Being the erudite model railroader that I am (well at least AntionioFP45 knows so), I visit my public library every week or so and am a regular reader. I just came across a collection of the late Kurt Vonnegut’s short stories- most written in the 1950s when he was employed in public relations (as his real job), before he became more well known in the 1960s+.
In that collection, “While Mortals Sleep- Unpublished Short Fiction” by Kurt Vonnegut (c) 2011 by Delacorte Press, is a nice little story about a hapless husband who was a model railroader. Without giving away the story, I was suprised at the realistic details that Vonnegut included in “fleshing out” his main character’s hobby interest.
The rest of the stories are also nice to read, but as this one touches the heart, so to speak, I thought it would be of interest.
For those who want some longer reading, I suggest Yard Dog and Insane Train, both by Sheldon Russell, a professor at Univ. Oklahoma wqho uses a railroad yard bull (security) as his central character. Both novels were very good reading and I await Prof. Russell’s next book in this series.
Happy reading.
Cedarwoodron
Sorry- left out one small detail- the title of the Vonnegut short story is " With His Hand on the Throttle".
Not that I wanted to make you guys work too hard to find the book or anything like that[|)]
In Cat’s Cradle, one of Vonnegut’s characters had worked in a hobby shop, and there was a brief description of a layout in the store’s basement. I don’t think he was what we would call a hobbyist of any stripe, but he did have a talent for observing people and what they do.
As a matter of fact trains and railroads and railroad stations are a rather persistent theme in Vonnegut’s writing. The particular story mentioned here involves a guy so obsessed with his model trails, and with his ability to be the master builder that he ignores his wife. I hate to say this but that is not an uncommon situation and I wonder if Vonnegut, besides a natural interest in trains that gave his writing some degree of accuracy, knew some such situations.
Late in life Vonnegut was injured in a fire in his apartment (smoke inholation) and very nearly died. Interestingly his description of this near death experience centered on being on a passenger train to the afterlife and it seems to have been a very vivid image for him.
His brother in law, by the way, died in the infamous Newark Bay tragedy in the late 1950s, when a CNJ commuter train engineer evidently ignored a signal and went right off the end of track into the water. And in the sort of sequence that he would use in his fiction, his sister died very soon after her husband’s death in that crash, of cancer.
Dave Nelson
Loved Vonnegut. Never did put him and trains together. My bad.
Clive Cussler also has two books that have come out in the last few years. The Chase and The Wrecker. Novels about trains in the west. Great reads both.