Description 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 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. Mike McLaughlin (1937–2012) lived in Seattle through his early 20s. He began lifelong railroad work in maintenance of way for Great Northern. After graduating from the University of Washington he worked for close to two dozen railroads across the United States, advancing to line supervisor and lower/mid-level manager, and later, to traffic manager for major companies such as Coors and Leprino Foods. He finished his career as a railroad and transportation consultant. Jim Providenza has lived most of his life in the San Francisco Bay Area. He holds a B.A. and a J.D. degree from Santa Clara University, and retired as a police captain after a 38-year career in law enforcement. He is a co-author of A Compendium of Model Railroad Operations, as well as the author of more than sixty articles on various aspects of model railroading in Railroad Model Craftsman, Model Railroader, Railmodel Journal, and special-interest group quarterly magazines. Transportation / 20th Century Railroading Illustrations / maps / index / 8.5″ x 11″ / 260 pages (2025)
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