Roger Grant has opened the arcane and little understood world of the railroad station agent (and telegrapher and operator) in this fine study of an integral part of railroad operations. Overshadowed by locomotive engineers and railroad conductors, the station agent was the "face" of the railroad in thousands of communities and Roger has done a terrific job of explaining their role in American railroading and how they kept trains moving.
Wallace W. Abbey (1927–2014) spent his career as a railroad journalist and public relations executive, primarily in the Upper Midwest. His combined writing and photographic skills documented well the dynamic railroad landscape from the 1940s through the 1980s. Although Wally never worked for the Santa Fe, it was his favorite railroad, in part because of its 100-class diesel-electrics.
Martha Abbey Miller inherited from her father, Wally Abbey, a love of both railroads a