Trains at Work


Read by LibriVox Volunteers

(4.7 stars; 13 reviews)

This is a wonderful children's book about trains, specifically those exciting steam engines that covered our country in the early 1900's. It describes what it was like to ride in them, work in them, repair them, fix the tracks, repair 'hot boxes' and lots of other interesting things about those glorious days when America traveled by train. So if you want to know what 'high balling ' it means, and what the job of a brakeman or an engineer was, listen to our LibriVox readers tell you all about it. This is a children's book, but if you like trains (and who doesn't?) you will enjoy this book. You will also learn the proper way to 'flag down' a train if the track ahead is broken and goodness knows, we all need to know that! "Sam is the fireman on a big freight locomotive. Like lots of people who work on trains, Sam belongs to a family of railroaders. His father was a locomotive engineer. His grandfather was one, too. And, long ago, grandmother was an “op.” That means she operated the fast-clicking telegraph key in a railroad station. Her telegraph messages helped to keep the trains running safely and on time.
When Sam was a little boy, he listened to his father and grandfather talking railroad talk. They used all kinds of words that ordinary people didn’t understand. They had wonderful nicknames for each other, and slang words for many of the things they did." - Summary by Phil chenevert and the author (1 hr 26 min)

Chapters

SAM IS A FIREMAN 12:56 Read by Larry Wilson
UNSCRAMBLING THE TRAINS 9:27 Read by John
THE BACKSHOP 4:09 Read by John
LOCOMOTIVES 4:36 Read by John
HOT BOXES 4:07 Read by John
GREENBALL FREIGHT 3:20 Read by John
TO MARKET, TO MARKET 2:29 Read by DrPGould
TANK CARS 2:12 Read by Larry Wilson
HOPPERS AND GONDOLAS 3:16 Read by John
GRAIN CARS 2:02 Read by Larry Wilson
ODD SHAPES AND SIZES 2:30 Read by Kathleen Moore
TRESTLES, TUNNELS AND THINGS 6:05 Read by Kathleen Moore
THE CAPTAIN AND THE CARS 3:54 Read by BettyB
EATING 2:05 Read by BettyB
SLEEPING 2:34 Read by BettyB
SPECIAL TRAINS 1:16 Read by BettyB
AT THE HEAD END. 4:24 Read by John
NARROW GAUGE TRAINS 3:09 Read by John
ALONG THE TRACKS 5:39 Read by John
OLD-TIME TRAVEL & RAILROADING TALK 5:56 Read by Larry Wilson