Research Catalog

Title

Set up running : the life of a Pennsylvania railroad engineman, 1904-1949 / by John W. Orr with an introduction by James D. Porterfield.

Author

Orr, John W., 1924-

Publication

University Park, PA : Pennsylvania State University Press, ©2001.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xvi, 376 pages : illustrations; 25 cm

Summary

• "Set Up Running tells the story of a Pennsylvania Railroad locomotive engineer, Oscar P. Orr, who operated steam-powered freight and passenger trains throughout Central Pennsylvania and South Central New York. From 1904 to 1949, Orr sat at the controls of many famous steam locomotives; moved trains loaded with coal, perishables, and other freight; and encountered virtually every situation a locomotive engineer of that era could expect to see."
• "John W. (Jack) Orr, Oscar's son, tells his father's story, which begins at the Central Steam Heating Plant in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. Oscar operated nearly every kind of steam locomotive the Pennsylvania Railroad owned, working from the bottom of the roster to the top position (number one in seniority). Orr has an ear for detail, and vivid memory. He tells about his father's first encounter with an automobile among the right-of-way, about what it was like to operate a train in a blizzard, and about the difficulties railroadmen encountered in stopping a trainload of tank cars loaded with oil in order to take on water and coal - among many other stories in the author's large memory bank."
• "This railroad history will enthrall not only everyone in the railroad community but also the general reader interested in railroads and trains, past and present."--Jacket.

Series Statement

A keystone book

Uniform Title

Keystone book

Subjects

• Locomotive engineers
• Orr, Oscar Perry, 1883-1954
• Biographies
• History
• collective biographies
• Pennsylvania Railroad (Corporate Name)
• Pennsylvania Railroad History
• United States
• Locomotive engineers > United States > Biography

Genre/Form

• collective biographies.
• Biographies.
• History.

Note

• "A Keystone book."

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [375]-376).

Contents

Introduction / James D. Porterfield -- The Beginnings, 1904 -- Firing and Setting Up Running, 1907-1909 -- Encountering Obstacles, 1912 -- Changes During the Roaring Twenties -- The Depression Years -- Constant Changes During the Mid-1930s -- End of the Great Depression and the World War II Years, 1937-1947 -- The Final Fast-Freight Crew.

ISBN

• 0271020563
• 9780271020563
• 027102741X
• 9780271027418

LCCN

00028818

OCLC

• ocm43662097
• 43662097
• SCSB-1209285

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library