The Boomer: A Story of the Rails

By Harry Bedwell

Book Overview

Eddie Sand is railroading with a capital R. A "boomer," Eddie travels the country making a living as a telegraph operator wherever he finds himself. Never content to sit behind a desk or undertake "the upkeep of a blonde," Eddie's courage, restlessness, and cunning lead him to high adventure. Harry Bedwell's The Boomer portrays an elite fraternity of railroad men--men who were driven by one of the defining elements of the American character: a desire to wander. They were the glamour and glory of railroading, and no one was better equipped to tell their story than Bedwell. He reveals the behind-the-scenes battles that were fought to keep the trains running. This edition also includes a glossary of railroad slang and a bibliography of Bedwell's work. Originally published in 1942, Harry Bedwell's The Boomer is widely considered the best railroad novel ever written. "An exciting yarn in sinewy prose . . . it has almost everything except sound effects." -- New York Herald Tribune Harry Bedwell (1888-1955) is the author of more than sixty short stories. The Boomer is his only novel. James D. Porterfield is the author of several books, including From the Dining Car: The Recipes and Stories behind Today's Greatest Rail Dining Experiences.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0816649065
• ISBN13: 9780816649068
• Release Date: September 2006
• Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.79 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.1" x 7.4"

Customer Reviews

The Boomer: A Story of the Rails

This was a gift to a son who loves railroads. He says that it's a great book, and that anyone who's 'into' trains would like it.

a railroader's railroad novel

I have just finished another railroad novel--Bahr's Pelican Road, written by another former railroader, and it brought back to mind Harry Bedwell's wonderful novel The Boomer. This is an episodic story about Eddie Sand, a skilled telegrapher. Boomer is a slang term (it's also used in Pelican Road) for skilled railroad men--not the pick-and-shovel grunts, but those who can drive steam locomotives, manage yards and waybills, can handle the telegraphic chores in small depots, etc: a boomer is such a man who has a wanderlust, who moves around the country and may work for dozens of railroads, Eddie Sand is such a man, as was Pelican Road's author. Eddie Sand is not an engine driver, but he's thoroughly familiar with switching, waybills, schedules, yard management, and telegraphy. In the US there are thousands of small depots out in the middle of nowhere. There might be a small town, or maybe not. A single track main line and a siding or two, a small depot and block signals make up your world: the next town might be 40 or 50 miles away. It's a tough and unattractive environment, and the turnover is high. But the railroads cannot put unskilled men here, and so there is always a need for an Eddie Sand. As I said, it's an episodic novel as Eddie Sand moves from place to place, mostly in the American west and southwest. You get some dramatization of events, but the novel is rich in details and flavor of the life. Pelican Road has a wider range of railroad men--engineers, firemen, brakemen, conductors, etc, on freight and passenger trains. You get a very good idea about life in a caboose, the scheduling, signalling, etc. One of the characters--Donny Luttrell--manages a tiny isolated depot, throwing switches, passing waybills, etc--Pelican Road's version of Eddie Sand. Both of these two books are "insider" novels--about the skilled professionals who make the railroad work. Passengers are freight--they need more careful handling than, say, hogs or bananas, but they are still freight to be carried--part of a different world than the railroad professional men. So Boomer and Pelican Road are the two really good railroader's railroad novels--at least as regards railroads in the US. A fine read!

A RAILROAD CLASSIC

What more can I add, it gives the reader a view of classic Railroad activities, that have not been seen for over 60 years. I enjoyed it.

The high point in literature of the rails

Let me start by saying that each of us responds reflexively to certain elements of the environment with a kind of passionate and largely involuntary embrace. Of course, it's different elements for each of us. For me, and I suppose for Harry Bedwell, trains are among those automatic triggers of interest. What distinguishes Bedwell's stories about trains and people is that he was the most able craftsman, the best storyteller, of the many ones I've read. So this book is a high point in the literature of the rails. It's an enjoyable book with, to my ear, some rather modern prose styling, along with the drama and the canonic tale telling.

A Railroad buff's dream!

If you love railroads and especialy the steam era, this book is for you. A Boomer is a railroad guy who never stays in one place very long, moving when and where he can. While this book is not only a very interesting story, the reader will learn many things about the technical aspects of running a railroad.