular stowaway
riding switch engines back and forth in Seattle, Washington. By the time
he was in high school, he was hand-firing steam engines as an
unofficial crew member. Obsessed with trains and destined for a life
along the tracks, he started by digging ditches as a gandy and ended as a
railroad and transportation consultant, but he never completely
relinquished his shovel. His career spanned multiple railroads,
including Great Northern, Denver & Rio Grande Western, and Chicago,
Rock Island & Pacific, as well as transportation management for
several large industrial firms
. With McLaughlin, even the mundane becomes fascinating. Unlike those
of an executive or engineer, his personal accounts focus on what went on
behind the scenes--from the finer points of using a shovel to suddenly
having to reroute 16,000 tons of talc ore from Montana to a ship in
Portland. He describes living and working as part of maintenance and
signal gangs, moving days on several lines, supervisory issues, and
more. His collection of mid-20th century timetables and other paper
ephemera provide minute detail related to railroad activities and
communications. Numerous photographs and Dave Clemens' hand-drawn maps
enhance the text, illustrate where stories take place, and promote a
deeper understanding of some gritty, intense railroading.