Re: Rio Grande Glory Days?

davidtltc Wrote:
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> I stumbled onto this book the other day is this a
> good angle to veiw some of the internal operations
> and rank advancements that would give some an idea
> of what would take place on the Rio Grande during
> period A to B? And if so are there others similar
>
>
Lewis R. Lathrop and his brother Carl went to work for the D&RG in 1881 wound up in engine service in short order. Lew stayed on til he retired in the mid-1930's, Carl became a boomer, working for F&CC & CM amonug others. Lew's son Gilbert worked for the Grande for over a decade.
Gilbert Lathrop wrote down the stories his father and uncle told him and sold them, along with some of his own, to Railroad Magazine in the late 1920's and 1930's.
Lew and Carl's stories wee collected as "Little Engines and Big Men" (1955) and Gilbert's as "Rio Grande Glory Days" (1976.)
It should be noticed that several of their co-workers remembered things a bit differently. Lew in fact is often accused of making himself the star of stories that actually happened to somebody else.
It should also be noticed that these stories are told to entertain, not as history. In other words, they are, at least to a degree, part of the great American tradition of the Tall Tale.
All of that said, both books are a good read and, IMO, provide an entrance into the world of the men who worked on Colorado's railroads back in the day. Like Lucius Beebe's books, they have been the gateway drug to the narrow gauge for many of us for several generations now...
Just remember to bring your salt along, you'll need a few grains.

hank