Life and Times of a Locomotive Engineer

by Charles F. Steffes

Book Overview

Book by Steffes, Charles F. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1880365138
• ISBN13: 9781880365137
• Release Date: January 1992
• Publisher: Professional Press (NC)
• Length: 312 Pages
• Weight: 1.17 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.6" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Too good to finish

I just finished this book, sadly. Unfortunately there are not too many books like this one around. I found myself conflicted between wanting to keep reading it, and getting done cause then I would have nothing to look forward too. From what I can gather it is a pretty honest look at Mr. Steffes' life, and while he does explore some aspects of his whole life, he does keep it mainly focused on his railroad career. You'll read the life of an engineer who started in the days of steam and ended with the days of radio-controlled diesel slave helper units. He lived through one of the greatest transitions in railroad technology. I was suprised to hear his account as to why passenger service died, not due to lack of demand, but due to the industry itself trying to kill the service off. That I had never heard before. This is a book I would reccomend to anyone who has ever watched a great freight train go by blowing its horn and got caught up in the romance of the railroad. Anyone thinking about starting a railroad career should read this first. I'm sure some things have changed since Mr. Steffes' retirement in 1976, but some of the human aspect never will.

great book and very real story line

This was a great book about life as a SP engineer! It really portrays what your life is like as a Transportaion worker! Also how corporate america is to us. I also had a great email exchange from the woman who knew Charlie very well and she enlightened me more about him! A must for any SP fan

Wonderful Memories

This was just a completely enjoyable book, with lots of memories. I lived in many of the places the author writes about, actually in all of them at one time or another. I remember the trains and the depots and the times he discusses. It really is a good history of what it was like to be an engineer in the 40's and 50's on the Southern Pacific and since a number of my family members worked for the SP, it was even more enjoyable. One thing though, the author was a quite excellent engineer, sober as the day is long, but still had, what seems like, a lot of wrecks. Was it always that dangerous? Anyway, get the book, you'll be glad you did.