The current issue of The New Yorker (Oct. 3, 2005) has an article by John McPhee entitled “Coal Train”. It has sections on RR workers AND rail fans and names names. This issue contains Part 1 of a 2 part article.
An interesting bit is that the Powder River Basin coal boom results directy from the Clean Air Act of 1970. McPhee is a dedicated environmentalist but is also a realist. In my opinion he is also the best non-fiction writer working today.
Jack
I read the article today and wanted to bring this back to the top.
The piece is part of a book he has done on freight transportation “Uncommon Carriers” due out in May. One gets the sense that he is not a rail fan himself, but it seems to me that he has done his research, as there is a level of accuracy on the subject of railroading that is not often found in general circulation magazines.
It certainly will give readers of The New Yorker some understanding of real railroading and rail fans.
Jay
I liked the emphasis on engineer’s-eye-view, too. I look forward to reading Part 2 as well!
[:D]
Earlier articles of the author dealt with river tow boats, over the road trucking and the UPS sorting center. All good stuff. I was wondering when he would get to RRS.
Just finished part 2. Really good!
“You load 16 tons. What do you get?”
He wrote a really good book on the decline of American maritime shipping, a multi-volume series on the geology of the country and a fascinating story about hybrid airships called The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed. I agree withJack_S’s comment.
I liked part 2 as well. Along with the shipping-of-coal topic, McPhee discusses hauling freight over steep grades, AC vs. DC traction, and other issues so many of us wi***he general American public knew about, or knew more about.
I read Part 2 of John McPhee’s New Yorker article: “Coal Train.” As good as Part 1. I get the impression, however, that, when it is published in book form next May, it will be expanded somewhat. A common McPhee practice.
Jack
I agree with you, Jack. It has happened before that what McPhee writes (esp. in the New Yorker) will be made into a book, but will be somewhat longer. McPhee’s next book is supposed to be about transportation, so I guess the recent 2-parter in the New Yorker will make up the bulk of a good long chapter in that book.
McPhee’s range of subjects is amazing. Years ago he did a long piece on the South Jersey Pines. Then a profile of Eagle, Alaska called “Coming Into the Country.” Also one on a guy in Maine or NH who makes birchbark canoes using traditional Algonquin methods and materials. In that one he accompanied the canoe maker on a trip down the St. Johns River, which forms part of the border between Maine and Canada.
Another good McPhee article was “La Place de la Concorde Suisse”, on the Swiss military establishment. He pointed out that, at that time (late Cold War), Switzerland was the most heavily armed nation on the face of the earth in per capita terms. No wonder they don’t get attacked very often.
Jack
Historically, The New Yorker and similar magazines have published excerpts of authors’ books preceding publication.
McPhee also wrote a chapter in a book about the control of nature by man. It dealt with the Mississippi River and the incredibly busy set of levees, dams and controls to keep it happy. McPhee said it is not out of the question that some day a huge rainstorm would force the Mississippi to jump its course above Baton Rouge. In which case Baton Rouge would no longer be on a river, and the Red and Atchafalaya (sp?) river systems would take the brunt of the Mississippi’s new course.
He didn’t say it WOULD happen, of course, but boy did I worry about that when Katrina hit N.O.! For all the harm it did, it could have been worse if the hurricane headed north and dumped double-digit rain in Northern Louisiana, the way Camille buried Central Virginia in 1969.