Railroaded

I recently read a book written by my long-time friend Tom Low. He was actually my oldest brother's friend, but I used to hang around with them, so now that my brother is gone I am the default go-to surviving brother.

I have known Tommy (as he was called then) since, well, nearly all of my life. Certainly over 60 years. Anyway, he wrote a book entitled "Train Wreck" about a head-on collision between two trains right outside of DC on February 16th, 1996. He used to commute on the MARC train from his home to work in DC, but had moved away by the time the accident occurred.

It's a good book, a straightforward telling of a railroading tragedy that need not have happened, save for several small details and, I have to say, the utter and near-complete corruption of the railroad corporations and unions. I like companies, have never worked anywhere but in the private sector, but railroads are uniquely outside of the laws of man and God, as near as I can tell. And unions - don't get me started.

As I read the book I paid attention to typos, homophone errors, usage errors, math errors and that sort of thing, you know how I do. I make plenty of typos myself - they are a natural byproduct of writing, so I asked Tommy if he would like my feedback, he said yes and I sent him a list of things I found. He was embarrassed, and eventually hopes to get the book reprinted.

Train Wreck, by Tom Low, ISBN: 978-0-615-33448-6. Look for it, read it if you have a notion.

I have more to write about railroads, but this post is long enough as is. One thing I have to mention is that I learned more about railroad operation by reading this book than I had in a lifetime of sort of paying attention to trains.

Jack Bruce on harmonica.