Railroading on the Illinois Central

About the Book

I started this book about two years before I decided to retire. My regular job at that time was the daylight Geismar road switcher. A nice young man was my student engineer and I taught him many things to help him become a very good locomotive engineer. He was very appreciative and he loved the thought of becoming an engineer. Because my young student was rapidly becoming better with each passing day, I wasn’t working very hard at Geismar. Therefore, I was doing a lot of work on my book at home each day. In spite of all these facts, I wondered if I would ever get my book published. The more I thought about it all, I kept getting frustrated, discouraged, and those feeling prompted me to place my book on the top shelf of my bedroom armoire. My book stayed there for a long time. Then one day, after a lot of years of enjoying being a man of leisure, I started thinking - perhaps I should start on my book again. Even after I began writing again, I had many times that I would get discouraged, like most would-be authors. Then, my youngest son Philip introduced me to a very gracious, very sweet lady who said that she was going to help me. About the time I had just about finished my book, I took it to her lovely home so she could read it. The next time we saw this sweet lady, she informed Philip and me that she had edited every page and there was to be no charge! I was overwhelmed! Both Philip and I really appreciate all the very helpful things she has done for me and my book. She has given lots of sage advice, and she has made lots of great suggestions that we deeply appreciate. Without her wonderful help, this book would have never have been published. The book is a reflection of memories of events that occurred during my days as a railroader. The events are not in chronological order, and they span days of service on the Illinois Central Railroad, the U.S. Army 770th Railroad Operating Battalion in Alaska, the Philippines, and Korea.

About the Author

I was born in Collins, Mississippi, on July 21, 1922. I grew up in Mississippi and after graduating from high school where I played football, I made up my mind to be a railroad man. I hired out on the Illinois Central Railroad on September 2nd, 1942. Soon afterward, I was drafted into the U.S. Army. After serving in the Army, I returned to work on the ICRR. Soon after returning to work on the ICRR, I met my future wife, Millie Allen. We were married fourteen months later. We have two sons, Gary and Philip, and one granddaughter, Damie Leigh.